Copo Camaros

[Alan Roehrich]

Numbers as high as 1250 or so have been reported for the COPO 9561 L-72 Camaro. How many now or were race cars is rather difficult to determine.

Numbers for the 9560 ZL-1 cars are a lot easier to cover. Of 69 built, some 36 are known and accounted for as of the last couple of years, a few of them written off as a total loss.


I'm thinking considerably more COPO 9562 L-72 69 Chevelles were built than the 31 previously posted. If they only built 31 of them, that would mean there were fewer of them than there were 67 L-88 Corvettes (supposedly 36 sold) and the 67 L-88 Corvette was removed from the guide. I'm seeing numbers closer to 350-375, as COPO 9562, records say Yenko ordered and sold 99 of them.

From Super Chevy Magazine:

Chevrolet, via Vince Piggins' Product Promotion department, decided to assign at least 12 different COPO numbers and letters to Chevelles with different transmissions, suspension components, tires, brakes, and bucket seats.

COPO Chevelle Special Features:
- Super Sport blackout grille with bow tie emblem
- Super Sport hood
- Black rear cove panel
- 12-bolt differential with 4.10:1 gearing (code KQ)
- Standard Malibu interior
- Either SS emblem or Bow Tie emblem on steering wheel
- L72 425hp 427 (code MQ with four-speed transmission or code MP with TH400 automatic transmission).
- Optional: Side body stripes, RPO NC8 chambered exhaust.

1969 Yenko Chevelle Breakdown
Of the 99 built, 55 had a four-speed manual transmission, bench seat and standard steering. Six of these had a vinyl roof. Thirty-seven more were TH400 automatics with power steering, rear radio antenna and a vinyl top. One automatic transmission car had no vinyl top. Body colors included: Le Mans blue -20, Fathom green -18, Butternut yellow -16, Hugger orange -14, Garnet red -12, Daytona yellow -12, Dover white -5 and Olympic gold -5.

COPODescription
9562AA Chevelle sport coupe, four-speed manual, Positraction. Must be used with COPO 9694 disc brake option.

9562BA Chevelle sport coupe, TH400 automatic and Positraction. Must be used with COPO 9694 disc brake option.

9562CD Chevelle sport coupe, four-speed manual, Positraction, bucket seats, 15-inch tires, special coil springs.

9562CE Chevelle sport coupe, four-speed manual, Positraction, 15-inch tires, special coil springs.

9562DD Chevelle sport coupe, TH400 automatic, Positraction, bucket seats, 15-inch tires, special coil springs.

9562DE Chevelle sport coupe, TH400 automatic, Positraction, 15-inch tires, special coil springs.

9562EA Chevelle sport coupe, four-speed manual, Positraction, J52 power disc brakes, F70x14 tires.

9562FA Chevelle sport coupe, TH400 automatic, Positraction, J52 power disc brakes, F70x14 tires.

9694CA Four-speed manual, Positraction, special front disc brakes, J50 power brakes, COPO 9737 equipment.

9694CB As above, but with TH400 automatic.

9566AA Four-speed manual, Positraction, J52 power brakes, Super Sport wheels.

9566BA As above with TH400 automatic, 15-inch F70 raised white letter (RWL) tires on Rally wheels, Speedometer Reducer Gear.

[Paul Ceasrine]

ALAN,
I stand corrected on the 69' COPO 427 Chevelle's. I'm not sure what I was thinking at that moment. Must have got hit in the head by a big-block connecting rod.
323 built as per Musclecar...for the 69' Chevelle COPO 427..(Not 31 as I incorrectly stated).
This is a 69' Camaro COPO thread. The Fred Gibb/Dickie Harrell car ran at the 69' AHRA Winternationals, at Bee-Line, Arizona in January 69.
Knocked off Sox & Martin, and made it to the finals, before getting beat by Arlon Vanke...Set ET record for SS/E (Super Stock Experimental) at that event.
PC

[Chris "drooze" Wertman]

Wow....Im not a Chevy guy, nice explanation, I always wondered what certain acronyms meant (COPO) etc....I saw a "Paint Delete" car on Ebay a while back, Camaro .... Paint Delete....strange.....

Nice history, I know 300% more about the COPO than before I read it.

Cheers

Chris

Originally Posted by Michael Kilduff

Stephen/Horace,

I don't claim to be a first generation Camaro expert, but I have heard and read that there might have been 900 or more 427/425hp COPO 1969camaros made. The Yenko SC COPOs were probably the most famous, and there were either 198 or 201 of the Yenkos made. There is some debate about that number officially.

Then there were other dealers getting in on the COPO 427/425 thing too...I think Baldwin Motion and Berger were a couple of them.

The 427/425 HP in a Camaro was -I think- option RPO L72 and was definately an iron block. The 427/425HP was also available in '69 chevelles.

The only aluminum block 427 available in the 69 camaro was the ZL-1 which was ordered by Fred Gibb if memory serves correct. There were 69 ZL-1 camaros produced. He had a heck of a time selling them and I think Chevrolet either bought some back or redistributed them to other dealers. I think the ZL-1 was about a $4000 option. This engine was I thin developed for CAN-AM racing back in the late 60's.

I do think there are several 427-425 HP cars in SS. I think but am not sure Brian Oakes runs that combo, and maybe Jack Sepanek and a few others, I think most of the 69 camaros running in SS/C would be the 427-425hp as that combo is a natural D, which was originally a Corvette engine package. The ZL-1 I think is a natural B car.

Like I said, I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I have read a fair amount about the COPO Camaros over the years and what I wrote should be kinda sorta close. Might not be exact.

And, I too saw the B-J auction for the COPO 69 camaro.....I have never heard of an RS COPO Camaro.Most if not all of the COPOS I recall were basically base model type cars.

COPO stood for Central Office Production Order...GM had a ban on all cars besides the Corvette getting the real high HP engines. Some dealers found a loophole for lack of a better term with the COPO thing....the real job of the COPO deal was for fleet vehicles. I am thinking Vince Piggins at Chevrolet kinda worked things for some dealers to get Vette engines in non Vette cars.

[Michael Kilduff]

Chris,

The paint delete camaros may have been 'special paint' where they would get a non camaro color. I 'think' a camaro could get any color at GM other than what was listed for Cadillacs. I read over some testimony about this not long ago by someone that is a first gen camaro expert imo. I think the auction you are talking about was the focus of the conversation. I can't recall exactly. I'm a bit delerious at the moment-all day at the track huffing race gas and tire smoke in 30 degree temps,lol.



The paint delete or special paint could have been a fleet thing, like for rental car companies or something.

Dana can probably give you a lot more COPO 427 Camaro info than I can. Cool cars for sure!

All the best,

Michael

[magnumv8]

Yenko started the 427 Camaro issue buy ordering 396 Camaros and a crate 427 and doing the conversion themselves...to streamline the issue they convinced the powers that be at Chevy to provide him with a way to order the cars with the 427 already installed, this started the COPO 9561 and 9560 Camaros....Yenko wanted the codes and the cars for themselves but the codes managed to be picked up by other performance dealerships ending their exclusive use of the codes....any dealer anywhere if they had the right code could order a COPO Camaro....this also is what makes total production tough because a 427 Yenko Camaro could be just that and not be a COPO Camaro....and Yenko wasn't the only place that did this prior to the COPO availability...

[Paul Ceasrine]

Motion Performance out on Long Island did the same thing with the
396 to 427 conversions, to go along with the proper #9561 factory COPO cars.
Does anybody know when they were eligible for A/S and A/SA..
I'm guessing 1970 or 1971???
Some beautiful cars at Barrett-Jackson. Much deserved KUDO's to the people that put out those wonderful cars together...But GEEZ, do those guys at B-J massage the truth or what????
Some misinformation out there on the first ZL-1 car..but I do believe that
Herb Fox drove the first one at the 69' AHRA Winternationals for
Fred Gibbs in the Dickie Harrell prepared car..1/20/69..
Paul C

[63corvette]

One thing to remember about the 69 model Camaro's is they ran for a year and one half and into the 1970 year models. GM was on strike for 67 days during the model year also. All of that affected how many of the COPO's were built and when they were built. I was 20 years old in 1969 and all the buzz in the Car Mag's was about the COPO cars along with the Yenco's and Baldwin cars. I wanted one really bad but could not afford the add on costs so I ended up buying a 375 HP 396 with a turbo 400 Chevelle. The reason I remember the strike of 67 days so well is the Chevelle was held up by the strike for well over the 67 days due to the backups caused by the strike. Another thing I remember well was not every dealership would even order a solid lifter engine option. I had to dealer shop for the dealer to order the 375 HP option. When I asked about the COPO option the dealer had to check about doing that. He came back days later with it could be done but the cost put it out of my reach. I can not remember exactly what I was quoted for the COPO option but it was well over my budget.
I just wish I had kept that car and a few others I had over the years.
Living through the muscle car era did have its advantages.
Just not to sure it was the "Good Ole Days"
My 2 Cents

[Dana Fitzpatrick]

Nobody has come up an exact number of 9561 COPO Camaros that were made in 1969. But since the engine plant only produced 1015 L-72 Camaro coded 427/425hp engines for the 69 model year, it is generally assumed this was the most 9561 COPOs that could have been produced. If you consider some of these L-72's were made for warranty replacements, the number of COPO Camaros would then be less. CRG puts the number at 700-1015 COPO 9561 1969 Camaros.

[Paul Ceasrine]

It wasn't the cost of the L-72 COPO 9561 option that hurt so much,,,,it was the INSURANCE!!.....I think I remember that the cost between a
SS396 Camaro with the 396/375HP L-89 aluminum head option and
COPO 9561 were pretty close in price..Wasn't the alumimun head option around the $750.00 range for the L78 396/375.??
Paul

[Play400]

I have a real old hot rod or carcraft in the garage and there is an article on the 69 copos. GM decided they had to sell it for a profit and orders dropped like a rock. If memory serves me right the camaros all went to yenko. Picking up a new scanner in a week or so and can scan and post the article if wanted.