1969 ZL1 Copo Camaro Test, Prepped by Dick Harrell -Motor Trend

[William]

If you are referring to the #2 ZL-1, last I knew it is restored and located in TX.

Good feature on it in the January 2009 Muscle Car Review.

[JoeC]

ZL-1 #15 was also a Harrell built light weight gutted fiberglass nose match race drag car

built as a twin to the #1 Gibb car and raced by the Leatherman Brothers

Many of the ZL-1s went to the Harrell shop for mods for NHRA or AHRA or light weight match race cars. Some were sent to Chevy Dealers as race cars.

The Harrell shop installed roll bars, suspension mods, B&M clutch turbo transmissions, did engine mods and blueprinting, custom paint etc.

A drag racer who said he lived near the Harrell shop and knew the guys there said he thought Harrell had got 50 of the ZL-1s because he remembers new 1969 Camaros all over the shop and parked down the street. He remembers it was a big deal that they were $7000 Camaros and some were taken apart and had a fiberglass nose installed.

Most likely, not all of those Camaros were ZL-1s because Harrell also worked on L-72 Camaros and other Camaros.

Dick Harrell was also running ads to sell the ZL-1s.

[muscle_collector]

i was actually wondering who in oklahoma got the #2 mentioned.

Originally Posted by William

If you are referring to the #2 ZL-1, last I knew it is restored and located in TX.

Good feature on it in the January 2009 Muscle Car Review.

[William]

Many?

As of June 1969, Gibb had retailed 6 ZL-1 Camaros.

#2 Dusk Blue auto #5 Dusk Blue auto #9 Silver auto #15 Silver 4-speed #16 Orange 4-speed #30 Orange 4-speed.

Of these, it is known that #5 and #15 were prepared by Harrell’s shop. #2, #9, #16 and #30 were raced but are not known to have been prepped by Harrell.

As of June 1969, Gibb had wholesaled 6 ZL-1 Camaros to other dealers.

#7 Orange auto #10 Dusk blue auto #28 Orange 4-speed #29 Orange 4-speed #42 Le Mans Blue 4-speed #47 Le Mans blue 4-speed

Of these, #7 was raced for a short period by the dealership and sold with an L72. #10 had an engine swap early in its life, not known to have been raced. #28 still exists with original engine, not known to have been raced. #29 was extensively modified and raced by Grady Bryant/Bill McKay Chev. It did have a smaller Dick Harrell logo. Sold in 1970, unknown since.

#42 was raced by Malcom Durham. No Harrell logo on the car in vintage photos. #47 still exists, not known to have been raced.

Of the 37 ZL-1s Gibb returned to Norwood, 11 have racing history, but no known association with Harrell. #12 did have some Dick Harrell mods, but not seriously raced.

#33 & #52 were exported. #43 was stolen and never recovered.

5 were re-invoiced to Merollis Chev in Detroit. The Merollis story has been greatly embellished over the years; only two were stolen in separate incidents. #11 is restored, #24 was reported destroyed in MA 1973 [I’m not certain it was the other stolen car].

3 have unknown history at this time: #32, #37, #50. One is known to have been sold to drag racer George De Lorean.

I realize I am being nit-picky here; it's important to choose words carefully. The Merollis Chev story is a great example of how stories expand over time.

What is certain is that Harrell modified at least 4 Gibb ZL-1 Camaros. There could be others.

[William]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

i was actually wondering who in oklahoma got the #2 mentioned.

Robert Carpenter

[JoeC]

ZL-1 #29 was another Harrell built light weight gutted fiberglass nose match race drag car campaigned by Grady Bryant , owned by Bill McKay Chevrolet

Grady Bryant and Dick Harrell were friends and both raced Funny Cars

Grady wrote a book called "Match race Madness"

If the Harrell ZL-1 drag test was ZL-1 #1 and #2 then Harrell had at least five ZL-1s

#1, #2, #5, #15 and #29

Who better to sell $7000 Camaro Drag cars then a Nationally known Funny Car driver who has a shop building Camaros and was in all the drag racing magazines.

I had saved this screen shot of a FB post from Grady Bryant and a reply where a guy said he remembers 25 ZL-1s at the Harrell shop.

I don't know if its true but I have seen multiple comments saying Harrell had a bunch of ZL-1s come through his shop. I know Harrell also built some COPO L72 Camaros so hard to say how many ZL-1s.

[William]

Of the 11 other dealerships listed, Burt is the only one known to have sold a ZL-1. It did not come from Gibb; they ordered it directly from Chevy.

As for #2, it has headers and aftermarket wheels in the test photos. Gibb's shop was certainly capable of those simple changes. The window sticker was intact, and it had IL dealer tags. Harrell certainly worked on it during the test but that may have been all he did. The AIR pump was still on the car as tested; the only reason for that would be to re-install the manifolds and exhaust system prior to sale.

Gibb returned 37 ZL-1s, intact, to the Norwood plant. There is no reason to believe the '25 ZL-1s at Harrell's shop' story.

[JoeC]

ZL-1 #2 was modified at the Harrell shop where they installed Sanderson headers and cut up the exhaust system and did a few other mods.

The photos of the car on the lift at the Harrell shop, show no tail pipes but at the track it has the tail pipes.

Ro McGonegal drove it to the track with closed exhaust. ( That explains the license plate) They first made runs with closed headers then ran it with open headers.

McGonegal wrote in the 1969 article that it just had headers installed but in the 1998 article , he revised this saying he recalled them making changes to the exhaust system.
That seems to be the case looking at the original photos.

The 1969 article mentions the car was going to be race prepared for Shay Nichols so sounds like they were not concerned about keeping the car original.
The plan may have changed later to sell #2 to the guy in Oklahoma, then do another car for Shays. (#5)

I have not heard much about ZL-1 #2 as far as what was done with the car after leaving the Harrell shop.

[JoeC]

I was researching ZL-1 #12

In this ad it says "orig cost from Dick Harrell Chevrolet $7300 "

not sure what that means but the car was in NY.

In a post on a FB drag racing page, a guy that worked at Bryne Bro Chevrolet in White Plains NY said a ZL-1 came in for warranty work. He remembered it to be a Black car in 1970 or 1971.

The car was using a lot of oil and the engine was replaced under warranty. He was told the engine was going back to Chevy but he thinks the ZL-1 engine ended up in a Bryne Bro road racing car.

The Dr Tucci ZL-1 #12 was painted black when the 2nd owner Eddie bought it about 1976

Since both cars were in NY , I was wondering if it can be the same car.

#12 has been repainted back to original blue

[William]

Gibb ZL-1 4-speeds had an MSRP of $7269.35. Automatics were $7,364.70. None of the 69 production cars were black.

Have to wonder about the Dick Harrell connection. #12 is on the Gibb dealership ledger as being shipped back to Norwood May 24, 1969. From there, it had to be re-invoiced to another Chevrolet dealer.

Of the ZL-1 engines known to have been replaced under warranty [#55 & #67] both original blocks still exist. Jerry Huffman told me they were instructed to destroy the damaged engine. I am not aware of a ZL-1 CE engine. Chevrolet had built 80 ME code Corvette ZL-1 engines that were not going to be used in production. They developed a list of parts needed to convert them for use in Camaros. At one time, #55 had an ME code engine.