The mistery COPO car

[little bastered]

I have owned a 1969 Camaro for 27 years .Here is the story .The car was bough new in Hudson QC Canada as a x44 with the Canadian sticker on the in side fender .It was then brought to the Peace River country in AB by the owner Pietro Ghisu an Italian brick layer that worked on a Government building . When he was done he went back to Italy My neighbour bought the car and because it was very fast he dragged it on the track in Edmonton for two years and then some local town streets .The cops then gave him two choices sell the car or we lock you up .A fellow in Dawson Creek BC bought it .His wife after a few donuts on a shopping trip down town with the kids decide that it is for sale like now .I then bought it. In Canada numbers wern't important as we knew most of the history of our cars .I did a search of the numbers a few years later and found out this car, that has all the Z28 components has a COPO drive line . A M22 close ratio tranny and a BE 410 COPO rear end .The question is who did this to the in 69 .They would have to get all the Z28 parts and the COPO parts from the factory or a wrecked car .It has a 302 DZ motor ,15" wheels with a spare set of 8" wheel for slicks .front disc breaks ,electric ignition cowl induction hood ,the correct dash and hursh shift on a full council with gages .headers , ect.The car has 40,000 miles on it and is in great shape . We use to drag on a main hiway No 2 on a Sunday and one of the runs it beat a 426 Hemi Supebird.I have it sitting beside my sons 69 Stage 1 GS Buick that is no slouch either .Was there a muscle car builder in Montreal or was this done in Michigan ?

[mockingbird812]

Welcome George. Interesting story. Have u checked with GM of Canada, George Zapora? All Canadian built Chevys from that era have a build record in this database.


905.440.7689

george.zapora@cc.gm.ca (mailto:george.zapora@cc.gm.ca)


Let's see some photos of your car and BE rearend stamping.

[the427king]

Here is a link to another canadian copo with "misterious" edition mentioned by the seller,w type Z28 stripes .I believe also from Montreal ...............http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255992

[the427king]

pic

[mockingbird812]

Link (http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255992)

[the427king]

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223953 Another link from team chevelle .

[jannes_z-28]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: little bastered</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> I have owned a 1969 Camaro for 27 years .Here is the story </div></div>

Have you checked the VIN stampings on the gearbox and compared to the VIN on the car?

Since it has X44 on the trimtag it wasn't a Z/28 from the start but could be a COPO that they put a smallblock in.

Check your VIN with George Zapora and you'll get all the answers.

Good Luck

Jan

[BARRY]

HI this camaro did it ever live in northern ontario and what is the vin #

[little bastered]

I have got the GM stuff from Geroge Z .I have also talked to Jeery MacNeish The vin is ST 69 12437 NOR 605095 BDY TR, 711, 57 57 PNT, 02D, x44, Motor block 3970010 Vo421 DZ Bought at Lakewood Motors Hudson QC .What is interesting is it has more Z28 parts then a X-77 The builder knew alot about the Camros to do this in 1969 and when he could have bought a Z28 cheeper than doing this .The rearend is BE 0416 G2 410 .M22 D9 R 11 9N5 38 The second owner lives 7 miles from me and every time he sees the car he has to go on valium for a couple of weeks ,He's a speed freek .One time when he was set to go on the strip in Edmonton the lights came down the pole ,he had the car reved right up and poped the clutch .The car jumped back hiting some guys .&quot; BIG inquire&quot;? He had the muncie in reverse .Lot's more stories about him .Thanks for the comments guys .

[camaromb]

So what did the GM Canada docs show the car was sold new as? I have heard of a few Z28s that had BE 12 bolts in them originally.

[the427king]

At first I thought you were saying the car was a 427 copo that had a Z motor and parts added [and certainly wondered who would do that ] , but i think you mean COPO because the Z parts were added to a base X44 car?

[little bastered]

They said it was a 12437 coupe with a 350, 250HP motor 14&quot; wheels . Feb 28 1969. That had no resemblance to what we saw in 1969 .My geuss is that the car was bought with the intention of building it into a race car for the 5 litre class There has to be some body around Montreal that knows this car .George

[little bastered]

The transmission and rear end is COPO parts .

[mockingbird812]

that was very confusing to me as well! <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif

[Zedder]

I started playing with Camaros in 1979 and there were already tons of fake Z-28's and SS's on the road back then. It was just something everyone did when they fixed-up an old Camaro (even though they were just 10 - 12 years old). We put whatever drivetrain parts we could find from a wrecked car or a rusted out car. We built a '67 SS from a 327/210 car that had no rust and a wrotted out original SS350. All of the SS parts went onto that car except the trim tag and vin tags (frankly, we didn't have a clue what the letters on the trim tag meant back then other than the color <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif ). There wasn't a huge difference in price between a real car and a fake as long as the fake was well done and most times the seller would disclose that the car was a a fake - it wasn't like it is today with people going to great lengths to hide the fact that their car is a fake!

That rear would fit within the build date of the Copo I know was in the Dawson area in the early 70's.

[jannes_z-28]

There are some digits missing from the gearbox. 9N5 38 is just partially from the VIN it should be 9NXXXXXX

Jan

Can you post up all the #'s from the transmission. Why do you think the parts were changed in Montreal? Is it possible the guy that raced it for 2 years in Edmonton or the guy from Dawson Creek could have added the parts from locally available sources.

[little bastered]

These parts were in the car when it came to Grimshaw. Garry the second owner changed the carberator when he had it and Don in Dawson Creek painted it yellow and black strips to sell it, that I'll have to redo. The question is where did the COPO parts come from? BE rearends wern't sold over the counter at the local garage in 69 .My geuss is that they came from a wrecked COPO car .I have it in storage but I'll see if I can get more #s from the M22

[little bastered]

These parts were in the car when it came to Grimshaw. Garry the second owner changed the carberator when he had it and Don in Dawson Creek painted it yellow and black strips to sell it, that I'll have to redo. The question is where did the COPO parts come from? BE rearends wern't sold over the counter at the local garage in 69 . It's easy to rebuild a car when it is 10 years old but when it is just about new it would be hard to get the parts My geuss is that it was done by a profesional car builder that had access to COPO parts and Z28 parts .I have it in storage but I'll see if I can get more #s from the M22

George I sent you a PM. There will be a flash on My Stuff to alert you its there. Frank

[little bastered]

I just talked to Gary the second owner and he gave me the original manual that came with the car .He traded a ELcameno for it and $2500 cash in 1969 .He confermed that it was equipt with all the Z28 and COPO parts when he bought it as a used car at the GM Dealer 14 Miles from here .The car was Fathom green with white tripes on the hood and trunk .

[SuperNovaSS]

Did the owner's manual come with the warranty manual? That will answer alot of questions.


Jason

George you are saying he bought it as a used car from the GM dealer 14 miles from here. Is that 14 miles from someplace in Alberta or are you talkig about some other place?

[little bastered]

Garry the second owner bought it from Houlder Automotive GM Dealer in Grimshaw AB .in 1969 when the original owner Peitro Ghiso left it there for sale when he went back to Italy .He only changed the carburetor .Every thing else was on the car when he bought it . Houlders are still in buisness in Grimshaw .I have since got the Holly 800 for it . The 1969 Camaro Chevelle and Nova owners book had nothing writen on it other then Garry put his name on it when he bought it .He had the motor blue printed and balanced when he was racing it in Edmonton .He said he blew two clutches on the track racing