COPO Pacer

[Stefano]

Has the topic of the 1969 Camaro 427 COPO ordered Pace Cars ever been discussed on the board?

[JChlupsa]

Never have heard of any in the form of a COPO but I do know a guy that ordered one and a dealer in N Illinois put a 427 in it for him with less than 150 miles on the org 396. Car later got wrecked (1971) and last I heard it was still in peices with the Org 396 next to it. Been trying top pick it up for sometime. One day it will be here i Hawaii

The 68 Daytona pace Car was a RS/SS with a 350 HP 396 in it.

[COPO PETE]

I don't believe it has been discussed here. Only time I ever heard of it was from Jim Mattison's interview with Tom Shaw in the Jan/98 issue of MCR.
Peter

[William]

The August 1969 Motor Trend did a short feature on the cars. A Chevrolet Engineer was quoted as stating the cars were built as L78/L89s. The engines were blueprinted and rebuilt with iron heads. The article insinuates the cars were converted to JL8.

[69motion]

there was a 427 pacer up in manchester n.h. in 1982 with a letter from gm i mised this car by 30 minutes and have been looking ever since the car needed total resto anyone else know of this car it was in mass. in 1980 thanks jeff

[Stefano]

There was a restored one claiming to be one of the official"427 COPO" track cars, at a dealership out side of Detriot a few years ago.
It was purported to be the only 427 Survivor and was to have some GM Paperwork verifying its heritage.
I wrote it off and didn't even bother to check it out, but the topic has resurfaced recently.

[Stefano]

William,
Do you think that the "engineers" were accurate or hiding the fact that the L78/79 396s were really 427s.
The article COPO PETE mentions, I believe that Jim Mattison mentions that he was involved with proceesing the Central Office Production Orders for the three 427 Pace Cars.
I would think if they were actually factory built and do exist that they would be a very desirable purpose built Super Car.

[William]

Since the #2 pace car (N608347) still has its original engine stamped with a work order number (T1218JM 98708-B) it doesn't look like they were built as COPOs. It appears that the cars were built & processed exactly as the article states. COPOs did not have SS badging.

Both cars went to the Tech Center where just about anything was possible.

[Stefano]

William,
Just for clearification, if a car, any car went to the Tech Center there would have to be a special work order from the cental office requesting any special work?
If there was additional non RPO work performed wouldn't this by definition be considred a COPO vehicle?

[William]

The entire reason for the COPO process was to accomodate non-RPO equipment on the assembly line.

Other than '68 tailpipes, I see no reason to believe those cars had any non-RPO equipment on them as built. Since they were going to the Tech Center why bother? They weren't even special paint as the 67s were. The COPO process required the involvement of engineering which would spec a package of components to be included under the COPO # it then assigned. That's why COPO Camaro window stickers do not show the ducted hood or HD cooling - just the COPO number. Since someone had to order the cars to be used for the race and a dealer was not involved, Central Office probably did it. Thus, Jim Mattison may have seen the paperwork. The body numbers of 267543 & 267544 are very close to the few known body numbers of true festival Z11s; they may have been part of a fleet order. Someone had to decide how the on-track cars should be equipped, Engineering probably met with the Central Office to work out the details. These two cars would have had special shipping instructions to get them delivered to the Tech Center for the tear-down & virtual race-prep they were given, procedures very difficult to coordinate in production. They may have been built with JL8; the Tech Center may have put 427s in them. Who knows? Central Office ordered cars for its own fleet, shows, etc. Every car they ordered isn't necessarily a COPO.