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Chevy454 · #1 12-14-2005, 10:34 PM

January 2006 Feature Car:Andy Meyers' 1969 COPO Camaro

<table width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td align="middle" width="100%">SPECS:</td></tr></tbody></table><table borderColor="#000000" height="150" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Engine (factory):</td><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">L72 427/425hp</td></tr> <tr><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Trans (factory):</td><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">THM400 automatic</td></tr> <tr><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Rear (factory):</td><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">4.10 posi</td></tr> <tr><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Exterior color (factory):</td><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Le Mans Blue</td></tr><tr><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Interior color:</td><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Standard Black</td></tr>

<tr><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">COPO options:</td><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">9561 & 9737</td></tr>

<tr><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Selling Dealer:</td><td vAlign="top" align="center" width="50%" height="21">Berger Chevrolet - Grand Rapids, MI</td></tr></tbody></table>

Let me start at the begining, with the story of how my stepson won the car in a contest. No entry fee, no tickets to buy, and no attached value when they gave the car away. I had no idea what he was talking about when he called me and said that he had won a Camaro. All I knew was that my dream to own a big block Camaro had just come true. I graduated from High School in 1969, and I have lusted after a car like this ever since then.

Kevin Eastman, the co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was trying to promote a new series that he created called "Melting Pot". He decided, for whatever reason, that he would give away this Camaro, which he claimed that when he bought it had a 302DZ motor, but after doing some research he discovered that it was indeed a COPO. His dad, Kim Eastman, is a professional restorer up in Maine, but he does Vintage racers mostly. Anyway, Kim Eastman bought the motor that is in the car today, which is mostly an L-88 long block with the correct intake but a 750 Holley from Jegs on top. Everything on the car is stock, even if they are the wrong part numbers. Anyway, when he decided to run this contest, he removed the hood, crated it up and shipped it to Simon Bisley in England. Simon is a world famous comic artist who has worked for DC Comics and drawn Batman, Judge Dredd, and many other characters. His work is always up on Ebay. Simon airbrushed, signed and dated the hood with the main character of Melting Pot, "Lord Tyler". This hood has been on my stepson's livingroom wall for the past 9 years, and is worth more than the car to him. Pictures just cannot do justice to the airbrush work. Its Unbelievable.

The car arrived in October of '94, and I started doing research from the time we got the car, but it wasn't until 2004 that I got an NICB report saying that it was sold new at Berger Chevrolet, and shipped on 6/2/69. It had 14K on the clock it when I got it titled in OH, and now has about 21.5K. I drive it at least once a week during the good weather, and I have a cigar box full of dash plaques to prove it.

Since we got the car in '94, the brakes have been replaced, new horns and a new wiper motor was were installed, the motor was totally rebuilt in 2003, with only the crank and 5 of the rods reused, and the rear end was removed and rebuilt in 2004. This car was LeMans Blue when new, and had an M40 automatic. It also had a center console. My goal is to have the M40 installed by SCR9. I have a little write up that I put on the radiator support about the car that explains that it's a "Double COPO", that the paint job is at least 17 years old, that it's incorrect, incomplete and a blast to drive. It still has the original rear end, the curved neck radiator, the 140 speedo with the center gas gauge and the 7K tach. I have never taken it to the track, but I've been told it's fast. I just call it my "anti-depressant". [write-up courtesy Andy Meyers]


Coming off the trailer from MA...

Stepson washing off an impressive layer of dust that came with the car...

Next is our first look at the motor. It still looks pretty much like this even after being rebuilt...

Next is the interior from 7/'95. If you blow up the speedo, it shows just shy of 15K.

Next is my first attempt at photographing the hood. Ever try to photograph a black car during the day?

That night I left my common sense in the house, climbed a ladder up to the garage roof, and got the best photo of the hood to date. (I don't even need my wife to tell me never to do this again).