Hit the Car-Guy Lottery
 

At least that's how I feel these days. I've been 100% in the Pontiac world for the last 10 years on this site but earlier this year I stumbled into a 1969 Camaro that I just couldn't pass up (let the "flaming" begin). It had 15,000 original miles and had been in this owner's possession since the early 1980's. Long story short, got the car home and eventually found out it is a COPO 427 car:cool: Originally Lemans Blue, black standard interior, M22 4 speed. The only option it came with was AM radio, that's it!

I have a detailed thread over on the Yenko site so I won't repeat it here. Here's a few pics. One of what it looks like today, the other when it ran Super Stock D back in 1971/72.

Awesome find, congrats! Now what?

Scam-aro
Crap-maro
Firebird wannabe-aro


Can i have it ?

Over the Top Awesome , and more Congrats to you Red :thumbup:

Very, very cool! An old friend came by my shop tonight to tell me about an L-88 he knows about for sale because he thought I could use it in a Corvette. 10K range, but that's all I have on it.
Let me know if you need a phone number and I'll get it for you.

How about a link to the discussion on the Yenko site?

That’s amazing. I would be hard for me to resist not going back to race trim. Man I love the look of vintage race cars. Especially when it’s legit, not a clone.

WOW! Great find...

Very cool and yes you should buy a lottery ticket!

Nice find. Great to see the old photos and read some of the history you discovered.
Desperately missing stuff like that for my car. Congrats!

That's a great looking car as is. The rest is huge bonus time!

Not sure how you certify what it is? Or how nobody knew about it before you?

Glad, it's yours and you can educate us non Chevy guys...

I've been following your story over there - impressive find!

Very cool looking car in race trim - are you going back to that or to stock?

Nice find.

Nice Find! Good looking car.

Great story.

Very, VERY nice car! It looked awesome in race form! Looks very good now too.

I don't think anyone will flame you. If they do, they're just miserable.

Great car, just read the story on the other forum. Pretty good one. I dont think I could make up my mind on which way to go with that one.

Your fantastic level of due diligence and intuition earned you this car, I don't think I'd say luck was biggest part. Wait.... you lucky dog! Does the feeling of simultaneous love and others envy feel odd? :) Good for you and this story is great. Look forward to more on it.

Wow!

That's so cool!

I have never had any hate on for Chevrolets - the only time I get close is when a Pontiac V8 car has a chevy engine transplant...

I'm really happy for you!

I hope you have so much fun deciding on your plans with this car - a blue on black 427/M22/4.10 car - that's hard to beat!!

There are several key signs that will tell you the COPO status. Some can be faked, some would be very difficult to fake well. Lacking paperwork, I had Jerry MacNeish certify it to remove the doubt. That plus talking to all the prior owners (except #1) give me all the confidence in the world.
I'm still trying to decide what to do with it. Getting it back to a 4 speed status is my highest priority - that fits with all my potential resto options.

Congrats on a great find! The 69 Camaro was the only Camaro I ever wanted just because it looked so good. You did better than good seeing it has a 427 in it. Putting the M22 back in even makes it better. :thumbup:

Just got done reading the thread on the Yenko forum. I love the car, love the history!

There is a reason 69 Camaros are so popular. That is one sexy car! I like the 69 Camaros better than the 69 Firebirds.

Congratulations great find!

Incredible find and great story.

You definitely hit the lottery! Congrats!

Impressive. Kudos!

The good news is you found a COPO, the bad news is you found a COPO, now you need to get another 69 camaro that you can drive around and not worry about something happening to it !

Wow - great story, and what an awesome machine!

Awesome find, great story!!

Thanks for sharing. Absolutely KILLER!!

Well, it's been a few years....
 

Dropping in to give you guys an update. Full on resto is nearly complete with correct, dated drivetrain. Should have it roadworthy by the end of May. As you can see, I decided to take it back to original form, but will do bolt on Day 2 stuff. Also plan to do a full vinyl wrap back to race trim and have been accepted for the MCACN show this November.

Might want to think twice about wrapping it. Sometimes removing the wrap can pull paint on a repaint.. Also the adhesive can discolor the paint if left on too long or sits in the sun. It essentially bakes the adhesive into the paint. In some cases it can be nearly impossible to remove on topside surfaces that are exposed to sunlight.

My experience comes from buying a Hummer H2 last year that was wrapped. It turned into a nightmare. Ended up having the whole vehicle repainted. A couple years ago I bought a cargo van that had the back sides wrapped. We used a heat gun to remove and still ripped a big chunk of paint off.. Needless to say... I stay away from wrapped vehicles.. Other peoples experiences may vary.

Awesome car, awesome find! Congrats!

I'm a GM guy. Pontiacs just happen to be my favorite Game but I don't have anything against chevies, or buicks, or olds, or caddies. Heck, I learned to drive a manual trans in my brother's '70 SS 350 Camaro and have owned a couple Chevelles, several Novas, and a '72 K5 Blazer. Ain't nothing wrong with a good Chevy, especially not a '69 COPO Camaro!

It's coming out amazing!

I've been following along on Yenko.net and your build is incredible.

Ditto
 

I have also been following your thread on the Yenko site.

Congratulations on winning the lotto.

Chris.

Some how I missed this, that is awesome. Nice looking resto so far!!

As Pontiac/Olds as I am, I still absolutely love the 69 camaro. Mom and dad's neighbor had a hugger orange 69 Yenko. Besides my dad, this is the thing that made me love badass cars. I know where the car is now, and have been trying to buy it ever since.

Camaros are like a**holes everyone has one but when you find/own a COPO Camaro fuggetaboutit :D. That is awesome I love those stories about rare cars still being out there just waiting to be found.

I won’t tell you what the Chevy guys say about Pontiac’s I would get banned.

Thanks for the update. Another vote here to keep all vinyl wrapping off this car. You made quick work of an excellent project. Nice!!

If you want a head snapper, show stopper attention getter, that will gather crowds, then paint with high end graphics a full recreation of the original race trim. That car has the history to back it up, and the true mojo.

Excellent update! Doesn't get much better than a blue 4 speed Copo! I have a really good customer that just had his COPO in for some minor metal work. These cars are truly treasures.

Good friend of mine bought the last 1967 427 Yenko in 67. Automatic, 4.33s. When I helped him redo the engine it was a 390hp 2 bolt block. We knew heads were the smaller port heads.He sold the car last year it had 18k on it. There is a guy in Latrobe that specializes in redoing the copo cars.

Amazing story! Great job on the build story and the fast progress! I haven't got a chance to finish up reading the thread on the Yenko sight but do you still plan on taking this to Chicago in November? It will draw some good attention for sure! I know the 1969 Z28 Trans Am race car we took there and won best of show in 2018 was very well received. The COPO I did some work on is planning on going in 2022 to MCACN.

Sorry I didnt wish you the best. Glad you found the car. Very good story.

Yep, signed up for MCACN this year. First time bringing a car there, pretty excited to participate. Hopefully will have all the vinyl work done for that show. Also planning to display it at the Camaro Nationals in June in basically stock trim. It will be tight for me to have it done by then but going to give it my best.

So one thing I can say about vinyl wrap. (Done a few airplanes in it now). When you remove the vinyl don’t ever lift UP, roll the vinyl back over itself so it’s literally rolling back off the car. It will greatly lessen the likelihood of pulling the paint off also it needs to be heated til
It releases, but not heated to the point where it stretches and breaks easily.

It’s kind of a
Feel
Thing, but if you can restore a COPO you can remove vinyl. The Less it sits out in the sun and heat changes the easier it is to remove . All graphics can be printed on the vinyl as we Discussed it truly is an amazing medium
The 50 inch wide sizing which will give you some seams if talking about a full wrap with good technique .these can be minimized. Wrapping is a lot of work
But done correctly looks amazing . Anything UNDER the vinyl even a hair with print through the vinyl it will not hide anything. When you do airplanes with it you can see every rivet just like you can with paint maybe more so..
Never stretch the edges it’ll pull back
Over time.
there’s a technique for this as well . Being good at vinyl is every bit as technical as paint. Especially when doing airplanes going 200 + mph regularly but it’s just as rewarding as paint as well

https://youtu.be/rrn6PWyh5Kw

You can get some
Pretty amazing finishes in vinyl.
No fish eyes, no crazing, no runs so much less to worry about in that respect.

Newest and best gloss on a wrap and the technique to lay it down
Properly

https://youtu.be/jABxZqzOxhQ