Evel Knievel's Z for sale

[auxilary]

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1873526968

[Heavy Z]

Yeehaw Alex, LMAO...with that car and a cape you could literally assume the role of a crime fighter or minor super-hero.

 

Brett

[Guest greimann]

I think there is a typo in his license plate, it should read 705 DUI.

[DavyZ]

Man, the economy is affecting everyone...

 

Davy

[Guest Anonymous]

Not the economy, Ol Evel has been running on fumes ever since he and a buddy went after that con-artist and his wife with a baseball bat and lost his Mattel Toy contract.Was not many jumps left in him after that but he sure captured America's imagination for years.I heard he saved up for a lot of new body parts to keep up with a new young wife but the promotional videos do not show the training wheels attached to the custom Harley motorcycle.

[fl327]

at least the front tire went flat.

[Guest Thurem]

That is bada$$, maybe just a little too flashy for me. And I would be concerned about the cooling air for the radiator.

Thure

[RB26powered74zcar]

Is their also a typo on the year? The rear panel dosen't look like a 240 to me. Why would someone change it out to resemble a 74-78?

[RPMS]

Originally posted by J. Soileau 260ZT:

Is their also a typo on the year? The rear panel dosen't look like a 240 to me

Sure it is. Just fill in the rear quarter windows, put lots of fiberglass on it, paint the trim body color, give it a new nose, hatch, and tail, and you've got a Kinevelmobile.

 

Look at the hood, the roofline, and the front glass for your visual cues. No matter what else they change, most folks leave the roofline alone.

[zero]

i believe he means that the rear lights appear to be from a 260 or 280z, rather than a 240. It does have later lights.

[DavyZ]

Originally posted by Tomahawk Z:

Not the economy...

'Twas a joke, son. Ah, my failing attempts at humor....perhaps a smiley would have helped.

 

Davy

[Guest Anonymous]

Davy Z Well you were getting my warped sense of humor from a historical perspective

[fl327]

judging from the era of that car, im gonna say its a scarab

heck yeah.

[Guest Anonymous]

I wondered what happened to this z.I have a customizing book that featured this Z and was talking about it on a chop top z post.

Beleive it or not it was a insurance write-off turned show car in 30 days.(Some of you are saying it should still be a write off!!)

Looks pretty close to what it did in my book except for the loss of blacked out tail lights and porshe 930? bumper? cover.you got to remeber this was customized in the 70's before most aftermarket parts were around.

Good to see old Z's never die.

[Mikelly]

I saw this car at World of Wheels in the Mid-1980's and it was a show stopper then. I believe the roof was supposed to have been chopped a full inch, although I bet they got the "Full Inch" from the trim that is painted around the door frame... Nice illusion. And yes, those are 280Z tail lights. The pictures do NOT do that car justice.

 

Another tidbit mentioned in one of my bio books on the man; Knievel had actually planned to Jump that car in an arena at some point, but scrapped the idea because the cage tubing they wanted to install wouldn't allow enough clearance for his safety. In fact, in later years Knievel had fond memories of the car and later mentioned that he didn't have the heart to see it all cut up to have a cage installed, only to have him trash it in a stunt jump.

 

As was mentioned before, this car was done up in the late 70s or early 80's. For the period it simply ROCKED! It is a Scarab style setup with the hooker conversion kit.

 

I had few "Heros" growing up... Figures I picked a violent drunk to be mine...

Mike

[Pop N Wood]

I'll bet old Evel would like the full inch of chop back about now.

[Guest JAMIE T]

I'm sorry, that thing looks like a clown car. Maybe for the mid '70's it WAS cool. I was only a couple years old when that car was built, you could say my tastes vary from the older crowd. But, from a historical stand point, that car SHOULD fetch a good sum of money. I've always had a problem with customs from the '70's. Almost ALL of them look dated now. I'd rather drool over timeless classics, Like the Hirohata Merc. Some cars will live forever, and some cars will get forgotten, and rust into the ground. I've always tried to make my cars the timeless classic type. Thats why I like the Japanese style Zcars the best. you would be hard pressed to guess what year they were built(modified from stock). ZG flares and airdams are lasting classic Zcar styling. In fact, my car has had ZG flares on it since the early 80's(as verified by the guy who installed them). And they are only starting to get popular here in the states now. I've got the fender mirrors on it now, and it looks great. Now if I could get rid of these Centerlines(14x8 Autodrags)

[TimZ]

...Is it just me, or was somebody trying really hard to make that car into a Corvette?

 

Also, interesting wording under "Vehicle Condition". "Know Known Problems" - did this mean there are problems and the seller knows about them, or is it a typo, and the seller meant "No known problems".

 

I can understand somebody having problems knowing when to use "there", "their" and "they're", but "know" and "no"? Come on... sounds like weasel words to me.

[jhaag]

Recently I was rereading a 1985, 4-part article (mentioned in some old posts to the Hybrid Z site) from Hot Rod magazine (May, June, July and September) about the building of a V-8 Z. I never noticed it before but an Editor’s Note at the beginning of the article mentioned subsequent articles about the “hot Z-car hybrid.” This has to be one of the earliest mentions of our hobby. The article described how the owner of the Supershop speed shop chain wanted to create a hot Z using what he called ‘a littleYankee enginuity.’ A commercially available kit, from a place called Nordskog Competition in Van Nuys, California, was used that cost $1800 in 1985 dollars. The Z was disassembled by Charlie Tolbert’s House of Z and then Ken Thurm Enterprises did the mods. I’m guessing the setback of the engine is more like the Scarab style than the JTR style. The Nordskog kit was used on Evel Knievel’s car according to an article in Popular Hot Rodding. The article is undated but it’s probably from around ’74 or ’75. I know Evel's car was been talked about on Hybrid recently since it was on eBay. One Hybrid member mentioned a book that showed the process of chopping the top and the article had some photos of the process. Just a little trivial to share with you.

[Mudge]

Originally posted by TimZ:

"Know Known Problems"

I see people doing that on multiple sites, I dont know if some people have a real problem with spelling, or if its just more of our wonderfull education system, and I'm talking 30+ year old folks too.