1969 Chevelle

[neresto]

It appears that Dougs ( 427strato) COPO that he owned when new has been listed on EBay today in British Columbia ! ebay ad

[EZ Nova]

I believe Dougs car was written off some time ago?

"Unfortunately """" I traced my COPO at the same time as the Stratochief and found the last owner. He advised he had totalled it two years before and gave me the name of the wrecking yard it went to. I went to the yard and the owner advised me he had purchased it six months earlier and crushed everything they had. This was the car I first tried to find and the second, being the Stratochief, took me about seven years to repurchase."

That was from Doug to another member of a different site back in 2008.

[EZ Nova]

Also, IF this does turn out to be Dougs old COPO, funny that Doug stated above that he recalls the 427 being pulled and put in a '69 Nova from our town! And he was wondering if that car still had it??????

[neresto]

Maybe Doug will chime in and confirm if this vin B397120 is a match. If not this one is a twin to it, Fathom Green, wood wheel, M22 ,white stripe tires and buckets. Only pre resto photos are of a shell, no frame or front end( possibly wrecked)?

[EZ Nova]

I have been in contact with Doug. Not my place to repeat what he has told me, GOOD OR BAD. Will reply the message and see if he will post.

[camaromb]

I find it interesting that the supposed Copo Chevelle on Ebay, B397120, which is supposed to be the car Doug bought new on Sept. 21, 1969, trading a '67 Corvette towards, has a body shown in the Ebay ad that has green body color sprayed over the floors where the plugs should be, with no evidence of caulk. It looks like someone went to great effort to make it look like a factory green body shell, with water stains/ pine needles in the floor areas, etc. That is also certainly the cleanest Ontario '69 Chevelle body I've ever seen!

The Copo Chevelle that Doug bought new, B397120 was known to have been sent to the junkyard tears ago. I talked to a Copo Chevelle owner who sent his Chevelle to the junkyard years ago, a Fathom green car. He didn't know it was a Copo, he called it a 396 car. I need to verify which Copo that was, it may be the same car.

Mark

[427strato]

Hi everyone. Its Doug, the original owner of copo 120.

I didn't think it was appropriate to comment before the end of the auction of what would appear to be my old Chevelle based on the questions asked on this forum.

The facts as I see it are as follows:

1) I purchased the car new from B&A Chevrolet in September of 1969.
2) I attempted to trace the car by talking to various owners that I knew, or they knew, of the next guy, in the mid 80's because I wanted the car back, not that it was worth anything back then.
3) I eventually found that I could do a Ministry search of the car by way of a computer in the mid 80's, which I did and they gave you a printout of that search of which I still have the originals. I searched both of my original 427 cars that I bought new, a 69 Chevelle and a 68 Pontiac Strato Chief.
4) The first car I went after was the COPO car. I researched my search and contacted the last owner that was shown on my printout, actually through a couple of other people. He advised me he was in an accident two years before and that the car was written off by the insurance company at the time. He gave me the name of the wrecking yard and I went there the next day. I have the name of the yard. The owner of the yard advised me at that time that he had purchased the wrecking yard six months prior to that and that he had crushed everything in the yard. I specifically asked about the Chevelle and he replied, everything; he could have been lying.
5) I thought I remembered what colour the car was when he wrecked it but I hesitated to tell anyone after 27 years from talking to him. I research for a living so I decided to look for one of the persons I talked to 27 years ago. Sure enough, my memory hadn't faded as much as I thought and the colour was blue as I remembered.
6) I somewhat regress here as we need to discuss the original engine. I know the names of the individuals involved here however I do know the people and am still acquainted with the people I'm speaking about. I traded the Chevelle for a 68 427 Vette. That owner raced the car for a couple of years and then removed the motor and installed it in a 69 Nova. I know he pulled the wheels of the Nova in front of MacD..... one night with another friend of mine in the passenger seat. I am still acquainted with both of these people. Enough of the engine.
7)The search that I made of this car is interesting in itself. Who could have possibly had the paperwork other than myself?
I gave a copy of my documentation to two guys only, one in Waterdown, Ontario, which I have his name on an item sent to me by him.
The other was traded to a person in the Kitchener/Waterloo area for a 68 SD Beaumont SD air cleaner which I have his name in my book of contacts.
These are the ONLY two. Of most interest to me is when talking to the vendors at present, they knew of the two female owners, which only surface from my Ontario Ministry search; they have a copy of that?; I don't remember giving it to any of them but obviously I did.
7) The last owner on my search had asked me why the car had a lot of SS stuff on it but it wasn't an SS, hence he didn't know what the car was. It had a small block in it when he totalled it. When it went to the yard it was basically an old used car hence the insurance company wrote it off. The question remains, how could anyone know from a wrecked used car that it could be a collectable car of the future.
8) The restoration job on the vehicle in my mind is unbelievable; far beyond what I could do and I think I'm pretty good.
9) As an aside, I was on the Chevelle site earlier and the only thing they could get their heads around was why the tires were not correct; I have a hard time thinking that a group of people could possibly get sidetracked by that, ie 5 pages of a forum. ::##@^*##::, but they really, really liked the car.
10) Did one of the two guys I gave the information to find the original body after I had gone to that yard to look for it? MMMMMM? MAYBE?

11) I had a discussion with the restoration person, not necessarily the owner, and he tells me the actual owner of the car is in Alberta, not BC.

12) My 70 Laurentian 454 car went to Alberta a couple of years ago and I had wondered how he could get the title converted as the ownership was lost here in Ontario. He told me that all they need is a bill of sale in Alberta. Ownership of the Chevelle appears to be from Alberta, not BC or Ontario. Is this how it works there?
13) Certainly the car can be absolutely correct but its up to the individual purchasing it to do his due diligence in ascertaining the correctness of the car for sale. Its not up to me to say one way or the other.

14) By the way, give me 30 seconds with that car and I will tell you if its correct. You have to wonder how I would know that, right; trust me,its from the dumbest photograph which I have never posted because I thought it was so uninteresting, but, I can. Doug.

[EZ Nova]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 427strato</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hi everyone. Its Doug, the original owner of copo 120.
6) I somewhat regress here as we need to discuss the original engine. I know the names of the individuals involved here however I do know the people and am still acquainted with the people I'm speaking about. I traded the Chevelle for a 68 427 Vette. That owner raced the car for a couple of years and then removed the motor and installed it in a 69 Nova. I know he pulled the wheels of the Nova in front of MacD..... one night with another friend of mine in the passenger seat. I am still acquainted with both of these people. Enough of the engine.</div></div>

This quote is TRUE! Doug and I are from the same town, and I have meet/known Doug for 20/25+ years, but we are not long lost buddies, but we do know each other. The passenger in the above quote IS a friend, and in fact currently helping me on my new house. I mentioned this post to him and he said, &quot;yep, I remember that well&quot;.

The reason I quoted this, like what camaromb posted above, is regards to restamping. Doug KNOWS that the original motor was pulled YEARS ago and the body went to a new owner. It had the SB in it when it went to the wreaking yard. IT WAS NOT KNOWN IN ONTARIO, where the car was in the wreaking yard, that this was a 427 BBc COPO!!!! Yet in BC, the motor and trans &quot;MAGICALLY&quot; are rejoined??????

The owner of the '69 Nova is still around. I wonder if he knew what ever happened to his Nova and therefore the original BORN WITH engine for COPO 120????

If this is a restamp, and the facts are leading us to believe this IS, then why not just disclose that fact. Added to what camaromb stated about the trans, it just puts up to many red flags and &quot;could&quot; possibly be some shady practices going on for this 6 figure car!!!!!

I'm not saying the current owner or even MONTEMAN did or knew about these issues, but the fact that the original owner KNEW the motor was LONG gone, pictures seem to indicate restamping on the trans as observed here, and that the floors of what people thought was a plain jane '69 Chevelle, look like show-room fresh, just seems a bit fishy to me, IMO.

The buyer should do very good due indigents before buying this car, IMO!

[Charley Lillard]

Great post Strato

[iluv69s]

Cool stuff... I love this sight for all the inside..been there done that info. !!!

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