Prototype 69 ZL1

[mxkx250]

I saw a Hot Rod TV episode about Lincon Tech and there was a car show they sponsored. Someone had a Black and Gold 69 ZL1 that he said was a prototype. He said that Vince Piggins had 2 made, a manual and an automatic.
I never heard that this had been done. Does anyone else know of this?
Beautiful car by the way. It also had a ZL1 badge in place of the Blue Bowtie between the taillights on the production runs.

[LINMUP]

I saw that show yesterday and couldn't figure that one out. He said they had lower compression ( 11:1 )...but we all know there were 69 ZL1s made in 1969....that is a very well documented fact, so I'm not sure what this guy was talking about. I know there were only 2 ZL1 Vettes made in 69 ( with one still known to exist ).

[ssleepingbeauty]

Found this http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55107

Both of them are black, one is more black than the other as it had some of the chrome blacked out. Both were probably mocked up at the same time the original 9560 cars were being built, but most of the drawings and pricing for the 9567 cars are dated post March of 69 thru July of 69, and the option would have listed for 5229.55, for a total base price of 8581.60 (4 spd) 8676.60 (auto) which was pretty steep for the day.

From Al Wallace who has extensively researched these cars, and has a replica that is about 100% correct.

The story of the 1969 COPO 9567 ZL-1 Camaro is really a story inside of a story. Most Camaro enthusiasts have now heard of the infamous, bare bones COPO 9560 ZL-1 Camaro, a true factory race car. But, few have probably heard that there was a 2nd version of the ZL-1 Camaro that Chevrolet very nearly produced. Chevrolet executives intended for this 2nd version to completely dominate the street. In at least one document it was referred to as the ZL-1 Special Camaro; in others, it was simply referred to as the 1969 COPO 9567 ZL-1 Camaro.

The story of the 1969 ZL-1 Camaro begins with the story about its all-aluminum 427 Big Block engine, the ZL-1. The story of the ZL-1 engine actually begins back in 1965, when an all-aluminum small block engine was designed for Chaparral race cars competing in the Can-Am Series. The project failed because the engine was not powerful enough to beat the competition. Chevrolet Research & Development set out to develop a more powerful engine and came up with the Chaparral 427 Big Block engine, available to racers over the counter in 1968. The ZL-1 followed the Chaparral engine, and was designed for even more power, with the first ZL-1 engine being forged in November of 1968.

Now, somewhere between late 1967 and early 1968, Fred Gibb (of Gibb/Harrel racing fame and owner of Gibb Chevrolet) and Vince Piggins (responsible for the Z/28) started talking about what would ultimately become the 1969 ZL-1 Camaro. It was Fred and Vince’s love of the Z/28 and the introduction of the aluminum big block engine that inspired the creation of the ZL-1 Camaro.

You see, Fred Gibb was into racing. As a matter of fact, he raced a 1967 Z/28 very successfully for a year and a half and was a national winner in his class. Fred wanted to race a ZL-1 Camaro in the Super Stock class and according to NHRA/AHRA rules, in order to qualify the car, the factory had to produce a minimum of 50 of the cars and make them “available to the public.” So, Fred and Vince came up with the idea of using GM’s seldom-used Central Office Production Order (COPO) process to realize their vision of the ultimate Camaro. The COPO ordering process, a process normally used to build special runs of vehicles like fleet vehicles and taxis, would now be used to build factory race cars.

The way COPO vehicles were built was by following what was called an Exception Control Letter Sheet. The sheets would tell the assembly workers what vehicle to start out with, and then, with approval from engineering, which components to add and which to delete. On paper, both the COPO 9560 and COPO 9567 Camaros started out as L78 (396/375hp) SS cars with power front disc brakes and either a 4-spd (M21 or M22), or a HD Turbo 400 (M40) 3-spd automatic. They then had all SS-identifying badges/tags/etc and 396 engine deleted, and the appropriate ZL-1 engine added.

For quite some time before the initial cars were ordered, Fred and Vince talked about what the cars should really be and what they should look like. It seems that Fred and Vince agreed upon every aspect of the ZL-1 Camaro except its appearance. Fred was a racer and believed the cars should be bare-bone race cars. Vince on the other hand, thought the cars should be more appealing to the public and therefore should be flashy, with special striping and badging. This is where the story of the ZL-1 Camaro becomes two stories, one of the COPO 9560 bare bones ZL-1 Camaro and one of the COPO 9567 ZL-1 Special Camaro, because up until this time they had really only talked about “the ZL-1 Camaro.” Still, both men agreed that these cars would be the most incredible Camaros ever built.

The basic idea that they each had for the car was the same. Start with a 1969 Big Block SS Camaro and swap out the 396 drivetrain for the brand-new all-aluminum Big Block 427 ZL-1 engine and some heavy duty parts like the new HD Turbo 400 automatic tranny and a heat-treated 12-bolt rear-end. To allow the cars to breath better, they were fitted with brand-new ZL2 Cowl Induction hoods. To keep them running cool, they were equipped with HD Harrison 4-core, curved neck radiators (although it’s been reported that some of the cars may have been produced with a straight neck version). The COPO 9560 cars, Fred’s cars, were built just this way.

On paper, Vince’s cars, the COPO 9567 ZL-1 Special Camaros started out basically the same as the COPO 9560 ZL-1 Camaros, except they were all to be painted Tuxedo Black with Special Gold Striping and given a street detuned version of the ZL-1 engine. This engine ran 11:1, instead of 12:1 like the COPO 9560 ZL-1 engines. There were a host of other standard options intended for these Camaros, as well. Unfortunately, the 1969 COPO 9567 ZL-1 Special Camaro never went into production. However, there is enough verifiable proof to show that GM was seriously considering producing 100 of these cars by around the mid-March 1969 timeframe (the same time that Fred Gibb’s remaining 48 COPO 9560 cars were being built). In fact, Vince Piggins and his design staff hand-built two prototype cars (see pictures of Prototypes “A” & “B” further below), one a 4-spd, the other, an automatic, to show off to executives, and, on occasion, to terrorize the streets of Detroit!

So where did it all go “wrong”? First, a little more detailed background. It started out this way: Back in August 1968, through his dealership, Fred Gibb placed an initial order for fifty (50) COPO 9560 cars. In December, the first two cars were built as sort of a test run, and delivered to Fred’s dealership on 31 Dec 1968. Soon after the first two cars arrived, other dealers found out about Gibb’s order and wanted to get their own ZL-1 Camaros. Nineteen additional cars would eventually be ordered and built for a total of sixty-nine (69) 1969 COPO 9560 ZL-1 Camaros. All of the cars were produced at the Norwood factory between December 1968 and early June 1969 before the program was killed. Factory dyno tests of the time showed that the ZL-1 engine produced 575 hp and 515 lb-ft of torque with open headers; however, GM only publicly acknowledged that the cars put out 430hp. And, only a handful of cars exist today.

A total of only ninety (90) ZL-1 engines were built: fifty-four (54) in the COPO 9560 manual transmission configuration, thirty-four (34) in the COPO 9560 automatic transmission configuration, one (1) in the COPO 9567 manual transmission configuration, and one (1) in the COPO 9567 automatic transmission configuration for the other prototype Camaro.

Of those ninety engines, sixty-nine (69) were put in COPO 9560 cars (47 manual, 22 automatic), two (2) were put in 1969 Corvettes, and two (2) were put in the COPO 9567 cars, leaving seventeen (17) crate engines (12 manual, 7 automatic).

I believe that both cars (COPO 9560 and COPO 9567) went through the normal phases of pre-production in parallel, but two factors prevented the 1969 COPO 9567 Special ZL-1 Camaro from reaching actual production, i.e., where it all went “wrong”:

1. The price for a ZL-1 Camaro turned out to be too high. When Fred Gibb’s 1st two COPO 9560 cars arrived at his dealership, they showed up with a price tag of $7269 each. Fred had originally been quoted a price of ~$4900, and given that the base price of a V8 Camaro in 1969 was $2726, Fred suffered a severe case of sticker shock when he saw the price on the cars. He knew that it would be difficult to sell the cars at that price, so he had GM re-invoice 37 of his 50 cars to other dealerships and had his name removed from the paperwork to avoid finance charges. The reason the price on the cars was so high was because GM had passed on the full price of R&D onto the price of the car itself, instead of spreading it over the fleet. The cost for the ZL-1 engine option alone turned out to be $4160.50! With a price like that, the cars were just too hard to sell.

2. Timing. I believe that because there was more to the COPO 9567 ZL-1 Special Camaro than simply adding and deleting existing components (the process used for building a COPO 9560 Camaro), it required more lead-time within GM to make the car a reality. There was artwork to be done, badging to be made, and another batch of engines to produce, amongst other things. The COPO 9567 cars were already slated to sell for $8581.60 for the (M21) 4-spd version and $8676.60 for the (M40) 3-spd automatic version. Given the reaction to pricing on the 9560 cars, the proposed price for a COPO 9567 was also too high.

Exactly how close the COPO 9567 Camaro actually came to production is unknown, but from the documentation I’ve accumulated, it’s clear that Chevrolet was more than just considering building these cars. They had done a significant amount of planning, engineering, prototyping, and pricing of them to clearly show that the car was ready to go to production.

Whatever happened to the two prototype COPO 9567 ZL-1 Special Camaros? No one outside GM knows for sure, but rumor has it that they’re locked away in a special warehouse that GM owns. Whether they are or aren’t, wouldn’t you love to get your hands on one of these gems?
Standard options slated for production COPO 9567 ZL-1Special Camaros included:


Tuxedo Black paint with Special Gold striping
ZL-1 Street Detuned Engine
Z22 Rally Sport
M21 (M22 Optional) 4-spd manual or Heavy Duty M40 3-spd automatic transmission
J52 Power Disc Brakes
N40 Power Steering
D55 Center Console
U16 Tachometer
F41 Special Performance Suspension
ZN2 COPO 9567 Springs
G80 Positraction (4.10 ratio w/M21 or 3.55 ratio w/M40)
K85 61 Amp Generator
K66 Transistor Ignition
D80 Auxiliary Valance Panel
Wider Front Bumper Valance Panel
VE3 Special Front Bumper (only Prototype “B” had this)
Racing Type Mirrors (Only Prototype “B” had these? – Can’t tell from photos. Prototype “A” did not.)
Exhaust Resonators
Tail Pipe Extensions
Special Steering Wheel
F-70-15B Nylon Blackwall w/Gold Lettered Tires
15x7 Wheels (Prototype “B” had 15x8s in the rear)
Special Hub Caps & Wheel Nuts
Wheel Trim Rings
Fender Splash Guards (Prototype cars did not have these)
Special Striping, Decals for the Hood, Grille & Rear End Panel (The grille lettering was slightly different for each of the two prototype cars – see pictures below)
Wheel Opening Mouldings Deleted (only Prototype “B” had these deleted)
Special Instrument Cluster (for Transistor Ignition)
Other Features of RPO L-78 except Fender Emblems
In addition, Prototype “B” had its Simulated Rear Fender Louvers Blacked-Out

[ 02-06-2005, 07:41 AM: Message edited by: Mark C ]
__________________
Mark Canning
1969 Indy Pace Car
350/300HP RPO Z11
My Engine Compartment

[SSNIGHTMARE]

wow, i've never heard that story before!!!

[NicKey]

Vince Piggens ZL1

[SSNIGHTMARE]

What r the letters on the fire wall? Is that something specific to these cars?

[SSNIGHTMARE]

oh and amazing car, who owns the car now? is it still with his family?

[MS3DALE]

Originally Posted by SSNIGHTMARE

What r the letters on the fire wall? Is that something specific to these cars?

Those are,or "were",on almost every one.
The P stands for "Paint"
The T stands for "Trim"
and the B stands for "Body"
These letters were stamped onto the firewall by factory workers once work was completed and passed inspection.

*EDIT* Found this post from another site...

"According to a Norwood quality control I interviewed back in the late 1980's, PTB stamps designated paint body and trim inspection before the front fenders were installed on the car. Most of the '68 and '69 cars have the stamps in sight but many of the 67 cars (not all) have the stamps behind the front fenders"

[556hp]

Did not know that these were also built without a rear seat. At least in the photo it looks that way.

[jleews6]

I remember reading about that car many years ago.
There is a guy that lives near me and he has a black 69 ZL1 and a brand new 2012 black zl1

[mxkx250]

I had never heard that story. Very interesting. Beautiful car.
Maybe they did get into the publics hands. I heard that over the years GM regulary got rid of cars at auction. Before they realised the history they were losing.

[Jstephen]

Makes you wonder why gm did not include a black and gold paint scheme for the new ZL-1

[slacker]

Originally Posted by 556hp

Did not know that these were also built without a rear seat. At least in the photo it looks that way.

Fold down rear seat- my 69 RS had that.

[oldfriend]

Well , the time as come to start driving around Detroit and open all the GM old hideaways places , then expend the search from there .