Buying a ZL1 in 1969

[442w30]

I was chatting with a Mopar guy yesterday and he said his old car may possibly may be the most expensive muscle car ever built. It cost around $6200 in 1971, which is about $1000 more than most loaded muscle cars during that time.

However, I pointed out that the Camaro ZL1 was a lot more expensive (purposely we avoided including Corvettes in this conversation). He claims that a person couldn't go to a dealership and buy a ZL1, and that a dealership ended up having to buy 50 of them in order to get them. I didn't think that was the case - sure, Fred Gibb ordered 50 of them (and possibly initiated the ZL1's existence), but in the end the ZL1 wasn't just a fleet-order special, judging by the subsequent 19 built.

Or was it?

Hoping you experts may be able to shed some light on this and dispel or support his hypothesis.

[SuperNovaSS]

What was the muscle car he bought?

Jason

[William]

COPOs 9560 & 9561 were COPOs for a reason-they were special orders involving non-RPO equipment that required engineering involvement. Legend has it that a minimum run of 50 cars was required for a COPO proposal. Once that hurdle was cleared and the COPO was approved other dealers could and did order them. I believe both Fred Gibb and Don Yenko assumed they had exclusive rights to their respective COPOs. Chevrolet ended up taking back most of the Gibb ZL-1s; Yenko stated in an interview they had a very hard time selling them.

So technically any dealer could order either COPO. The most expensive ZL-1s were the two Rally-Sports #55 & #68. Docs for #68 indicate a list price of $7919 about twice the price of an average Z/28 at the time.

This was not a well-managed program. Gibb was told the COPO would cost about $2000; final list price was $4160. Gibb couldn't sell them and by May '69 37 of them were sent back to Norwood. However at the same time another Chevy dealer in Illinois 65 miles from Gibb ordered & received two more; Orange and Silver 4-speeds just like other ZL-1s wasting away on Gibb's lot.

http://www.camaros.org/copo.shtml

[442w30]

Jason, the car was a 1971 Hemi GTX.

[njsteve]

My old 71 hemi Charger sunroof car was more than $6400. He's not even close.

[442w30]

Oh really? Didn't think to check with you to see what it was new.

Yours sold new in MD?

[Tracker1]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SuperNovaSS</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What was the muscle car he bought?

Jason </div></div>

This one. And it was $6600

http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/1305-1971-plymouth-gtx-ultimate-hemi/

...and where does he think the original owners of ZL1 Camaros got their cars? Amazon.com?

[442w30]

That's the one - I thought it was $6200? Hmmm....

[njsteve]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 442w30</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Oh really? Didn't think to check with you to see what it was new.

Yours sold new in MD? </div></div>

Yup. The orange and white one in Wellborn's collection, that didn't meet reserve at Mecum Kissimmee.

[442w30]

Still my favorite '71. :-)

[jannes_z-28]

Wasn't the number of 50 units required for NHRA-approval to be run as a Stock class racer? And that was the reason for Gibb ordering 50 of them, to be sure he could go racing.

[PeteLeathersac]

Did Yenko retail any of the 9560 cars?
What dealer codes result w/ current NCRS searches of the redistributed Gibb car Vins?
<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif
~ Pete

[William]

I believe that is true about the 50 unit minimum for NHRA.

Pete that is an interesting question. Gibb distributed some of the cars on his own so I believe those would show Gibb as the dealer of record. The cars returned to Norwood were removed from his inventory and GMAC records.

There is no reason to believe Yenko had a ZL1 Camaro. There was no mention of it in the 1987 MCR interview with Don Yenko. 10 of the re-distributed Gibb ZL1s ended up in PA.