Unusual X-44 69 Camaro?

[MotownMadman]

So far the people on this site have had some knowledgable answers to some questions I have had, so here goes. I bought a 69 Camaro off the east coast last year that has me baffled. The VIN is 124379N678055 Cowl tag, 110948BDY, 727, 50 50 08E X44. I bought this car from the third owner who had never titled the car, he ran a dealer plate. He told me the second owner had said he had bought the car in the seventies minus engine, transmission, radiator and hood. Second owner claims the first owner said the car had a big block, turbo 400, the mechanic who was rebuilding the blown engine disappeared and when he picked up the car engine and trans, hood and radiator were gone. The second owner painted the car green with white stripes with a flat hood, added hefty small block with Z-28 upper half, put on emblems to look like a Z-28. That owner claims to have done nothing else to the car in the way of adding anything, which seems to have a ring of truth to it as he would not shell out the extra cash for a cowl hood. Here is the odd part. I have been all over this car and everything except what I mentioned appears original to this car, their is red paint under the green on the hood. The car has endura front bumper with white under the green, has disc brakes that look like they have been on the car 33 years, has the big front sway bar, dry rotted rubber bushings, has big block heater box, 3/8 fuel line, plate on the drivers side under the exhaust hanger which matches passenger side, 5 leaf rear springs, 12 bolt 4:10 BU rear end with correct date codes, (I would have posted these except for the foot of snow and dark out), all the attaching bolts for everything under this car appear untouched. Car has the rear spoiler with heavy tension rods, rosewood wheel and dash, tilt column, console gauges, 7000/6000 tach, the interior appears original including the carpeting. Mileage on this car is 39,000 which I do believe to be accurate, the title shows 21,000 actual in the early eighties when second owner sold it and third owner only drove it occasionally with dealer plate. The overall conditon of the car supports the mileage as it is the nicest, tightest, unrestored Camaro I have ever driven. It doesnt support COPO due to the BU rear, but X-44 being base car, this thing is loaded with untouched original options including all the big block trim. Also, it has the original wiring and switches on the firewall for the induction hood. I have owned a lot of Camaros, 16 right now, and I have never seen anything quite like this. I will post photos if it will help. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Thanks. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Jeff H]

Sounds interesting. My first thought was if the mechanic took the engine/trans/radiator/hood and disappeared, he might have swapped the rear as well. With all the COPO indicators you say are on the car, it's hard to imagine someone knew all the details to try and build a fake COPO way back then. I would check the rear closely to see if there's any sign it was removed or replaced at some time.

[Leonard]

Like Jeff stated, check the rear end again. You said it had a BU 4:10? BU is a 3:73 posi, BV would be correct for 4:10 posi. Also check to see if the exhaust plate on drivers side rear frame rail is original.Then check out the paint or crayon marking applied on the upper rear seat brace on passenger side. Should be X4 if the trim tag has not been switched. Your body seq # on trim tag seems to match your VIN Build date. X44 and the dual exhaust plate is a good indication that it could be a COPO. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[MotownMadman]

Have a lot of people wanted to see a photo of this car after mentioning in another post I may let it go, first time posting pics to this board so if it doesnt work bear with me. The original steering wheel I have, its the same three spoke wheel except has the black rubber/vinyl rim. [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]