Belmont COPOs

[midyr]

Besides running Lance Hill's Racing Engine and Lance Hill's Tech Center I also ran Belmont's Performance Division along with Dave Mackay. We ordered every performance car Belmont sold. Our initial COPO order was for 10 9561 Camaros and 5 9562 Chevelles, including a hugger orange 4-spd I used as a daily driver. These were for stock. We sold them pretty quick and ordered more, in addition to customer-ordered COPOs. One customer order we remember was gold with a green interior.
At the time Belmont was the largest volume Chevy dealer in Canada, and we also moved more COPO stuff than anybody else.
Central Chev in London, Ontario, where my buddy Wayne "Hub" Huber operated their performance division, also moved a good number.
I can tell you guys that none of them ever came off the truck looking nearly as pretty as the restos.

Lance Hill

[PeteLeathersac]

Lance,

That Gold w/ Green guts car would probably be the car sold new to Willard Clements and recently advertised for sale http://staging.motorbase.com/auctionlot/by-id/1571601122/

Being involved w/ Belmont and Central through these years, can you tell us anything about factory built '68-70 L78 Novas being delivered w/ L89 Aluminum Heads?.
Not dealer mods but installed on the cars...same as Camaros or not?.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif
~ Pete

[midyr]

This car has not had its original motor since a few months after delivery. Willard had it towed in to Belmont on a chain with lettering still on the windows from flogging it at Cayuga Dragway. There were windows in the block too, from rods coming through. We said no way for warranty Willard. So he ordered up a replacement. The car was used hard for as long as Willard had it. Another thing, if it went 11s at Indy, it must have been dropped from an airplane. Where do the claimed numbers on these cars come from???

[iluv69s]

[ QUOTE ]
This car has not had its original motor since a few months after delivery.

[/ QUOTE ]


but the 'for sale' ad says the the car still has the original motor because the second owner pulled the original motor and stored it for 20 years...
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif


here we go again.... http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

[BARRY]

HI that is true about the original motor i owed that car for 20 years it had the vin at the side of the block date on the block is D 29 9 what are the odds of geing a new or used block with that date back then and how would care back then i bought the car for 5,200.00 in 1978 with that motor i don"t think any one would stamp the vin back then... they would not even know it was thier BARRY ALLAN

[Mr70]

midyr
By chance did the Belmont Monaco Orange COPO Chevelle have a VIN ending in 70,& did you sell a Lemans Blue COPO Camaro ending with 85?

[iluv69s]

[ QUOTE ]
This car has not had its original motor since a few months after delivery.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]




HI that is true about the original motor i owed that car for 20 years it had the vin at the side of the block


[/ QUOTE ]

seems to be a difference of opinion...anyone???

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

[ZiggyL78]

[ QUOTE ]
Besides running Lance Hill's Racing Engine and Lance Hill's Tech Center I also ran Belmont's Performance Division along with Dave Mackay. We ordered every performance car Belmont sold. Our initial COPO order was for 10 9561 Camaros and 5 9562 Chevelles, including a hugger orange 4-spd I used as a daily driver. These were for stock. We sold them pretty quick and ordered more, in addition to customer-ordered COPOs. One customer order we remember was gold with a green interior.
At the time Belmont was the largest volume Chevy dealer in Canada, and we also moved more COPO stuff than anybody else.
Central Chev in London, Ontario, where my buddy Wayne "Hub" Huber operated their performance division, also moved a good number.
I can tell you guys that none of them ever came off the truck looking nearly as pretty as the restos.

Lance Hill

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey Lance.
Good to see you are still around.Have you heard from Rick Eaton?I saw him a couple of years ago.He looked like he was doing well.I wonder if he still has that Cobra.I bought Dave Mackey's silver 69 Camaro SS 350.I remember watching you and Rick race your Camaros way back when.Nothing like a spin wheel start;)I have a shop on Harlech Crt.I think your old shop was just down the street.You were the Man for building a performance Quadrajet.I remember John Rossiter and Ron Wigg worked for you.Ron drove a VW Bug with Esso Big Daddys all the way around.I have a lot of memorys about Golden Mile and Belmont:)Rick did a lot of work on my 64 Chevelle.I still see Olie and Mike Steffen at the track now and again.their Vette still runs the numbers.If you see Dave or Rick tell them Ziggy(Ken seggie) says hi.I'm still racing.Just not every weekend like back then.
Take care.

[P.J.]

Hey Lance Welcome aboard We can sure use some of your experience and facts about those days Whow about some pics from of some of those cars EH!! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif
Peter
PJ

[midyr]

Hey Ken. I sent you a PM. Thanks.

[midyr]

Am not real slick with computers, don't spend enough time with them to figure out how to do much, like posting photos. There is a site with a lot of good old pics on it but it's a million letters long. I'll see if I can't copy and post it.

Just read some of the postings on Turk. He spent a lot of all-nighters cruising the east end with me way back in the beginning, looking for street races. Yes, he was popular with the cops. One night he had outrun them and the next day he showed up at George Masicotte's (spelling?) Supertest station on Vic Park, we were having a coffee when all at once the lot was full of sliding cop cars and they took him in, Turk loving every minute.

My shop did a bunch of work for him, including slapping on the tunnel ram and pair of Holleys, which I seem to remember him insisting I do myself.

They only made one of him. Probably a good thing. I liked him a lot. Hope he's still out there doing his thing.

Lance Hill

[midyr]

I think this is the site...

http://public.fotki.com/predmond/assorted_race_cars/canadian-drag-cars/

[mockingbird812]

Good stuff Mr. Hill. Love to hear the old stories: "the lot was full of sliding cop cars and they took him in"


http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/haha.gif http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[P.J.]

If 11 was fast can you imagine this 68 Camaro doing 10;45
in the 1/4 and both at the track and on the street.
A lot of money was made from this great Canadian camaro
Well It looked a little different back then!!!
PJ
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii234/suprss70/Copy2ofrecordholdercopy-1.jpg
http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii234/suprss70/Copy2ofgreatsideview.jpg

[AlsV8vair]

Mr Hill

This is one of a couple photos I have saved from my brother When he workd at Drag Dimensions. we just watched a DVD the other night with the same car in it. I think it was Grand Bend or St Thomas dragway.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v605/Aircooled/DickAronandLanceHillCamaroThrushrea.jpg

If you get a chance take a look at CanadianDragRacing Group
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/CanadianDragRacing/
or the Ontario Nostalgia Drag Racers
www.fastpast.ca (http://www.fastpast.ca)

thanks

Al

[midyr]

Pete,

I don't have any reliable recollection of the Novas being available with that combination and doubt it ever was. I have Davey's salesman book from 1969, which is complete even to written-in price changes, and it shows the L89 option in Chevelles but not Camaros or Novas, yet we know we sold a yellow L89 Camaro. Some stuff was not included in the salesman books anyway, as we know, that was what COPOs, etc, were for. But, also, a dealer would put anything on a customers new delivery that they wanted, including aluminum heads, all day long, so that could be an explanation. And then of course if you knew somebody with pull in a zone office or the plant your car could be 'customized' as it went down the line. L89 heads? M22? You got it. This was a widely known and well established practice, on either side of the border. The paperwork reflected the original order, not what actually went on the car. Money changed hands and cuts went up the food chain. I saw numerous examples of it over the years. Sorry I couldn't have been of more definitive help on the question, guys.

Lance

[midyr]

Rick,

I talked to Davey and neither of us specifically remember an orange COPO Chevelle, but it is entirely possible we had one, or even more. We do recall silver and blue in our initial order of 5, and then there were additional orders later, both stock and customer orders. We do not have VINs or paperwork left, so can't help there. If you think Belmont delivered an orange Chevelle, you can tap GM Canada's records to know for sure.

As for a Le Mans blue COPO Camaro, we ordered a column-shift M40 car and subsequently sold it to a friend who kept it in meticulous condition until he died young of cancer. It was not a RS car.

Lance

[Mr70]

I thought you were referring to an Orange COPO 4spd. Chevelle earlier,but see now how you weren't.
Appreciate the follow up & sorry to hear that too..
Thanks Lance.

[camaromb]

Lance,
A good friend of mine owns a Belmont sold Lemans Blue column shift auto Copo Camaro with original paint. It has blue standard interior. It sounds like the car you remember from Belmont. Sorry to hear the original owner died at a young age. Its always nice getting the complete history on these cars.
Mark

[Stefano]

A Rally Green Copo Camaro with Spoilers and no Style Trim sold out of Belmont is working its way back to Chicago. It sure would be cool to get info regarding its previous life!

A Belmont Chevy sold Monaco Orange COPO Chevelle 4 speed does exist and it is back in Canada.

[Keith Tedford]

I was in the Belmont Lower show room in the summer of '69, and I'm pretty sure the COPO Chevelle there was orange. The orange one that Beare Motors sold was brought in from a different dealer for the customer. I was told that this wasn't the car. I understand that the Beare car still exists in Alberta.

[ZiggyL78]

I remember a gold COPO Camaro.I can't remeber whether the interior was geen or matching gold.I have no idea what dealer it came from but I do remember seeing it for sale in a used car lot at Danforth and Warden.I also knew a guy with a dark green COPO Chevelle who ran it at the track often and it had a cage in it.I was in the basement of Belmont once and Dave Mackay started a L78 Chevelle up for me that had factory chambered pipes on it.Man.What a sound.

[Keith Tedford]

My buddy, who bought the orange COPO Chevelle from Beare's, had them install '69 Corvette side pipes on the car. He had enough of the noise after a month or so. The steady noise on the highway would drive even a young person insane after a while. Beare Motors sold a blue L88 Vette in '69. When I dropped in to the dealership, the salesman took me out back and fired the car up to let me hear it. What a sound. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Mr70]

[ QUOTE ]
A Belmont Chevy sold Monaco Orange COPO Chevelle 4 speed does exist and it is back in Canada.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep!..that's the car I was referring to.

[Keith Tedford]

Ken's car had an M22 and, like mine, I don't believe that it had a radio either. If that is really Ken's car I have pictures from the first day when Ken brought it home from the dealership brand spanking new. I rode in that car many times. Wouldn't mind getting in touch with the present owner.

[chevelleheart]

Keith , I know the guy how has the Orange COPO now, it's in Alberta