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1969 CHEVROLET CAMARO

INFORMATION

ABOUT THE 1969 CAMARO: (click here for images)

The 1969 Camaro carried over the previous year's drivetrain and major mechanical components, but all-new sheetmetal, except the hood and trunklid, gave a car a substantially sportier look. The grille was redesigned with a heavy "V" cant and deeply inset headlights. New door skins, rear quarter panels, and rear valence panel also gave the car a much lower, wider, more aggressive look. This styling would serve for the 1969 model year only. Collectors often debate the merits of smooth, rounded lines of 1967 and 1968 model versus the heavily creased and sportier looks of the 1969.

Several new performance options were available for the 1969 model year.

To increase competitiveness in the SCCA Trans Am racing series, a four wheel disc brake option, RPO JL8, was made available during the year. This system used the 4 piston brake components from the Corvette and made for a major improvement in the braking capability and was a key to winning the Trans Am championship.

A GM corporate edict forbade Chevrolet from installing engines larger than 400 cid (6.6 L) in the Camaro. But requests from dealers (notably Yenko) who were dealer installing 427's in the Camaro, caused Chevrolet to use an ordering process usually used on fleet and special orders (taxis, trucks, etc) to offer 427 engines in the Camaro. Two Central Office Production Orders (COPO), numbers 9560 and 9561, were offered in the 1969 model year. The COPO 9561 option brought the solid lifter L72 big-block engine, making an underrated 425 hp (317 kW) gross. Dealer Don Yenko ordered 201 of these cars to create the now-legendary Yenko Camaro. Other dealers also became aware of the L72 engine package and ordered it.

Even rarer was the COPO 9560. This option installed an all-aluminum 427 cid (7.0 L) big-block called the ZL-1 and was designed specifically for drag racing. Just 69 ZL-1 Camaros were produced, probably because the engine alone cost over US$4,000 — nearly twice that of a base coupe with a V8. Though rated at 430 hp (321 kW) gross, the ZL-1 made closer to 550 hp (410 kW), making it both the fastest and rarest of all Camaros. Chevrolet also planned a high content version of the ZL-1 Camaro for 1969 that would have been ordered under COPO 9567. Two prototypes were made both in Black with gold Z/28 style stripes.

The 1969 model year was exceptionally long, extending into November 1969, due to engineering problems that delayed the introduction of the second generation model planned for 1970. It is a popular myth that late-'69 Camaros were sold as 1970 models (due to GM publicity pictures of the 69 Camaro labeled as a 1970), but they were all assigned 1969 VIN codes.

The above text was reused from Wikipedia and can be found by clicking here.