But the first hint of its actual history appeared early on when Pillsbury and fellow Corvette specialist Mike Scott discovered Thompson’s Chevron credit card—featuring an expiration date of November 1964—inside the driver’s door. Pillsbury confirmed the card’s origins in a personal conversation with Mickey Thompson, and it has been part of the car’s documentation ever since. In 1994, Pillsbury sold 6844 to Bill Lacy of Florissant, Missouri. Lacy began restoring the car under the same mistaken impression about its history, an impression shared by many others for years after its completion, as indicated by the aforementioned wealth of awards and honors. Despite this impressive body of accolades, enough observers had raised questions over the years that doubts persisted as to the car’s origins. To determine the truth once and for all, in early 2012, Mecum Auctions’ Founder Dana Mecum hired Prove It, a forensic investigation service created and headed by Bloomington Gold founder and Corvette preservation expert David Burroughs. Burroughs’ research team, which included Eric Gill and Franz Estereicher, both highly respected Z06 authorities, conducted a thorough forensic investigation, examining period photographs, interviewing expert witnesses, including Lacy, and examining relevant materials associated with 6844. In June 2012, the Prove It team issued a report detailing the investigation’s findings. Using the “same general procedure commonly used in courts throughout the United States called Preponderance of Evidence,” they were able to determine that 6844 was in fact not the Bonneville Car. Specifically, photos taken during the Bonneville event revealed “that the exhaust exits, anti-sway bar, and the much longer shock absorbers and fenderwell cut-outs used for Daytona are still evident at Bonneville.” The report further stated that because only one of the two white Z06 Corvettes was prepared in accordance with documented Holman & Moody modifications, it was logical to infer 6844 was not the Bonneville car because 6844 would have borne, at the very least, “permanent and significant scars of alteration to both body and frame,” whereas a pre- restoration video by Lacy shows “no evidence of either the current installation of these NASCAR modifications or any repair from them. “The frame was nearly perfectly preserved and intact per factory production. Engine compartment fenderwells were also intact with no evidence whatsoever of ever being cut out for installation of the extra-long front shock absorbers. The original 1963 white fiberglass floor remains in #6844 and has never been removed, according to Lacy. These facts are confirmed by Lacy who clearly remembers how nicely preserved (and stock) the frame and body were before any restoration was begun. Although the [front inner] fender wells were replaced with the current ones, Lacy stated that the originals were never cut out and the Lacy video on-file confirms that.” Simply put, the white Daytona car and the white Bonneville car are one and the same, meaning that 6844 was in fact Thompson’s daily driver and the same car that appeared in the Rader Wheels advertising photographs. This conclusion is also supported by photographs taken at Bonneville of a white fuel-injected coupe, equipped with Rader-Mickey Thompson prototype wheels, that is identical to the car that appeared in the magazine ads for the same wheels. Another very important piece of evidence, overlooked for years but included in the report, was a letter written to Corvette Fever Magazine by the late Doug Hooper, who won the three-hour production race prior to the October 13, 1962, Los Angeles Times Grand Prix at Riverside in Thompson’s Daytona Blue Z06. Commenting on a story about Thompson in the December 1998 issue, Hooper listed the four Thompson racing Z06 Corvettes and wrote, “There was another white one that Mickey used as his personal driver. That car was left stock.” He then concluded, “Maybe that was Mickey’s street car.” In addition to concluding that 6844 could not be the white Z06 modified, prepared for or raced at Daytona, Bonneville or Riverside, Burroughs’ report also provides persuasive evidence that it was “the fifth Mickey Thompson Z06 Corvette—a very rare and unique vehicle in its own right.” First, the Chevron credit card, the expiration date of which places it “within the period of Thompson’s likely use of the car as his personal driver.” Mechanical details common to the other Thompson Z06 Corvettes and the aforementioned photographs are also part of this body of evidence. It is fair to ask how 6844 could have been confused with the Bonneville car for so long, a matter also addressed in Burroughs’ report. It comes down to the fact that more connected and corroborated documentation emerged over the years and, when through the efforts of Burroughs and his team it was amassed and examined as a whole, the mystery was finally solved to the satisfaction of everyone involved in the Prove It investigation.
