ThE ** RAREST** C.O.P.O. Car .

[William]

The "approximately 700 total vehicles" was an estimate made during July, 1969. There were plenty of COPO Camaros built August 1969 through the end of production. All Camaro orders in the system at that time were built in July. When Camaro production resumed August, 1969 the body/confirmation number sequence had been reset to N100001. I have 41 VINs for cars built 08C and later not on order in July.

"This may or may not be correct but it seems inconsistent to say Chevy considered the COPO 427 as a L78 and not an SS. If they began as an L78, I would think they would be SS L78 before the COPO 427 conversion but we don't know how they were used in the RPO totals."

At one time GM Canada would send a copy of the page of system-generated build records a certain VIN was listed on. There would be 15-20 other VINs/build records on the page. I have many of these pages. The build records for COPO Camaros shipped to Canada ONLY list L78 and do NOT list Z27-even the ZL1. Those cars also list the COPO number. [True L78 cars will also list Z27]. The letter CDN later supplied also listed the options that way for COPOs. That means that when Chevrolet tallied up the option build totals at the end of production, there were 1,066 L78 cars that were NOT also Camaro SS.

The only explanation for that: 69 COPO 9560 Camaros, 997 COPO 9561 Camaros. The Fran Preve and T & B numbers support it. There is plenty of evidence that there were many COPO Camaros ordered and built long after the July letter. Known late MN/MO engine dates: 822, 906, 911, 916, 923, 1002, 1013, 1016. Known late BE axle dates: 908, 919, 927, 1003.

The July letter might include all COPO Chevelles ordered/built; not all COPO Camaros.

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by William

There is plenty of evidence that there were many COPO Camaros ordered and built long after the July letter. Known late MN/MO engine dates: 822, 906, 911, 916, 923, 1002, 1013, 1016. Known late BE axle dates: 908, 919, 927, 1003.

The July letter might include all COPO Chevelles ordered/built; not all COPO Camaros.

20 years later and it is still an interesting discussion to me

How many L72 Camaros could have been made after the end of July? Maybe 100?

Using the RPO L78 and RPO Z27 SS totals it comes up with 997 L72 Camaros produced.

Chevy COPO letters state about 700 COPO 427s were “in process” as of 7-9-69. (includes ZL1, L72 Camaro, and L72 Chevelle)

That would mean less then 500 L72 Camaros produced by July 31 .

Chevy would have had to make another 500 L72 Camaros after July 31 to get up to the 997 total

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by William

The "approximately 700 total vehicles" was an estimate made during July, 1969.

If you read the 1969 COPO letters from Chevy they do not say the 700 number as just an estimate. They are very detailed letters and looks like a lot of effort went into writing them.

The letter states the 700 number is from “ a complete review of the high performance vehicle area orders to date “.
They counted the actual orders for COPO 427s.

They had access to the Tonawanda L72 engine production numbers , why didn’t they use them?

We know more were ordered and built after 7-9-1969 but how many?