The notable Corvette dealer who has served our community for decades, Roger’s Corvette Center, recently announced that their founder and owner/operator, Roger Judski, would officially be retiring on April 15th, and that the iconic dealership that bears his name would be closing permanently. In many enthusiast circles, the reputation of the “crown jewel of his private collection” often precedes the man who owns it. [Author’s Note: This article is FREE and not behind a paywall. If/when any pop-ups occur, please click to make them disappear and continue enjoying the article. One may require two steps–first, the arrow on the left, then the x on the top right.]
The story of Roger’s ZL-1 is so infamous that it creeps into most Corvette-enthusiast crevices on the internet–this special Stingray has been wooing enthusiasts for decades. If you were to come across a conversation on social media regarding this rare one of two all-aluminum 427ci beast, the topic often devolves into the storied past of this piece of Corvette history–namely, how it was confiscated from Wayne Walker (of Zip Products fame) by the U.S. Marshal’s Office. To add to the intrigue, there’s also some chatter regarding the confiscation and correspondence between the man who was arrested and Corvette Fever, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Due to the gravity of Roger’s retirement and the rarity of this 1969 Corvette, it was only natural for us to feature this special ZL-1 in the first edition of CorvSport’s Collector Spotlight. And if you’d like to catch our full feature on Roger’s retirement and the heartfelt tributes from the Corvette community, we have “End of an Era” for you here.
This is likely the last picture with Roger and his birth and Corvette family, together with the ZL-1, before Roger’s Corvette Center officially shuts its doors.
When one starts to hunt around the internet for the whole story and community reaction to this 1969 ZL-1, it’s easy to get into the weeds, but today we hope to bring you just enough, with opportunities to dig deeper. We know most of you lead a hectic lifestyle, so we format our special editions to give you the most concise cliff notes first, but if you’ve got an hour to kill, we’ll give you the resources to get to the top of the hill. Let’s get after it!
What’s Inside This Edition of CorvSport’s Collector Spotlight
- 1969 ZL-1 Corvette: Fast Facts
- The 12 Coolest & Most Interesting Things About Roger’s ZL-1
- The Details on Number Two
- 1969 ZL-1 Photo Gallery From Roger: Including the original delivery to Roger’s!
- Excerpts from the March/April 1985 Corvette Fever ZL-1 feature
- Time to Kill: More resources for a deeper dive
1) 1969 ZL-1 Corvette: Fast Facts
- This 1 of 2 Stingray has the L88 Package ($1100 in 1969) and the ZL-1 option ($3000).
- Mandatory with the L88 special turbo jet 427 V8 package were the F41 special purpose suspension, a heavy-duty transmission, positraction rear end, transistorized ignition, and a heavy-duty brake system.
- The ZL-1 option solely consisted of an aluminum cylinder block, which saved 100 lbs–horsepower was estimated at 550+, more than any Corvette that had come before it. A radio and air conditioning were not available with the ZL-1 engine option.
- It’s said the ZL-1 option package was GM’s “last grand stand salute” to the big blocks before the emission-controlled economy cars took over the highways of the 70s.
- Full body-off restoration to NCRS Standards
- Portions of this section were curated from Corvette Fever
2) The 12 Coolest & Most Interesting Things About Roger’s ZL-1
There have been pages and pages written on this rare Corvette over the years, and I hope this list I generated encapsulates the essence of this iconic Corvette.
- The $4,100 for the L88 package and ZL-1 option would be like a $36,000 option package in today’s money.
- The car was ordered originally as a company car by the Corvette plant resident engineer in St. Louis, George H. Heberling, and was ordered with all available options, resulting in a sticker price of $10,771.
- Heberling drove the car for the first 2000 miles (approximately), and after he was transferred from St. Louis, the ZL-1 was left behind to his successor (who was not enamored with the beast).
- It was eventually put up for sale through GM at the zone level and found its way to Hechler’s Chevrolet in Richmond, Virginia. In November 1969, the ZL-1 ultimately found its way to Hechler’s Chevrolet in Richmond, Virginia, where it’s reported she sat for 3 months, likely due to the $10,771 price tag.
- John Zagos, a high school buddy of Wayne Walker, purchased the ZL-1 for $5000, but had to add his used 1967 Corvette Convertible. John, a drag boat racing fanatic, intended to put the 427ci masterpiece into one of his boats, but after running the “hell out of it” the night of delivery, he “dropped a valve, resulting in a big explosion and a massive engine failure.”
- After a Tonawanda engineer inspected the engine, amazingly, the failure was covered under warranty, but Zagos put the new engine into one of his drag boats. A $3000 price was slapped on the engineless ZL-1, which collected dust for a couple of years until a 454 passenger car engine was shoehorned in, at which time it was sold back to the dealer.
- After a series of owners, Wayne Walker showed an interest in the car and purchased it from a cabinet maker for $6000, and spent many years on a body-off restoration. Having no idea where the replacement factory engine was, Walker bought another all-aluminum 427 for $4000 from Yenko Chevrolet in Pittsburgh.
- One night, Wayne received a call from a stranger who said, “Hey, I’ve got the original engine that came in that car.” Remarkably, the engine had been through three or four hands, was painted red to conceal the aluminum block from the racing public, but now the rare ZL-1 had the original engine back for another $2200.
- The engine was extensively rebuilt (and blown again!) twice more before the final body off restoration was completed by Nabors Motors of Houston, Texas, just in time to win a Gold at Bloomington.
- The plot thickens: I’m innocent! Posted on the Corvette Forum in early 2009: “Previous owner of the Yellow 1969 ZL-1 (supposedly one of two built) that Roger Judski owns writes Corvette Fever from prison (Judski got the car years ago for $300,000 in a gov’t drug dealer auction) asking if they (Corvette Fever) knew the current whereabouts of his former car. They respond Judski still owns it…” Source: Paul Borowski
- From the same forum discussion, Walker claimed “he was ‘busted’ without one gram of drugs as evidence, and that all his possessions were confiscated and sold.”
- Roger had his eyes on this ZL-1 and pursued it for 12 years before finally having the opportunity to “feverishly” outbid others, paying $300,000 at the drug seizure auction, reportedly.
Wow, what a story! I hope I have done the story and Roger’s ZL-1 justice! Portions of these fun factoids were curated from Corvette Fever.
3) The Details on Number Two
- CorvSport contributor Reggie writes about number two before the Sotheby’s auction.
- Per the Sotheby’s auction: “Bloomington Gold Certified, one of two factory aluminum 427 ZL-1 Corvettes,” and “Powered by its factory-correct, date-coded all-aluminum ZL-1 427-cu. in. V-8 engine.”
- SOLD for $3,140,000 in January 2023!
- Check out the full Sotheby’s listing here.
4) Photo Gallery From Roger: 1969 Corvette ZL-1
5) Excerpts from the March/April 1985 Corvette Fever ZL-1 feature
- Written by Pat Stivers as originally published in the March/April 1985 issue of Corvette Fever magazine. The following text is unedited by CorvSport and fully credited to Pat Stivers.
“The next best thing to owning a one-of-a-kind Corvette is owning a two-of-a-kind Corvette. The ZL-1 option package was almost as though GM made a last grand stand salute to the big blocks before the emission controlled economy cars took over the highways of the 70’s. Mandatory with the L88 special turbo jet 427 V8 package were the F41 special purpose suspension, a heavy duty transmission, positraction rear end, transistorized ignition, and a heavy duty brake system. The ZL-1 option consisted merely of an aluminum cylinder block.
The combined package added $4100 to the price of the car at the time. The L88 package was $1100 and the special ZL-1 aluminum cylinder and case were an additional $3000 making this combination a big, big ticket in 1969. Only two Corvettes had been factory assembled with this ZL-1 aluminum engine option package. That alone is enough to thrill a Corvette owner, but this car’s history turned out to be truly unique.
The car was ordered originally as a company car by the Corvette plant resident engineer in St. Louis, George H. Heberling. His rationale in ordering it was that such a production vehicle would benefit from an evaluation in actual use by one of the plant’s personnel. The car was ordered with all available options, resulting in a sticker price of $10,771.
The all aluminum 427 option took about 100 pounds off the engine resulting in an improved performance. When a previous owner (Wayne Walker of Zip Products) had this engine dyno tested the engine produced 523 horsepower at 7,000 rpm with all stock Chevrolet parts. According to Karl Ludvigsen’s “Corvette: America’s Star Spangled Sports Car.” The cast iron L88 427s produced over 550 horsepower. That’s a lot of power to be running on the street, but the street is just where Heberling drove the car for its’ first (somewhere between) 1200 and 2000 miles. Then he was transferred from St. Louis and left the ZL-1 behind. His successor was not so taken by the big horse Corvette, and it was put up for sale through GM at the zone level.
The car eventually found its’ way to Hechler’s Chevrolet in Richmond, Virginia, possibly because Hechler’s had become a volume dealer in high performance cars. The Corvette sat on Hechler’s floor next to a ZL-1 Camaro (of which 69 were factory produced), and it sat there quite a while [likely because of the $10,773.65 price tag], from November 1969 to January 1970. John Zagos, a high school buddy of Wayne Walker’s, eventually bought the car for $5000 plus a used 1967 Corvette convertible. John was primarily into drag boat racing and he bought the car so he could put the engine into one of his boats. But the night he bought the car he literally ran the hell out of it. He later reported that it was so powerful it would just melt the tires at will and was just the fastest vehicle he had ever ridden it.
That same night he dropped a valve resulting in a big explosion and a massive engine failure. Amazingly, a Tonawanda engineer reviewed the situation and after inspecting the engine, concluded that it had a failure that was covered under warranty and authorized replacement of the engine. When Zagos finally got the new engine, he put it in one of his drag boats. The car sat idle for a couple of years with a $3000 sale price because there was little interest in a car at that price without an engine. Eventually he put a 454 passenger car engine in the car and sold it back to the dealer. From there it went through a succession of owners.
Wayne Walker developed an interest in the car an eventually purchased it from a cabinet maker for $6000. From there, Walker spent several years plugging away at the body off restoration. The biggest challenge in the restoration was finding the right kind of engine for the car. Since the original had disappeared, he didn’t even look for it and bought another all aluminum 427 for $4000 from Yenko Chevrolet in Pittsburgh. One night a fellow called Wayne and said, “Hey, I’ve got the original engine that came in that car.” It had been through three or four hands in reaching him and someone had painted it red to conceal the aluminum block from the racing public, but he had the original engine back for another $2200.
The engine was extensively rebuilt (and blown again!) twice more before the final body off restoration was completed by Nabors Motors of Houston, Texas, just in time to win a Gold at Bloomington. The L-88s as Chevrolet produced them typically had over 500 hp right off the showroom. They were tested and ran in the 13 second elapsed time range of 112 mph with street tires on the quarter mile. With proper tires and open headers they would easily go into the 11 second range with no modifications to the engine whatsoever. So with the aluminum block you’ve got quite a potential if it’s properly ratioed.
Since Wayne Walker owned the car, it eventually ended up in the hands of the US Marshall’s Office. As Roger Judski had been pursuing this car for over 12 years, this gave him the opportunity he had been looking for. After some feverish bidding, he finally realized his dream and secured the ZL-1 to become the crown jewel of his private collection. Even today it would be considered a princely sum by many, but one which Roger and other collectors now regard as a tremendous bargain.”
6) Time to Kill: More Resources For a Deeper Dive:
- CorvSport Archives: 1969 Corvette ZL-1
- Vette Vues: The Enigmatic 1969 ZL1 Corvette: A Legend Revisited
- A vibrant Corvette Forum discussion: 1969 ZL-1 Previous Owner Story…..
- More ZL-1 chatter from Facebook’s C3 Corvette Stingray 1968-1973, a public group with over 73,000 members.
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