THE ORIGINAL
JACK MAY Z-11 IMPALA!
For 2009 Car Show information Click HERE for
more info!!!
Other news!
MERCHANDISE!!! Click HERE for
more info!!!
This is my PICTURE STORY OF THE ORIGINAL JACK MAY 1963
IMPALA Z-11 CHEVROLET that I am restoring. This car is one of the 50
ALUMINUM FRONT END 427 CU.IN IMPALAS BUILT BY CHEVROLET AS A [RPO]
REGULAR PRODUCTION ORDER CAR. This car was built in December 1962 and
was one of the first 25 built. The rest we're built in January and
February 1963 , as close as we can tell according to Chevrolet
production records. All of these cars had aluminum front fender's and
hood's with both front and rear aluminum bumper's and bracket's and
aluminum grill bracket's along with alumlnum fan shroude's and front
splash shield. ALL of these car's we're equipped with the First 427
CU.IN. engine Chevrolet produced. This engine used a 1963 -409 CU.IN.
block Stroked to 427 CU.IN.using a new crankshaft ,rod's and piston's
They also used redesigned cylinder head's and a two piece high rise
intake manifold w/ two AFB Carter 4 bbl carbs and a different cam
shaft designed for the Z-11 engine. Also they used a RAM AIR COWL
INDUCTION AIR CLEANER NEVER BEFORE USED BY CHEVROLET ON ANY OF THERE
CAR'S.
Pictured here is the original 1963 aluminum front end
Impala AF/X- Z-11 Chevy that was OWNED AND RACED BY Jack May of
Powhatan, Va. and driven by Larry Wilson [Good Ole Mr. Wilson] and
Race prepared by Ronnie Sox of the Sox and Martin racing team. It was
also sponsored by Sox Sinclair Service which is Ronnie Sox's Father. The car was garaged in Burlington, NC. since that's where Larry and Ronnie both lived. Since Ronnie had his own Z 11 Chevy, The Sox and Martin car and raced it under NHRA rules they desided to make this car a match race car and race it for money. Larry Wilson was the primary driver of this car but there we're times when Ronnie Sox would drive this car in a race.
I have talked to all of the above named people and continue to stay
in touch with them and all are glad the car has been found and is
being restored to it's racing condition with all the lettering as it
appeared in it's racing day's . The restoration work is being done by
myself and my son's JASON & JOHN . Helping with this project is
JODY ANDERSON of SOUTH SIDE AUTOMOTIVE , Minneapolis , Minn.-STACEY
from STRIP-IT of Mt Clemens, Mich. and many others to numerous to mention. The website was created by JAMIE HEIDT of SOUTH SIDE AUTOMOTIVE.
The car was ordered in late 1962 by Winston Parker the
Service Manager for Watts Chevrolet, at that time in Williamsburg,
Va. Watts Chevrolet was to retain ownership of the car and it was to
be raced by Bob Chester a local drag racer. But when the car arrived
Watts changed there mind's about owning it and wanted Bob Chester to
buy it. Bob said no and that's when Jack May bought the car. Jack
knew Ronnie Sox and wanted him to drive it but he had his own car and
Ronnie told Jack he should have Larry Wilson drive Jack's car. And so
began the JACK MAY - Mr427II - SS - AF/X and A/MP Match Race Car Driven by
"Good Ole Mr. Wilson". Larry and Ronnie ran the car for the rest of 1963 mostely in the SS class. Near the end of 1963 Larry blew the engine and it was at that time that both Larry and Ronnie with the OK from Jack May desided to build the new engine to 512 CI and run the car as a Match Race Car. Besides winning most of his match races thru
out the South Larry set a new A/MP track record of 11.26 at 130 Mph
at POCONO DRAG LODGE in Bear Creek, Pa.in Sept 1964. That was the
same day he raced Jake King's Ford Thunder Bolt and took Jake in
Three out of Three race's that day. Three week's later Larry Wilson
raced Ron Pelligrini's 427 Ford Mustang at POCONO DRAG LODGE and
The November Drag Speed Illustrated issue has a story about Larry Wilson in his 63 1/2 Chevy racing Gene Lunsford at Piedmont in his 63 Dodge with Gene taking the first race at 126mph to Larry's 128mph. But the money race has Larry taking the Money with a run of 132mph and had much trouble stopping befour going into the woods, but didn't do much damage to the car. There were no ET's becouse the clock's were out to lunch. Larry and Ronnie both told me that after the engine was built to the 512CI.'s it had so much power that they never could run the car all out without blowing a head gasket or breaking the drive train. The best the car ran was 10.80s at 136 MPH.
This site will soon have several vintage pictures of my
car and a running picture assay of the restoration of the car along
with articles on some of the race's Larry was in that have been found
by some very great people I have met in the past two year's. Please
stay tuned!
