69 Copo Camaros sold new in Canada

[PeteLeathersac]

And on the Copo at Nurse's Keith?.
Perhaps I'm losing it but hadn't you mentioned here previously you'd seen one there also knew it was later wrecked?.

Funny on any Can-Am cars using the ZL1 427 engines as they ran different displacements anyway?.


~ Pete

[Keith Tedford]

Yes, that red COPO was written off on Taunton Road north of the Oshawa airport so I was told. Didn't the CanAm engines have a bigger bore,shorter stoke and 430 CID. I think that Grumpy Jenkins used the same bore-stroke combination in his pro stock car back then. This combination was said to run better than the stock ZL1 bore stroke.

[midyr]

I believe I likely ended up with the motor pulled from the Nurse ZL1 and handed over to George Eaton's race team. In late 1969, after Eaton lost his backing from Eaton's Dept store, I bought a boatload of stuff from him, including 2 alum blocks, 3 sets of alum open-chamber heads, cranks, rods, etc, etc. Still have cabinets of hardware. One block was a standard ZL1, one was a 430 Can Am. I never saw the Camaro, don't know the color, but do clearly recall hearing the story repeated numerous times back then, including by Vince Piggins. A few years ago I heard the camaro was with a guy in Hamilton and he knows what it is.

[Keith Tedford]

I stopped in at Nurse quite regularly in '69. They always had something interesting on the lot. Always at least one Z/28. They even had one that they installed the track cam and cross ram setup. They even let me take the car out for a drive. Most disappointing ride I ever took. A ZL1 on the lot would have been BIG news around Oshawa. Lots of us were aware that it was available. You never know. I always stay positive about these stories because there was a time in the '80s when no one believed that there were COPO Chevelles.

[midyr]

The ZL1 was never put on the lot for sale, at least not as a ZL1. What I was told was that Eaton had powdered every motor that GM had sold him, needed a motor for the next race, the run of 430 blocks had been exhausted, and all GM could offer was the motor in a new ZL1 Camaro sitting unwanted in Detroit. The car was rushed to Nurse, the motor immediately pulled and taken away by Eaton's people. They made the race that weekend. The Camaro sat around Nurse for a while, only a hand full of inside folks knowing what it was - and, in those days, nobody caring. GM couldn't sell the cars with a motor in them, much less without one, so it became just another Camaro at that point.

[my70454ss]

So does anybody know what became of the car?

[midyr]

I have been told it is in Hamilton and the owner knows what it is, but never heard anything more than that and don't know how reliable it is. All I do know for certain is what I have related above. I can't remember for sure how many blocks I bought from Eaton, but I did get every one he had, two at least, maybe more. That was November of 1969 so it is highly likely one had originated in the Camaro, and probably one of those in the previously attached photo.