Back in the late 60s, some Chevrolet dealers were able to order cars through their Central Office Production Order (COPO) program. This program was intended for dealers to order fleet vehicles with specific options but was soon used to order Camaros, Novas, and Chevelles with larger than “stock” engines including the ZL1 427 cubic inch V8. You can read more about the COPO program here on chevrolet.com. This car is a 1969 Camaro and it can be found here on eBay with an asking price of $175,000. If you think that is a huge amount, according to Hagerty.com, the average price for this car is $114,000 with Concours examples valued at $200,000. With only about 1,000 COPOs ordered in 1969, they are among the rarest Camaros made. Have a closer look at this beautiful car and thanks to Larry D. for the tip on this one.
Now located in Saint Louis, Missouri, this specific car was ordered new by Kris Mehen of New Castle, Indiana. As with most COPO cars, they were ordered specifically for drag racing. This one was campaigned by Mr. Mehen in B/Stock under the name “Hoosier Hell” and held the IHRA World Record at one point. The 425 horsepower 427 saw mileage 1/4 mile at a time and the original odometer only shows 600 actual miles! The seller estimates 67 miles were due to races which would calculate to about 240 trips down the track.
The interior is original, which appears to be in really nice condition. It is unclear if the interior was stripped for racing, then re-installed or if it was raced in factory trim. As you can see the shifter for the Muncie 4-speed is right where the driver can reach it to slam gears.
The plain white exterior on this car certainly puts it in the “sleeper” category. Underneath lie the COPO-standard F41 suspension and 12-bolt Posi rear end. Overall, this is an awesome car that is a piece of history. Do you know anyone that used the COPO program to order a new car?
On one hand it’s a shame that cars like this are destined to become static displays. The “sleeper” look is of no concern, as the cost of this one ensures that it more than likely will never again line up against any competitor on the street or strip. Preserve it for history or drive it and decrease the value….you can’t have your cake and eat it too! GLWTA!! :-)
My sentiments exactly. Will sit in a museum for sure.
A few years ago there was an unrestored 1969 COPO Camaro at a local car show. It looked like it had a hard life but it was the most interesting car at the show.
I’d give up my firstborn for this! (Just kidding, honey!)
How many would give up their significant other or their left……arm for this?
Yeah , that’s true most people want to see it line up , and run down the strip also but it’s nice to see them in this condition . If you owned it ,it would suck to drive it and be limited to your miles and value . I would much rather drive and enjoy than watch in your storage building forever . This car I bet would be one of the lowest original miles COPO Camaro’s . Ordered for racing for sure .
Imagine explaining to your insurance company how the car flipped a couple of times while “driving” over by the local drag strip.
Obviously, someone is racing, but that would either be a potential $175K loss or some really spendy insurance.
Beautiful car but cars like this are what make a good case for clone’s you can have the fun without the guilt personally if i could afford a car like this i would drive it, race it, and just generally enjoy the hell out of it, they were meant to go fast so that’s just what I’d do
The plane steel wheels, solid no -stripe paint job, cowl induction hood, and more or less all business attitude of this COPO Camaro are a dead giveaway at least now, that full on 427 inches of rat Chevy are under the hood. At the very least. A tribute may have more, a lot more like 500 plus cubes.
Seeing an original like this is mind boggling! It looks brand new as it would’ve appeared in 1969. You know, that was really a long frigging time ago by the way. I suppose the plain wheels were gonna be replaced by whatever teams idea of wheel and tire they chose so why offer rallys. I’m sure full length headers, maybe tuned headers, and a host of other tricks were improvised back then. It was all about the Winning of races.
A true thriller of a ride.
What a gorgeous car !
Can’t afford it, got no space for it and now can’t get this out of my head.
I’m so screwed… thanks alot Barnfinds.
There was one at a local car show about 3 years ago. Very clean but most walked right past as the original silver lacquer was dull, and no trim or stripes, no console, just the 427,Turbo 400 on the column and a 12 bolt. I had to explain to my pal what a COPO car was, as a custom ordered race car. This one was pretty kool, as it had gobs of rubber dingleberries hanging off the bottom of the 1/4 ‘s from liquifying the tires.
I know how that is. There was a 69 Pontiac Trans Am convertible at a show and people just walked by it. I of course stopped knowing what it was. I asked the owner if it was real. No he cloned it. What are the chances of ever seeing one of the 8.
I seen one at Lakeland motor speedway in Memphis at the spring nationals in 1979. Didn’t know at the time just how rare it was.
IMO it should be in a museum. It is a symbol of a time that will never come back. The real shame is nobody under 50 years old could give a fig about it and at the rate we are going, 20 years from now, no one will be able to drive it. It was sure fun while it lasted.
As a 35 year old, I gotta disagree with you. I worshipped all American classics my whole life, 1st generation F bodies and C2 Corvettes most of all. We are out there, but as time goes on it’s getting harder for those of us with a true passion for these pieces of history to be able to actually afford one. I count myself extremely lucky since I was able to get hold of a 68 Firebird from the original owner at a price I could afford. Come hell or high water, I will still be driving it in 20 years time. Nothing angers me more than hearing about a beautiful classic that never sees the pavement. If it can move under its own power, it needs to see the open road. It also needs to see the road so people can actually see and hear them in their natural habitat. That’s how new enthusiasts are born, not in a museum. Wish I could’ve lived in the heyday of American Muscle, even if just for a day.
Well Greg I did and enjoyed every minute of it. Thanks for keeping the past a live with the cars. I had a New 1968 Road Runner 383 4-speed . I had a new 1967 Corvette 427 435 horse 4-speed. I also had a 1966 GTO 389 4-speed but not bought new. I dont have any of those cars now, wish I did. But I had them and plus more cool cars over the years loved every minute of it.
Hi Frank,
I’ll keep my optimist side up as I am only 42 and would love to beat most of the Corvettes of the era in this Copp anyday.
My kids will learn to drive a simple manual transmission car so drivers will steel be found in 30 years from now. I am not sure if the government will let us still take those cars out on the road and how much would it costs to replace a part using 3D printing of repair a car by disappearing vintage specialist but that is only keeping up with the past and current trend of the increasingly high prices of cars and the related services.
Cheers,
Cain
Great comments from Greg, Tommy and Cain!
I sometimes would have loved to see the expressions on the faces of the men who worked on the assembly line when they started building these off-the-grid cars.
Dave, I’d bet the guys on the line were more concerned about the Thursday bowling league standings. In 69, a big block pony car wasn’t that big a deal…
Drool, Drool, Drool!
What a blast to drive, too bad it won’t be used as intended.
A perfect example that I would drive to the store or just run an open road!! It’s a shame to keep a race horse in the barn!!
I assume by the figure of 1000 COPOs you mention, you are including all the different COPO configurations possible. But as far as ZL-1 Camaros such as this one go, there were only 69 of those made!
And, thus, the value of this car.
And what I like about this car is its colors. So many of the ZL-1s were dark green or blue. This car pops with its white over red combination.
I had a dark green COPO. Bought it from the parents of their who banged about every corner of the car. Had to put a U-joint in to get it home, went thru a couple more U-joints before I figured you can’t put a cross drilled U-joint. Finally put a solid U-joint in it drove it couple months, sold it to guy who wanted it more than me.
This one is not a ZL-1 it has an iron block and heads. A ZL-1 would be a minimum of $400,000.
@Ron
Exactly right! I don’t know why I was thinking this was a ZL-1. Stupid me!!!! But yes it is an L-72 COPO ’69 Camaro of which only 50 were made!!!
Beautiful car. I can’t remember: Are the 69 ZL-1s all aluminum or cast iron block? Gtreat cars!
Yeah the magic of the ZL-1 is that it is all aluminum. Block, heads, intake all aluminum. The power of a big block with the weight of a small block!!
Yeah the magic of the ZL-1 is that it is all aluminum. Block, heads, intake all aluminum. The power of a big block with the weight of a small block!!
@TimM I would do the same as you, and drive this, I have heard of this collection and know their big indoor storage is a former warehouse. Never been there, but if you look at the pictures on the ebay page, you can see the storage building and the many other cool cars they have, ‘
If I had $175k of extra money, I’d go there and make them an offer…. then replace the front bucket seats with a pair of good, form fitting Recaros, update the stereo sound system and drive this everywhere! Even with putting more miles on it, with care, you’re not going to hurt the value of this original COPO very much.
Life is too short to drive boring cars! Would be cool to have this AND a Cobra R!
Your right on one thing , Drive it. drive it everywhere
I owned a 66 Chevelle, 69 Firebird,72 Firebird Fomula 400 custom order, trucks cars, 1962 Vette 327,365 modified no number matching, now drive a 1999 Eclipse GSX turbo AWD. I’m 64, getting ready to retire. If ya got em, Drive em. Drive em hard & fast, the way they were meant to be. Museums are for paintings and dead things. You never want to be caught saying I should have or could have or would have…life is too short.
These are very special cars indeed, but so is your old GTO and daily driver 60’s Impalas. I sure hope the future finds room for the piston cars of old. I remember the “cash for clunkers” in California where thousands of early Camaro’s, Nova’s, Mustang’s and Chevelle’s were crushed for a few bucks. Some where even towed in from garages and back yards to meet their grave. I wish I could have saved them all. We are at the point where the government could turn off the fuel. Hoping for the best…I like this one.
I doubt the turning off of the gas could happen very soon. There would be alot of angry boaters out there. They could, and are, charge more for fuel and we all would still have to buy it.
IHRA Stock classes didn’t allow stripping of interior. A friend bought a burgundy Copo new. I now own it, with the original engine still in place. Showed original for a while, but just finished a full restore.
Wow, that’s was a lot of rust for 600 miles. Talk about rode hard and put away wet. It would have been nice if they showed the VIN stamp on the block since there is no claim of the engine being original.
Yes over a 1000 L-72 COPO Camaro’s built. Wish I could get this kind of money out of my one of 77 L-72 69 Biscayne’s but do not see it happening yet.I had a friend that had a 68 Motion 427 camaro and that car was scary fast. These were just amazing cars for being a factory built car.
There are so many fakes out there. Is this real? Who knows?
Since when is a 6-figure restored car a barn find? Why not just publish the latest Mecum catalog.
It sure looked like a barn find before the restoration.
High dollar car yes,meant to languish in a museum, no!,this fire breathing dragon needs to flex its muscles.
Watch the Purestock drags, there are a couple COPO’s running there. Trying to think on the fly i think the main one looks like this but not red interior. Wanna say he goes by COPO Pete Simpson? Dont care the price, id still drive it, thats what theyre for. I too wish i couldve enjoyed a time when such cars were new…
Known as the “Hoosier Hell”, sporting Cragar whells or something like those, boat load of decals…thats how it actually looked. Theres some old photos in the sellers ad. This is just an “as delivered” state, within a day or two it was already being transformed into the successful race car.
Drive it for what it is. If you want to make money-become a banker. Drop the clutch and see the past. Enjoy life and don,t think about what if. Why save it for someone else to enjoy. ? Enjoy it yourself,I,m 70 . I still have my old 66 Fairlane gt I bought in 74. I wouldn,t sale it at all. Too many memorys out runnin the law and more memorys parked up some holler. Oh those were the days.haahaha My lady frend tried talk me into saleing it. I told her no way am I going to go to a car show and hear people say “I had one like that.Wished I still had it. Well I have it and it staying. She tried to give me a alturmatom. I still have the car–memorys and her.
*sell *selling
I have to laugh that everyone says drive it and enjoy it. First of all the milage on good day is 6mpg and with the 11 to one compression it requires leaded race fuel at around 10 dollars a gallon. The big issue other then that is insurance on a 175k car. If you can afford it by all means but it is by far a everyday type of car.
I find myself going from amused to irritated at the people that say “drive the heck out of it, fast and hard, race it like it was built for.” Well, as an owner of a Copo, I can tell most of them have never wrote the check for a 200K car? I have cars that cost under 40K that look as good, run and handle better. Why would I thrash a rare gem like my Copo. It gets driven, but its drag racing days are over. Used to shift at near 8k, but no more. The original engine blows and the value plummets. Guess I’m saving it for my son. My car, my money….my way.
In reality of what the cost of having this car. Is about what to think of a air plane with no wings. Most people who can afford these cars are well off and they buy them to make money.An investiment. Remeber the gas rationing in the early-mid 70,s. The price of these cars became very cheap and alot of them went to the crusher. I wonder if this car was restored with ALL ORIGINAL GM PARTS OR MADE IN CHINA JUNK? I,d have to look at all receipts and see all the parts myself. If it was mine. I,d pull the motor and drop in a small block and enjoy it. I wouldn,t worry about leaviing it to anyone who never helped me work on it. I ,d leave it to St Judes,Operation Smile,Smile Train ,St Labre Indian School or some orginiozation that helps kids. They could auction it off and all proceeds would help needy kids.
Aah, remember the good old days of the late 70`s where big block cars were cheap used car lot fodder? 68 427 vette for 3 grand, Impalas with 396 or 427 for 2 or 3 hundred dollars, 70 Torino GT for $200 (I bought it!). Gas was over a buck a gallon and big engined cars were cheap, we bought them and drove the hell out of them. Did not care if we blew them up either, beat the living snot out of and then find another one!
Why would anyone buy a $175K 427 COPO camaro ,and then put a small block in it.