ZL1 Camaro

1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 18, 2013

1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

You’re looking at a very rare, very desirable car. In fact, this is about as desirable as Chevy Camaros come. The lot description here even describes it as having the “most exotic American-built production powerplant of the 1960s.”

What sets the ZL1 apart from any other Camaro – and any other COPO Camaro – is its all-aluminium 427 (7.0-liter) V8 rated at 430 horsepower, but in fact delivering far, far more (some estimates push that number to about 550). Let’s back up a little: COPO is GM-speak for Central Office Production Order. At the time, GM was not allowing themselves to use engines larger than 6.6 liters. To get around that, customers could use a special order process – usually reserved for fleet sales – to spec out their cars with options not available to the general public.

The ZL1 engine was developed in part with the Chaparral Can-Am race team. It was developed for drag racing but ended up being a terror on the streets. The engine reportedly cost $4,000 alone – about twice the cost of a base V8 Camaro.

Only 69 ZL1 Camaros were built (this is #23), making it exceedingly rare. Prices have come down from their ridiculous levels back in the 2006/2007 era where these were pushing a million bucks. A more realistic estimate would be about $400,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Mecum’s Indianapolis lineup.

Update: Failed to sell.

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