LOT #1409 – ORIGINAL ZL1: Highly coveted Camaro ready to thunder across the auction block

November 12, 2019
Posted by Barrett-Jackson

Written by Eric Becker

This ZL1 COPO Camaro, Lot #1409, is #59 of the 69 produced in 1969. It will be selling with No Reserve at the 2020 Scottsdale Auction.

The best automotive legends all have their roots in motorsports. The Camaro ZL1 is no different, and it’s all thanks to a man named Fred. The classic adage of win on Sunday and sell on Monday seemed to resonate well with the La Harpe, Illinois-based Chevrolet dealer Fred Gibb, who inadvertently created the most sought-after factory Camaro to don an alphanumeric badge.

At the height of the muscle car wars in the 1960s, bragging rights and dealer inventory were dispatched by podium placement. Ford was outfitting the Mustang with 428 Cobra Jet engine, while Chrysler turned to outside help for its HEMI Dart and Barracuda. Gibb thought it was time for the Camaro to outpace its Detroit rivals at the dragstrip. Problem was, General Motors’ internal corporate policy placed restrictions on the Camaro’s displacement, mandating that displacement could not exceed 400ci in any non-Corvette passenger vehicle that was not a “full-size” car. A proposition to the top brass at GM for a high-displacement Camaro would take too much time and draw the political ire of GM’s executive branch.

Keen to go racing, Fred Gibb Chevrolet bypassed the traditional spec-order sheet normally used for outfitting Camaro’s with style and performance enhancements and utilized the Central Office Purchase Order (COPO) traditionally used for commercial or municipal vehicles, thus circumventing the corporate bureaucracy, and outfitting the Camaro with a more potent and exotic engine. Gibb Chevrolet was not the only dealership to employ this tactic: Famed dealership and tuner Don Yenko of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, pursued similar endeavors in seeking more potent power plants for the Camaro.

For his COPOs, Gibb sourced the newly developed all-aluminum big-block ZL1 engine. Initially conceived as a racing engine for the Can-Am series, GM engineers had worked closely with Jim Hall and the Chaparral team on developing a new power plant to replace the 327ci V8. That power plant had to meet the low weight parameters, but also increase the power output. The 427ci all-aluminum big block bore similarities to Chevrolet’s L88 427ci engine but weighed over 100 pounds less.

Beginning life as base Camaros, the COPOs received the 427 ZL1 engine, the ZL2 cold-air cowl-induction hood, transistorized ignition and 4.10:1 rear axle with a posi-traction limited-slip differential. The ZL1 Camaro utilized an F41 heavy-duty suspension that included five-leaf rear springs. To cope with the continent-shredding torque of the aluminum big block, a Muncie M22 Rock Crusher was offered as the manual option. The ZL1’s aluminum block was based on its iron-block cousin. The lighter aluminum cylinder block featured four-bolt mains, cast-iron cylinder sleeves and denser bulkheads. The ZL1 engine also included lengthened bolt and stud threads for even greater robustness. GM modestly rated the ZL1 at 430hp, but actually the ZL1 engine produced in excess of 500hp. The ZL1 engine would go on to dominate the Can-Am series in various states of tune and displacement.

Fitting for the 1969 model year, only 69 COPO Camaro ZL1s were made, each netting a cost above $7,000. The ZL1 was initially conceived as little more than a $400 option to cover GM’s engineering costs, but the engine option was eventually priced at $4,160. (For reference, the most expensive vehicle under the GM umbrella was the Cadillac Eldorado, costing $6,700, and the Corvette L88 was around $6,500.)

This example of a ZL1 COPO (Lot #1409), clad in Hugger Orange paint, rolled out of a Virginia Chevy lot in 1969 and features all the aforementioned options of the ZL1 and more – including the ZL2 cold-air cowl-induction hood and Z21 trim option. It is an original matching-numbers vehicle with extensive documentation, including the original Window Sticker and owner’s history. The seller says he went so far as to track down the original drivetrain – which he located in 1971 – to reunite it with the original body.

Of the 69 COPO Camaros produced, this is number 59 and is equipped with the 4-speed manual M22 Rock Crusher transmission. This COPO Camaro ZL1 is unique among the production run, as it is the only vehicle produced to feature the NC8 chambered exhaust; most COPO ZL1s were bought strictly for racing and would delete the exhaust entirely, often running open headers.

Perhaps the highest praise for the ZL1 comes from Chevy itself, when in 2012 it paid homage to the original with the reintroduction of the ZL1 moniker to do battle with the likes of Ford and Mopar.

Whether an icon or a legend, the ZL1 is amongst the rarest of top-of-the-line Camaros and appears infrequently on the secondary market. Expect a battle over this No Reserve Hugger Orange example.

For up-to-date information on this vehicle, click HERE. For a look at all the vehicles on the 2020 Scottsdale Auction Preview Docket, with more being added daily, click HERE.