Automobile manufacturers capitalize on their annual provision of pace and festival cars for the Indianapolis 500 by building replicas for John Q. Public. In the case of the 1969 Camaro, which served in that role for the second time in three years, saw replica production of 3,675 units. This one was in a wreck in 1992 while it was being readied for a makeover and has been parked ever since. A great deal of work is going to be required to bring this car back to original-like condition. It’s located in the woods in Suffolk, Virginia and is available here on eBay where the starting bid has yet to be submitted. Kudos to Patrick S. for brining this car to our attention.

So far, the Chevy Camaro has paced the Indy 500 on seven occasions between 1967 and 2011. The 1969 edition in convertible form seems to stand out from the rest due to its Dover White paint and Hugger Orange interior and graphics. They sported Rally Sport grills and could also be equipped as Super Sports.  Chevy provided 133 near identical cars to Indy officials to use to pace the field and serve as festival and courtesy cars to tote around various officials and the press. Most were powered by Chevy’s 350 cubic inch V8 and a TH-350 automatic transmission, while at least three had a 396 under the hood.

Production versions came with RPO Z11 option to duplicate the cars on the track. They were well-fitted cars, usually including power steering and brakes, special instrumentation, factory A/C and other conveniences. While Chevy had hoped to build one for each of its dealers (6,400 at the time), output was just over half of that. The seller’s version no longer looks like the car GM built 52 years ago. It was involved in an accident in the back end nearly 30 years ago and has been dormant ever since. The car is only half numbers-matching meaning that the 350 V8 is original but the Turbo-Hyrdramatic is not.

Apparently, some form of restoration was in the works before the accident as the seller says it was wearing new door skins, outer wheel well housings and rear quarter panels at the time. Most of it was primed and nearly ready for new paint to be sprayed. The wreck negated much of that and the rear end of this Camaro is going to spend a bunch of time in the body shop. Since it was sidelined, more damage has occurred over time and any restoration plans will also need to include replacing floor pans, the trunk pans, frame rails and – of course – the rear body panels. We’re told the interior is out of the car and included but we don’t know of its condition.

The resale value of pace car replicas is all over the place, even with the Camaro. However, the 1969s apparently are sought after today as Hagerty pegs one in Concours condition at close to $90,000. Even in Fair condition, they might fetch $35,000. But how much would one in this condition that’s been wrecked be worth? At least $14,000 if one person submits a bid on this one before the auction ends. BTW, the last pic here is of what the car may have looked like when it was new.