Verifing COPO totals imported into Canada
 

In 1969 I ordered and signed off on more COPOs than anybody in Canada, all for Belmont Chev-Olds in Weston, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. Recently I came across a pile of paperwork from back then that included the official number totals of COPO Camaros imported, as well as Chevelles: 70 model 12437 with COPO 9560 & 9561 produced at Norwood, Ohio; 30 Malibu model 13637 with COPO 9566 & 9562 produced at Baltimore, Maryland. The term COPO was of course not applied exclusively to 1969 GM production but was in fact in use from at least the 1950s. The figures have been independently verified by GM Vintage Vehicle Services Inc in Oshawa. Anybody wishing to acquire data on a specific VIN can do so as usual with Vintage Vehicle Services.

Your posts are infrequent but legendary.

If you ever wonder........ hmmm would guys like Ryan find this interesting I will pre answer with a resounding yes, yes we would!!

Ryan W31

PS: hope it warms up sometime soon!!

Cool info, Lance!

copo
 

i thought the # is 75 came to Canada

Wasn't there atleast one COPO LT-1 non-yenko Nova from Canada ? Seems like I remember an article about one or two being made?

Yes,and you're thinking of the late Pete Simpson,delivered to Canada.https://www.yenko.net/features/2001/December2001.htm

There were at least two of them, and rumours of a third, but it was never proven, from what I understand.

1969 L89s
 

There were exactly 13 Camaro L89s brought new into Canada in 1969, independently verified by GM Vintage Vehicle Services Inc in Oshawa.

Hi Lance.

Any chance you can check on L89 Chevelles?

PS: one of those L89 Camaros lives near Port Elgin, owner works at the Bruce. Originally Cortez, now Tuxedo or the other way around. I saw it years ago while on holidays.

Ryan W31

I have met that same L89 Camaro owner and I cannot for the life of me think of where.

There is an Orange car, which sold to somewhere to the North Easter US. I saw the car here in Ontario, in '96, but it was totally disassembled and too much of a project for someone looking for their first car. I ended up buying the L78, which was sitting beside it.
If I had more money and/or a more understanding wife, I would have bought both.

Ironically, that same orange car was advertised for sale a few years later. This time I had the money and was looking for a second car. Unfortunately I was never able to get together with the seller, as the person advertising the car did not actually own it.

So, that makes 2 of the L89's accounted for.

L89 Chevelles
 

Sorry, no can do on Shovels

I think there was a Chevelle in the Peterborough area, might have been a COPO.

There were two COPO Chevelle’s just outside of Peterborough , a hugger orange one and a Cortez Silver ones, both owned by young GM employees. Ken Tully I think was one guy and Keith Tedford was the other

One was Tedford. I have a feeling he sold it....

'

Yep, Keith Tedford did sell his Copo 'Velle but still active on this site also on the street.
I believe Keith knows what happened to the Orange car but is the L89 Camaro Ryan mentioned above the Yellow car w/ sketchy history discussed here in past threads or another?:hmmm:
:beers:
~ Pete

.

I think that Keith said there were 3 COPO Chevelles in his area when new?


Here's Keith's silver one and his buddy's Ken's, too! I will alert him to this post.




Attachment 206526

Attachment 206527

The one I saw years ago was Black and originally Silver (or visa versa) the owner had the VVS docs out on display.


Ryan W.

I’ll admit it , I have Keith’s , since 2009. Ken Tully’s was in Calgary also for quite a
while , about 500 feet from Me , but it ended up sold in one of the Mecum Auctions last year

I thought so! Keith did say that they were really close to each other for a while...when we visited him in Canada. Ken Tully came to Keith's house when we were there :)

Correct, the owner has owned the car since 1971.

Paul

Copo Chevelles
 

Since we sold our Chevelle, I haven't been around these sites much. The third COPO Chevelle is with the original owner's son in Vancouver, the last I heard. John passed away a few short years ago. I never did have a picture of that car, but it was pretty much identical to the silver one that I had. At a GM Autofest show, Scott Gay had a light green COPO Chevelle there. A Toronto gentleman I believe.

Thanks Keith!!

Great you joined in Keith , nothing like the original owner , and +/- 35 year GM employee fill in the blanks from back in the day !

30 COPO Chevelles into Canada
 

6 to Central in London
5 to B&A Toronto
3 to Belmont
...fewer numbers to other dealers
6 of total were Exception Orders (paint)
8 X M22
8 X M21
2 X M20
12 X M40

COPO Chevelles That I Knew
 

Ken, John, and I worked together in GM Oshawa. John's brother worked in the GM Oshawa main office and was the person who gave us the heads up that the 427 cars were going to be built. Ken's car came with the M22 and John's and our car had the M20. We all bought our cars through Beare Motors, Port Perry, Ontario. I believe that Ken's car was brought in from Chevy Yonge Holdings in Toronto. I haven't seen him in a few years, but I understand that Al, the salesman who sold us our cars lives near Haliburton, Ontario.

Originally silver, now black

Canuck options cost
 

1969 Camaro Z27/L78/L89 was $910; M22 was $315; 4:10 was $2

1969 Chevelle Z25/L78/L89 was $996.80; M22 was $258.05; no entry for rear gear

From salesman issued 1969 Chevrolet-Oldsmobile Pocket Facts

Keith - did you know anyone who worked at the St Catherine’s foundry? I visited there quite a lot when worked at at Tonawanda. They were great people & great foundrymen.

I bought one of the 5 that went to B & A Chev in Toronto. That day, Oct. 1970, they had 2 green ones and 1 blue one to choose from in their compound on Avenue Rd. The salesman told me they had an orange one that went to Barrie and a yellow one which I can't remember what city it went to. Mine was green and one of the M22 cars. It also came with Uniroyal Tiger Paw whitewalls. I saw the blue one back at the dealership some months later and it was in for a new engine under warranty. It could have been the one I saw a couple of years later in Kitchener.

B&A got:

Fathom Grn/blk M22
Fathom Grn/blk M22
LeMans blu/blk M22
LeMans blu/blk M22
Exception order (paint)/blk M21

The exception Order was likely the H. Orange you mention.

Do you have the VIN of the one you had? If not, did it have factory 4:10s, ZN1 spring option? PM me, too much fraud on these puppies to broadcast details.

Cool discussion. Lance, wouldn't they all have been ordered with 4.10s?

4:10s was a G84 option and only 10 of the 30 Chevelles into Canada show it in their individual data, including 1 I ordered at Belmont. Other than that I don't recall what the standard issue rear gear was. I will check further, though, and see what I can come up with

Dave Mackay, my bud at Belmont that handled customers and paperwork, says 4:10s were indeed standard.

'

Were any Canadian cars Copo 9511 as req'd for '69 w/ factory 4:56 or 4:88 rears?
Great stuff Lance, thanks for sharing!
:beers:
~ Pete

.

My car had ZQ9 REAR AXLE PERFORMANCE PACKAGE on the GM sheet from George , but
I’ve never been able to find any GM info on that. Just assumed it was the 4.10, but if anybody has info on that ???? That would be great..

ZQ9 - ordering code for Performance Axle Ratio (powertrain dependent, see powertrain charts).

Thx Kurt , rats I still can’t seem to find anything , but the car is a 69 Chevelle and drivetrain is L78, M21 close ratio .

None of the data on the 70 COPO Camaros into Canada indicate anything but the standard 4:10, including the 1 ZL1, although I expect there were some with optional rear gears on either side of the 4:10s; I believe 4:88s were only over-the-counter, not assembly line available. It is entirely likely GM simply didn't bother entering the gear option on the microfiche reports. On the other hand they did frequently on Corvettes, so go figure.