69 COPO Camaro in Car Craft

[southernfriedcj]

Originally Posted by ZAPPER68

the car's first owner was a kid that had just graduated from high school and his Grandmother bought him the car as a grad present.

That has got to be the world's best grandma!

[rszmjt]

There seems to be some confusion regarding the yellow COPO in this post, they are 2 different cars, the RS COPO in the Car Craft article which at that time was owned by Len Perham of Ca is a Canadian Delivered COPO , it was originally delivered to the GM zone office in Saskatchewan /Canada , then went to Ted Brooks Chevrolet in Calgary/Alberta. Despite what the article says it was not restored in Detroit, I did a lot of the restoration in Calgary, Alberta in the late 90,s, for a local car collector who actually sold it to Jim @ Heartbeat, who I think sold it to Len, it has since been bought back by that Calgary owner and still resides in his local collection today. The picture of it in the car show was from Calgary World of Wheels, and another friend built the display which is still with the car today . This car is 650313. The 140 mph speedo was a NOS speedo and did not come in the car originally. This RS COPO came originally with small hubcaps and steel wheels which are back on the car today. I hope this clarifies this post.

[61 vert]

Was Ray Wood the fireman from Mason City that had the original car in this post restored? Met him several times at Des Moines Goodguys and a couple other shows. Super nice guy.

[carnut4life]

Yes, Ray had recently retired as a fireman when I first met him back in 2015 and was indeed a super nice guy. If remeber correctly, he bought the car for $2000 back in 1972 so he had the pleasure of owning the car for 47 years.

I read this entire thread again today after the post about the yellow/yellow Canadian COPO came up and norticed an earlier post stating this car has it's origianl drivetrain which I beleive is only partially true since it has a CE block in it. The original owner blew a headgasket when the car had 5 or 6k on it and instead or repairing the original engine a CE replacement block was installed under warranty. Some might argue that it still has its original drivetrain since the block was replaced under warranty but I'm not an authority on anything so I'm staying out of that debate. Ray had paperwork documenting the CE block or it was written in the owners manual, I can't remember for sure. The amount of paperwork he had for the car amazing, no window stcker but he did have the original car shipper for it. I'm in no way trying to knock the car or Ray's memory but wanted to make sure the correct information about the car is known since it will eventually have a new owner or be discussed at a later date.

While I know this car particularly well, I never had the privledge of riding in it. After the restoration, Ray kept it in one of those clear, positive pressure tents to keep it from getting dusty and every time I was there the weather wasn't nice enough for him to get it out and take me for a spin. Thanks again for everything Ray, you were a great caretaker for this car!

[rszmjt]

Originally Posted by ZAPPER68

Interesting...one of the exported yellow COPO's (with a yellow hounds tooth interior) was owned by my neighbour back in the Day.

We lived in a small prairie town in Canada that was a hot bed for high performance cars. My neighbours name is Rod Leeson and a few years ago he sent me a picture of his restored car at the 'World of Wheels' show in Calgary. He doesn't own it now and hasn't for years....

Rod was the second owner of the car...the car's first owner was a kid that had just graduated from high school and his Grandmother bought him the car as a grad present. Rod told me the kid didn't keep the car too long as it scared him and Rod bought the car off of a dealers lot shortly there after.

Rod is still around and his brother Norris lives close by me today...Their mother is still alive and she is close to 100 now.

The picture of Rod with the car is in my computer at work, I'll dig it out if anyone is interested. One more detail now that I think of it, Rod's COPO had aluminum heads on it!

The Canadian delivered RS COPO never came with aluminum heads as far I know, I saw the car in 1973 the first time, it sat on “Lionel Cres in Lakeview district/Calgary AB , I tried to buy it at that time but it had a hefty lien still registered against it so I passed. At that time it had cast iron heads. Next time I saw it was Jan/1975, it was in A-1 Auto body in Calgary , just off Macleod Trail, it was having some repair work done on the 1/4”s, at that time both head rests were missing and it had Cowl induction emblems on the hood.

As far as the drivetrain I know the block is probably not the original, trans and diff assembly are for sure the original parts to the car. This car was in Okotoks Alberta for many years, till Steve Eisenberg (Super sports Classic in Calgary ) bought it , and collected many NOS parts for it before selling it to a local Corvette collector who had Specialty Restoration in Dewinton Ab do the paint & body. I built the motor/trans/diff/suspension and installed all into the painted rolling chassis about 1999/2000, as well as Headlight assembly’s/wiring/brakes/exhaust etc and misc interiors parts etc, I finished it at 4.30 am the morning of World of Wheels car show in Calgary, where it won everything at that time for awards.

The original motor never went into a ski boat, that was a rumor made up by local individuals.
The motor/heads out of the car still are in Okotoks and it is not the original block, I’ve checked it while on the hunt for the original block.

[firstgenaddict]

It shows Z28 stripes on the invoice... and order sheet...
Was the car delivered with z28 stripes?

As far as the AL heads... the car I found at Cars and Coffee -King Chev Lemans blue copo with style trim and rear antenna... On this board there was a King chev newspaper ad which listed the same specs on a car and listed it as 427 with aluminum heads prior to it's delivery.

Someone I believe stated that the COPO's maybe were going to be equipped with AL heads.

[PeteLeathersac]

'

...On this board there was a King chev newspaper ad which listed the same specs on a car and listed it as 427 with aluminum heads prior to it's delivery...


Here's the Light-Headed King Chevrolet ad...

~ Pete

.

[William]

From the ad:

"These cars due in soon."

They may have thought it was part of the package but it wasn't. Now there is a thread speculating that a COPO Chevelles had aluminum heads.

What Kurt said on this thread years ago still holds true:

Al heads on a COPO? I don't think it happened. No docs, no engine codes, no cars, etc.

No need to continue repeating this 'aluminum head' yarn.

[PeteLeathersac]

'

No Suffix Codes for Alloy Head L72's is enough to confirm none were factory built/shipped.
How's the known LB 9561 King Chevy car build date match up w/ the possibility of being the one in the 12/68 ad?


~ Pete

.

[William]

There is a rough correlation between the body number and the order acceptance date. Not to be confused with the date on the dealer order paperwork because it wasn’t a firm order until Central Office confirmed it. N648989/NOR297175 was confirmed about March 24, 1969 and final assembled on or about May 27, 1969. Not likely it is the same car.

What is more interesting is that they knew about the COPO that early. No COPOs had been built yet and there was reason to believe that Gibb and Yenko had exclusive rights to them as there were administrative charges involved. Must have had a ‘hook’ at Chevrolet.