There are several vintage road test photos of '69s that clearly show the element.
April '69 PHR has the same '69 Z/28 seen in Hot Rod and Sports Car Graphic. It was a production car built early October '68 at Van Nuys. Both it and the 396 Nova in the same issue have the 45º square mesh.
One of the more famous Z/28s is the yellow/yellow JL8 car that was featured on the cover of the August '69 Car Life. They tested it with a cross-ram and fiberglass hood. However, Road Test featured it in their August '69 issue, pre-cross-ram. The combination of JL8 and yellow houndstooth means the earliest it could have been built was very late February. Don't know anything else about it.
Here's the engine bay pic.
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