RogerD's 1969 Dick Harrell Chevelle

[Schonyenko2]

Did you get a full factory warranty 5yrs/50k miles, or 90 days? Did you get to meet Dick H. and the guys from the performance center? I've always thought that there should be way more of these cars out there than have been found. Dick had to be running quite a few through the shop to keep the doors open. Did you see any other 69's there being converted or worked on. Maybe you could shed some light on cars that havn't been found, or even known to exist. I knew of a 69 convert 427 Chevelle that ran the streets up here that came from that area. It had emblems on it similar to yours. Ever see it down there?

[RogerD]

There were two other Dick Harrell cars on Bill Allens lot the day I bought my 69 Chevelle - one was a Camaro for sure but I don't recall if the other was a Chevelle or Camaro. Don't know of any other DHPC cars and have never come across a single one out in the real world. . .

A friend loaned me a "Chevrolet by the numbers" book this evening - I noticed the following in section #2, 1969 Engine Code Identification:

MODEL . . . ENGINE . . HP . . TRANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SUFFIX
Chevelle . . 427 . . . . 425 . . COPO 9562 4 SP. . . . . . . . . . . . . MP
Chevelle . . 427 . . . . 425 . . COPO 9562 TURBOHYDRAMATIC. . . MQ

The Bill Allen Customer Invoice specifies Motor number "TO409 MP"
I suspect a typo somewhere . . .

[camarojoe]

Yep, I'd say so... MP or MQ. Either one would be a COPO 427 code. Proof enough for me this wasn't any SS or Malibu...Awesome! Hope you have plans for a professional resto on this car, its gonna be a killer! Congrats!!!!

[bkhpah]

The Yenko Chevelle we are working on has - - for its 76 Daytona Yellow paint. We have restored a number of DH cars, including a Fathom Green 427 COPO Camaro. So without question DH used COPO cars..BKH

[RogerD]

I've been advised that the Colvin book has a typo and the correct code for the 69 COPO with auto trans is “MP” So, my car started out in life at the KAN (Leeds) plant as a COPO, was delivered to DHPC some time after the 3rd week of July, 1969 where DHPC did it's magic.

DHPC removed the AIR equipment, plugged the AIR holes in the exhaust manifolds, marked the harmonic balancer at 40 degrees, removed one of the two distributor weights, timed it at 38 deg/3,000 RPM, installed a Sun tach on the steering column via stainless steel hose clamp, installed hood locks and painted hood stripes, installed the large V8 emblems on the sides and the DHPC emblem to the deck lid, generated the "Dealer to Whom Delivered" (Bill Allen Chevrolet) MSRP "Window Sticker" that I still have (40 years later). Then, delivered to Bill Allen Chevrolet (perhaps the 2nd week or into the 3rd week of August) to be sold, I drove by Tuesday, Aug 19th, 1969 on my way to work (Whitaker Cable - about 3 or 4 blocks down the street from Bill Allen Chevrolet) and bought it (BRAND NEW)

Originally Posted by bkhpah

The Yenko Chevelle we are working on has - - for its 76 Daytona Yellow paint. We have restored a number of DH cars, including a Fathom Green 427 COPO Camaro. So without question DH used COPO cars..BKH

[Keith Tedford]

Colvin's book is definitely wrong. We have the MQ code engine and ours has the M20 behind it. What a car to get back.

[camarojoe]

Did I mention this is awesome? Not only is it indeed a COPO, tweaked by Dick Harrell, but its also documented with that Bill Allen invoice. Not too often one has to convice an owner his Malibu is really a COPO, it's usually the other way around! You should be very excited!

[Keith Tedford]

I used to have people walking away in mid conversation when I mentioned having a factory 427 Chevelle. They thought that they were being BSd. Can't blame them. These cars did indeed come with the 5-50 warranty. I don't know how GM looked at them after being modified by others. I still got warranty work done after installing headers with no problems. If everyone keeps beating the bushes, a few more might just show up.

[Schonyenko2]

It's interesting that the Allen invoice is written up the way it is. Dealer invoices usually use COPO nomaclature like "special high performance unit" rather than 427/450 hp. It's written up kinda like a Yenko window sticker that wanted you to think it was a transplant. I wonder if Dick H. was doing the same thing.
I wonder how this Allen invoice looks compared to what Ray Morrison has from his Gibb/Harrell Nova.
Has there been new documents found from DHPC? It was my understanding that they were lost in a flood and none existed. Is Valerie H. saying she has docs on your car and maybe others?

[Keith Tedford]

Being an original owner, Ray would be a good one to talk to. My bill of sale shows the 9566AA option and the price I paid. Back in '69, I was pretty sure that the Yenko Chevelles were based on COPOs but I don't believe that they were advertised as such.