Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

Okay, that's great! I'll do that.

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

Don't use anything abrasive on cleaning the axle tube! It could ruin the stamping.

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

I too saw the ad on Craigslist and called the guy. He was a little difficult to get info from as he said the car was his dads and he didn't know much about it. I tried to get some info from him,including the axle code. I'm in Fort Myers for the winter and it's a hike up to where the car was, east of Orlando, so I didn't make it up there to look at it myuself. Plus, I think he said he had to be at work by noon, so it was a two day venture for me.

Hopefully the car does tun out to be a COPO for you. Sounds promising so far. If so, I'll probably kick myself for not going up, but on the other it is probably better off in your hands than mine and having to figure out how to get a car in pieces back to Michigan.

Good luck, hope it works out for you!!!

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

How do you know it has heavy duty suspension? You cannot tell just by looking at it. You would need paperwork to confirm. I tend to agree with NovaMob on the body # not lining up. That would be a real stretch for a COPO.

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

If it is an X11 and has clear signs of being a bigblock car it must be a COPO.

How does the trans cross member look? http://www.camaros.org/trans.shtml#Crossmembers

Here is the location of the axlecode.
http://www.camaros.org/drivetrain.shtml#axle

Jan

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

I was never really made aware of any real signs that it was a true BB car, other than the radiator. Not saying that it's not, but the previous owner just wasn't that helpful over the phone.
I also sent April pix of BE stamping, CX tag and George Zapora's # in case it may have been a Canadian car. Also recommended that she get pix from when it was raced in PA, post them here and attempt to locate past owners for possible documentation

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

Okay, I was able to get under the car this morning and look at the axle tubing and transmission again. I can't get a good look on the tag for the transmission but the first letter is definitely a C and the second letter looks like it could be an X or A. I wish I could see it better. The year (next two numbers) however looks like it might have a 7 or a 2 which would mean it isn't the original transmission, but again I can't see it very well and I'm upside down using a mirror.
For the exciting part... I found the stamping on the rear axle tubing. There has been a ladder bar welded to the tube and it appears the tube was sanded down a bit probably to weld on the ladder bar. The numbers are very hard to read but I can clearly make out E 0510G and from what I am reading in Jerry MacNeish's book the next number would have to be a 2 because you can see the curve of the top of the 2. The E is directly beside the weld. My husband was laughing at me because I was screaming "There's an E!!! I found an E!!!" In addition, it also has to positraction code of letter E underneath the other numbers. And I did confirm it is the 12 bolt rear end. I think I'm excited, but I'm scared to get too excited!
NovaMob has a good idea about finding pictures from when it was racing. In addition to racing in PA we also know it was raced in the SE circuit for NHRA for years. There has to be some information on this car somewhere. I have a few pics that I have taken of the car but I have to figure out where I can put them so I can link to them from this site for people to see.
The previous owner had a lot of personal things going on and wasn't really in a good place. He just wanted it gone. Everytime he looked at it he thought of his dad who has passed away within the last few months. Maybe, as he goes through the grieving process we will be able to get more information from him.

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

Were you able to detect a color on the CA or CX trans. tag?...Black..yellow.

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

Posting pictures of the stampings (trans/rear) or other questionable items would take a lot of the guesswork out of the equation.

Re: Need help - 69 COPO Camaro?
 

It's really almost impossible to see the trans tag from the angle with a mirror and a spotlight and the space is so tight I can't get a camera in there. I didn't see a color but I have a very bright light reflecting off of it so I'm really not sure. I'm probably not going to be able to get a picture of the tag without dropping the transmission and since I don't think it's the right one it is doubtful I will do that. Right now the car has a racing 454 and a built Turbo 400 transmission. I think its safe to assume when he took the engine out, he took the trans out too. :-)
Also, as I have said in an earlier post the original engine was with the car until a few years ago. If I can find the motor and get the guy to at least let me take a picture of any identifying numbers still on the motor I think this would go a long way in helping to identify the car. They didn't put the 427 motor in non-copo cars, did they?
As for the the numbers on the rear axle, I tried to take pics of them today with my iPhone. That didn't work out too well so I will try again tomorrow with a digital camera and see if I get better results. As I said before I need to figure out where to put the pics online so I can provide a link.
The previous owner's dad told him the car was a copo. When he bought the car over 25 years ago it was a racecar and had always been a racecar. That was all that mattered which explains why some very important pieces to determine if it is or isn't a copo are missing. This would also explain why someone would've welded over part of the BE on the axle tube. I also feel very fortunate considering how long the car has been a racecar that they didn't cut into the dash to mount the roll bars and that I still have some interior pieces as well. The car even still has the original headliner and interior light.