GM was a signatory to the June 1957 Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) ban on all forms of motorsport and was therefore officially out of racing. But the urge to compete was irresistible, and certain creative thinkers within the company found ways to circumvent the AMA prohibition. Chief among these was making competition-oriented equipment available to buyers as regular production options. This tactic kept Corvettes viable in competition starting with the 1957 model year, and it continued when the second-generation model was introduced for 1963, with an available racing package called regular production option (RPO) Z06.
A total of 199 Z06-equipped Corvettes were built in 1963. Each was powered by a high-compression, solid-lifter small-block fed by a Rochester mechanical fuel-injection unit. A four-speed gearbox and a Positraction differential delivered the 327-cubic-inch engine’s 360 gross horsepower to the pavement. Since RPO Z06 was intended for road-course competition, it also included stiffer front and rear springs, a .9375-inch-diameter front anti-sway bar in place of the standard .75-inch bar, and higher-rate shock absorbers all around.
The braking system was also extensively revised. It included thicker steel backing plates with two large, steel-mesh covered cutouts. Up front, large “elephant ear” scoops, made from fiber-reinforced rubber riveted to a steel frame, routed cool outside air over the brake assembly and out through rear openings, continuously carrying heat away. Airflow was further aided by stamped steel “fans” sandwiched between the hubs and drums.
The drums themselves differed markedly from standard C2 units. Though they evolved over the first few months of 1963 production, the third and final iteration was thicker and cast from a copper-alloy iron for greater tensile strength. The castings included longitudinal fins around the circumference to radiate heat outward and five 1.4375-inch-diameter holes in the drum’s face to dissipate yet more heat.
Z06 brake shoes were made from heat-treated steel with thick, segmented Cerametalix lining. Developed by Honeywell in the 1950s for aircraft braking systems, Cerametalix is an extremely heat-resistant friction material that was created by bonding sintered ceramic and metallic materials together with a phenolic resin.
The final bespoke component in the Z06 brake setup is its highly unusual power-assisted master cylinder. It features a single casting with twin reservoirs that isolate the front and rear brakes, so if there’s a pressure loss anywhere in the system, two wheels will still have stopping power.
When new, and in the years that immediately followed, a few Z06s were seriously raced with little or no road use. The majority, however, were regularly driven on the street and occasionally raced. That is the case with our feature car, one of only two ’63 Z06s sold new in Hawaii. It was ordered through Haleakalah Motors, located in Wailuku on the island of Maui.
Though it’s not known why, the car, which was assembled in early June 1963, wasn’t sold and registered until April 1, 1964. One possibility is that the buyer was in the military and couldn’t finalize the purchase immediately. Another is that the person who ordered the car changed his mind, and it took eight months for the Chevrolet dealer to find another buyer. The high cost of the coupe—$6,421.15, which included an optional AM/FM radio, 4.11:1 Positraction, Off Road Exhaust, Blackwall Tires, a four-speed transmission, and Sebring Silver paint, in addition to the $1,293.95 Z06 package—would have certainly made it difficult to sell. That it was equipped with option C48, Heater and Defrost Deletion, couldn’t have helped, either, even in balmy Maui.
The first owner, who had the car from 1964 until 1969, street drove and actively road and drag raced it. By the time the second owner bought the car in ’69, it had been painted blue and its original L84 “Fuelie” engine replaced. Undaunted, he added rear fender flares to accommodate wider wheels and tires and continued racing the car. He also regularly drove it to a fast-food restaurant that he owned in Lahaina.
The third owners, who had the car from 1972 until 1976, enjoyed it but were somewhat intimidated by its speed potential. Owner number four painted the Corvette white and installed a “big and little” set of Cragar wheels for the front and rear. He later repainted the body red and actively drag raced the car until selling it in 1989.
The Corvette remained in Maui through 1989, having passed through the hands of its second, third, and fourth owners without ever being ID’d as a Z06. The broker who handled the sale to the car’s fifth owner that year, however, recognized its status as a rarity. That buyer had the car shipped to his home in Montana, where it remained idle for most of his 24-year stewardship. He eventually removed the modifications done by prior owners and, over a period of several years, restored it to its original condition.
“Needle in a Haystack”
The sixth and present owner, Joe Caruana, was first exposed to America’s Sports Car in 1978, when he saw the now infamous movie Corvette Summer. He was immediately smitten, but actually owning a Vette was little more than a distant fantasy for a young lad in Australia.
“I grew up with three brothers, and we were all car crazy and Holden fans,” says Caruana, adding that he purchased two of his first three vehicles from his older brother. “The first was a modified 1967 Holden HR station wagon that my father originally owned. It was white, but that changed quickly to a chocolate-brown metallic—remember, this was the ’70s—with a hot GM 186-cubic-inch six-cylinder and three-speed floor shift. I wanted more power, so had the engine stroked to 196 ci. It was pretty quick for a six-cylinder wagon.”
For his next ride, Caruana went outside both his immediate family and the GM/Holden family to purchase a MK 1 Ford-Lotus Twin-Cam Escort. “It was a fun car but always in the shop, as I drove the hell out of it,” he relates. “Eight-thousand rpm was a ritual, hence the many failures—the penalty for buying a Ford!”
After his ill-starred adventure with the Escort, Caruana was ready to get back into a Holden, so he bought his brother’s 1977 Torana SS Hatchback. The car had already been upgraded with a 5.0-liter V-8 and an M21 four-speed, so Caruana had it painted in Opaline Blue with a black bonnet to resemble the car successfully campaigned by Peter Brock, an Australian racing icon.
“I thought it could do with a freshen-up and had the factory optional bolt-on flares put on whilst freshening the paint and putting on a nice, big set of wheels and a big drop tank to complement the race look. It was a real eye-catcher and had enough under the bonnet to get in trouble with the boys in blue.”
After many years with the Torana, and his brother’s taste in cars having turned “boring,” Caruana had to do his own sourcing for his next ride. His finances were improving, and he really wanted something that was an original performance car rather than a replica.
“Being a Holden fan and a Peter Brock follower, I purchased a 1985 VK Commodore Group A/Group 3 in Formula Blue,” he says. “Brock joined forces with [GM-Holden] due to his racing success and started building performance cars, mainly Australian Commodores. This particular version was one of 50 made and was pretty special, not to mention collectible. Sadly, I sold the car two years before Peter was killed in a racing accident, a very sad day in Australian motor-racing history.”
Caruana went a few years without a “fun” car, but following a brush with cancer in 2011, he got the urge to fill the void in his garage. “After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about getting a Corvette,” he explains, “and a ’63 Split-Window was at the top of my list. During my research, prices were heading north, and quicker than I would like. I wasn’t sure how and what to do, so I joined the local Australian Chapter of the NCRS.
“The more I learned, however, the harder it became, as it was confusing and becoming more expensive. I wanted something special, and everything kept pointing to a Z06 [but] wanting one and getting one are two different things. Before I knew it, it was 2013, prices were continuing to rise, and I thought buying a Z06 was out of reach.”
The founder and president of the NCRS Australia chapter, Murray Foreman, travels to the U.S. every year, visiting his many Corvette friends around the country and participating in the organization’s national convention. In July 2013 Caruana and several others joined Foreman, and the experience of touring America and attending at the convention in Hampton, Virginia, was a profound experience.
“The road tour to Hampton…was one of the best experiences of my life,” Caruana recalls. “I was blown away with the number of cars on display. The variety was amazing—it was like I was in a lolly shop! As [the event] was celebrating the ’63 Corvette, there was plenty to see and a huge display of Z06 cars.”
While at the convention, Caruana met Tony Avedisian, a noted Z06 expert and restoration-shop owner. The final day of the event, he asked Avedisian to call if he ever came across a silver-on-red, “small-tank” Z06 for sale. “Tony sort of laughed and suggested that would be like finding a needle in a haystack,” he says.
Three months later, in October 2013, Avedisian defied the odds by locating and verifying the authenticity of a Z06 for sale that fit all of Caruana’s criteria. Caruana promptly bought it and, unsatisfied with its level of restoration, commissioned Avedisian to refurbish the car to a higher standard.
Avedisian removed from the body from the chassis and stripped it of paint, improved the fit and finish of the panels, and applied a fresh coat of Sebring Silver. The original transmission was reassembled, and an original 1963 L84 engine with components dated properly for the car was rebuilt and installed. The differential, brakes, suspension, interior, and all electrical components were restored as needed.
During the 18-month job, Caruana made five trips to Avedisian’s shop in Maryland. He also went to Maui to research the car’s history and meet with one of the previous owners. After the Corvette was finished in 2015, he saw it for the first time at the Bloomington Gold show in Indianapolis. “I still remember that moment,” he tells us. “They opened the trailer and reversed the car out. It sounded and looked amazing.”
Caruana’s Z06 was awarded a Bloomington Gold Certificate after logging a deduction of only 180 points from the 8,000 available. It subsequently earned an NCRS Top Flight with a score of 99.1 percent at a chapter meet in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Following some final tweaking at Avedisian’s shop, it was trucked to Los Angeles and then loaded on a cargo ship for the long voyage to Australia.
Since getting his Z06 home, Caruana has driven it regularly and shown it extensively, with two more NCRS Top Flights and many First Place trophies to show for his efforts. Beyond the awards, he gets a great deal of satisfaction from sharing the car with others, and it’s very well received everywhere he goes. That’s not surprising, considering it’s likely the only 1963 Z06 Corvette on the continent.
