Danbury Mint 1969 Corvette Coupe ZL-1

To my mind, there is probably no other car that has Zora Arkus-Duntov’s fingerprints on it more than the ’69 ZL-1 Corvette. Zora once said that he drove a ZL-1, with drag slicks mounted, to a 10.5 second quarter mile time. In October of 1969, Motor Trend Magazine recorded a time of 10.6 seconds through the quarter at 132 mph! This, too, was on drag slicks of the day which were inferior compared to today’s standards. Of course the motor is legendary and the car one of only two. DM released the first of the two ZL-1’s, the Daytona Yellow beauty owned by Roger Judski of Roger’s Corvette Center in Florida, in January of this year. I’m here to cheer Danbury for offering the second and perhaps somewhat cleaner looking of the two cars. The owner of this Can-Am White ZL-1 is Kevin Suydam who owns the Corvette & American Muscle Car Collection, located near Seattle, Washington. The car has been featured in almost every Corvette magazine and several reference books on the marque. I first laid eyes on the car on pages 136 through 139 of Randy Leffingwell’s, “Corvette, America’s Sports Car”. It was love at first sight.

To DM’s complete credit this would have been an easy repaint of the former ZL-1. But the two cars were not exactly alike and we all know that DM does their homework. Just between you and me, they even have an in-house Corvette aficionado helping them on the Vettes. But mum’s the word on that, ok? Visually, the first difference that you will note between the car models, beside the difference in color, is the striping. The Daytona Yellow car has the black stripe accent across the car’s nose and up the peaked fender tops. The balance of the vehicle is color solid. The Can-Am White jewel has a strip as broad as one third of the car’s width running from the domed hood on back through the tail and wrapped around it. The stripe itself is flanked by a pencil thin pinstripe that DM reproduced magnificently. Other subtle cues hint at the differences of the siblings. The white car has redline tires where the first ZL-1 has blackwalls. The yellow ’69 runs outside exhaust pipes while the white car looks a tad bit cleaner without them. But this is a personal preference. DM had to fashion the correct pipes and muffler system and run them out through the rear valance. Beautiful job. Both diecasts feature rally wheels, chrome trim rings and center caps. Both utilize the same interior and of course, same monster motor. And I cannot say enough about the chrome metal foiled “Stingray” scripts on the fenders and “Corvette” block letters on the tail. The crossed flag badgings, front and rear, are equally spectacular.

The highlights of the model include opening gas filler door, photo-etched door sill plates, internal door hinging, working suspension, opening spare tire carrier; the white car has a fifth redline, functioning headlight pods and leather seats and belts. The engine is as true to every photo of the 1:1 car that I have seen. Leave it to DM to faithfully reproduce that center of attraction. Both cars have the optional chrome side vent louver trim. Kevin’s car has been totally restored. The car came equipped with the Muncie M22 four-speed tranny, G81 Posi rear, F41 suspension package, J50 power brakes with the J56 heavy duty brake option and K66 transistorized ignition system. The aforementioned redlines are F70x15 in size and the car was ordered with heater and defroster delete. The car has received its Bloomington Gold certification and looks for all the world like it did the day it left the factory. In fact, DM gave us the model of that car, perfect in each of these details. Well, not exactly, the Bloomington Gold certificate remains with Mr. Suydam.

The newly calibrated Thrillometer jumped up to a 9.78 reading for this white knight and very well earned! Issue price $115.

-Tony Perrone