Concept Cars Home
Concours d'Elegance of the Eastern United States
Brass
Classic
Competition
General
Muscle
Performance
Poster
Preservation Unrestored
Specialty
Sports
Wood Bodied
Muscle Vehicles
1965 Buick Skylark
1965 Pontiac Tempest LeMans
1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
1969 AMC AMX
1969 Chevrolet Camaro
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle Series
1970 Oldsmobile 442
1970 Plymouth Road Runner
1970 Pontiac GTO
1971 Buick Gran Sport
 
  • Information on the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro
  • More photographs of the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro
  • 1969 Chevrolet Camaro1969 Chevrolet Camaro1969 Chevrolet Camaro1969 Chevrolet Camaro1969 Chevrolet Camaro
    1969 Chevrolet Camaro1969 Chevrolet Camaro
    1969 Chevrolet Camaro1969 Chevrolet Camaro

    1969 Chevrolet CamaroThe Camaro was introduced in 1967 and brought with it the RS (characterized by hidden headlights), a muscular SS, and the high revving 302 cid Z/28. Chevrolet was at a disadvantage against its competitors across town inasmuch as GM prohibited Camaro engines larger than 400 CID. Enter Don Yenko, a Chevrolet dealer and performance enthusiast form Pennsylvania. Yenko began installed Corvette 427's into new Camaros and convinced Chevy personnel to approve a factory-built 427 for 1969, using a somewhat obscure ordering process typically reserved for fleets called the Central Office Production Order of COPO.

    COPO 9561 featured a factory L72 427 boasting solid lifters and (a widely suspension understated) 425 horsepower with 4.10 gearing. COPO 9737, the Sport Car Conversion Kit, included 15-inch tires on Rally Wheels, a 140 mph speedometer, and a 13/16 inch front stabilizer bar. GM also offered COPO code 9560 for drag racing with an all-aluminum ZL1. That engine alone cost $4,000, nearly twice the cost of a base vehicle.

    While Yenko Chevrolet is most closely associated with the COPO legend, other dealers quickly spotted the little-publicized ordering loophole. IN total, 1,015 street-legal Camaros were fitted with the L72 COPO option. This car came from Ewing Chevrolet of Canton, Ohio who - after Yenko - was one of the more prolific COPO dealers. It was ordered with both COPO 9561 and 9737 with racing in mind as attested to by early pictures of a tunnel ram hood scoop. Parked since 1978, it was lovingly restored in 2010.

    Also photographed at :
  • Concours d'Elegance of America at St. John's >> Muscle Car