CURRENT VALUES OF CAMARO 427 ALUMINUM ENGINE CARS

[iluv69s]

For those of you that do not think they could ever find a real ZL-1....an interesting story about a recent ZL-1 find just in the past few years..I beleive it is ZL-1 number 35 or 36??...and correct me if I am wrong on the details..
Tha car was purchased as a non-numbers 69 Z-28 with a small block and the Z-28 emblems and all. Later was found to have the VIN number on the title 1 digit incorrect all these years...the car's VIN was actually one of the real ZL-1's....therefore no-one ever found the car with the real ZL-1 VIN # when they did a title/registration search for the car.
Could I have worded that any worse??

Someone can fill in the details...I was told about this car by Jerry M...but I dont remember the exact details...

But They are still out thereeee!!!!!

[William]

No doubt. The mis-registration story is true and has now occurred twice. That's how #54 was very reasonably purchased.

Unfortunately the known race cars are probably still around [#5, #41, #42] but way cut up. Some did show registration years ago [#8, #20] probably still exist. Two others were reported stolen [#39, #43] but only one is still registered to an insurance firm. #29, #52, #67 were crashed and probably junked.

Engines from #10, #21, #41 still exist. The engine from #4 [19N608214] was in a '71 Camaro PRO car sold to Jim Dunn in CA in 1972. Would be very interested in info about it.

[Fast67VelleN2O]

Regarding the cars that were "stolen" from the dealer. Weren't these cars extremely hard to sell? What if the dealer made them disappear and collected the insurance on them?

[William]

http://www.camaros.org/copo.shtml

"The telling blow for COPO 9560 was the price. Gibb is quoted as saying he believed the cars would list for around $4900. Unfortunately for Gibb, the new edict at Chevrolet came through that options had to be priced according to production costs. Just the "HIGH PERFORMANCE UNIT" option was priced at $4160.50. (For reasons unknown, subsequent ZL-1s were priced at $4160.15) The mandatory power disc brakes and transmission option pushed sticker prices over $7300. This was far more than a well equipped 1969 Corvette and would be roughly equivalent to today's Z06 Corvette. Not only would the cars not sell, Gibb likely was unable to pay for them. Gibb plead his case, and in an unprecedented move, Chevrolet agreed to the return of many ZL-1 Camaros. The cars were shipped back to Norwood, Ohio beginning in May 1969 and Chevrolet began to shop the cars around. Gibb also wholesaled cars directly to other dealers who would soon learn what he knew: they were sale-proof. Many dealers removed and sold the ZL-1 engines, replacing them with iron 396 or 427s, adding stripes and mag wheels, doing whatever it took to sell the white elephants. Several were stolen and never recovered. Gibb sold his last new 1969 ZL-1 Camaro in 1972 (with the aid of a $1000 rebate from Chevrolet). It was re-possessed and returned it to Gibb in 1973."

"Fred Gibb may have believed the ZL-1 Camaro was his exclusively. Compounding his difficulty in selling the cars was the fact that other Chevrolet dealers had learned of the COPO and ordered 19 additional ZL-1 Camaros. Some of these cars had more optional equipment. Many of these Camaros found the same cold reception as the Gibbs' cars and suffered the same fate: engine swaps, theft, modifications."

[iluv69s]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.camaros.org/copo.shtml

"The telling blow for COPO 9560 was the price. Gibb is quoted as saying he believed the cars would list for around $4900. Unfortunately for Gibb, the new edict at Chevrolet came through that options had to be priced according to production costs. Just the "HIGH PERFORMANCE UNIT" option was priced at $4160.50. (For reasons unknown, subsequent ZL-1s were priced at $4160.15) The mandatory power disc brakes and transmission option pushed sticker prices over $7300. This was far more than a well equipped 1969 Corvette and would be roughly equivalent to today's Z06 Corvette. Not only would the cars not sell, Gibb likely was unable to pay for them. Gibb plead his case, and in an unprecedented move, Chevrolet agreed to the return of many ZL-1 Camaros. The cars were shipped back to Norwood, Ohio beginning in May 1969 and Chevrolet began to shop the cars around. Gibb also wholesaled cars directly to other dealers who would soon learn what he knew: they were sale-proof. Many dealers removed and sold the ZL-1 engines, replacing them with iron 396 or 427s, adding stripes and mag wheels, doing whatever it took to sell the white elephants. Several were stolen and never recovered. Gibb sold his last new 1969 ZL-1 Camaro in 1972 (with the aid of a $1000 rebate from Chevrolet). It was re-possessed and returned it to Gibb in 1973."

"Fred Gibb may have believed the ZL-1 Camaro was his exclusively. Compounding his difficulty in selling the cars was the fact that other Chevrolet dealers had learned of the COPO and ordered 19 additional ZL-1 Camaros. Some of these cars had more optional equipment. Many of these Camaros found the same cold reception as the Gibbs' cars and suffered the same fate: engine swaps, theft, modifications."

[/ QUOTE ]

FYI...Car #34 was sent back to Norwood plant by Gibb in May 69 and reinvoiced to Govan's Chevrolet. The car finally sold in June of 1970....for 4800 dollars!!! Had to be way below dealer cost I would think !!!

[black69]

if you ran across one of the ones that was supposidly stolen, how could you register it (when found)? could someone from way way back have claim to it and tie it up in court?

[njsteve]

[ QUOTE ]
if you ran across one of the ones that was supposidly stolen, how could you register it (when found)? could someone from way way back have claim to it and tie it up in court?

[/ QUOTE ]

That is a serious possibility. The higher the value...the higher the likelihood of old ownership issues popping up.

Just think what happens whenever a sunken treasure ship is found. Even though maritime law is an obscure area of practice, the original insurance company or whomever has bought their rights over the past 400 years always ends up being a part of the "payout" that inevitably occurs.

[Donutblue]

[ QUOTE ]
if you ran across one of the ones that was supposidly stolen, how could you register it (when found)? could someone from way way back have claim to it and tie it up in court?

[/ QUOTE ]

As long as you understand that possession of stolen property is a continuos crime, you can expect some knock on your door if you register one, or found to have one. Most likely after you spend your life savings restoring it ---LOL

[mhassett]

My #35 was also returned to Norwood then to Sutliff Chevrolet in Harrisburg, Pa. They added a rear spoiler and rally wheels to try and sell it. Information given to me by Mr.Bruce Larson, he also told me they had him take the car to the drag strip along with his race car to try and sell the ZL-1. The dealer finally sold it in September 1971.

[Xplantdad]

Neat stuff Mark!