This one is the real thing.
James

COPO Chevelle (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6164&item=2492499165&rd=1)

Yes! I saw it at CB04 and its everything the ad says and more. Who knows how high it will go?

It was our September Feature Car (http://www.yenko.net/features/2004/September2004.htm) and attended SCR7 last month...nice car!

Highly desirable car, indeed. I've been to CB from 1999 to 2003 and never heard of "the ACES award". Anyone know what that is? I know there's a People's Choice and Chuck's Choice, but what is "the ACES" award?

I know this car well. I saw it numerous times before it was restored. The guy who did the back half of my SS restored this car and then sold it.

I don't see any driveshaft stripes. smile.gif Maybe they're just not in the picture, but even without them that's a sweet car. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

nice car but with all the bragging about the "perfect" restoration I would think they should get the grill right. It should have the blacked out SS grill

I don't think that the COPO's were Super Sports...???? I think plain jane is correct.

The COPO Chevelles were almost *visually* identical to the SS396 cars, minus the SS emblems...

The way I see it, the 427 COPO Chevelles were sort of a double conversion package. The RPO Z25 SS396 was a conversion package that can be added to four models (1969). They were Malibu Sport Coupe, 300 Deluxe Sport Coupe, 300 Deluxe Coupe, and Malibu convertible. When you added the RPO Z25 to one of these four models the original trim package was substituted for the SS396 package but the original model number did not change. The 427 COPO Chevelles were Malibu Sport Coupes with the SS396 conversion package added then a second COPO conversion package was added which specified the special 427 power train and other parts and deleted the 396 power train and SS396 emblems. They could not use the SS396 emblem with the 427 engine. Most of the SS package was used. The SS wheels where used since they just had "SS" and not SS396 on the center cap logo.

Thanks Rob... I was just curious...

Tony: the "M-21" listing was simply a mistake on my part. Should be fixed now... graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Not all the COPO cars had blacked out grilles. I have probably had more COPO Chevelles in my shop than anyone and out of 7, 4 had the regular silver tipped grille.

Mikey, have you seen any evidence that a 427 COPO Chevelle came with the Malibu grill from the factory? Did the cars you worked on have all the other SS parts?
I have been doing research on COPO and Yenko Chevelles since 1986 and collected a lot of info on them. All original pictures and magazine articles I have seen show the SS grill with the bowtie emblem.
From what I can tell, they used the SS grill and short SS eyebrows, SS front signal lights, and SS side lights. All SS parts except the bowtie emblem. On back they used the SS black paint and trim between the tail lights.
Seems odd to me that they would use a Malibu grill and then use all the other SS parts.
Many 69 Chevelles I have seen had the grill replaced because the plastic fins would break and pieces would be missing.
I know of one low mile original paint 427 Chevelle that was found with a Malibu grill center but still had blacked out SS grill end pieces. Baby pictures of the car showed it originally had the SS grill.

For sure we had a butternut Yenko and the black COPO that we did and both had silver tipped malibu style grilles, maybe they were changed? I cant be sure, but I still have the original ends here some place and they are black with the silver tips also. The Black car had all the other SS parts, except grille emblem of course, but door panels,steering wheel, wheel centers, etc. I dont find it uncommon to have a regular grille in one from what I have seen on these. I know of a original owner SS that is like this also. Guess they were not going to hold up the line for the grille.

Originally posted by micky69396:
I have probably had more COPO Chevelles in my shop than anyone ..... Heh, too bad you weren't around and posting a few months ago- your expertise could have been put to good use... :D

I seen it, stayed away. Joe, might be something too but both cars were 07B's.

Take a look at the back of a '69 grill. Look at the centre bar area. Replacement grills have bigger curved reinforcements added to the moulds to give the attaching points more cross sectional area. With the big SS396 casting hanging on the centre bar there was enough weight to eventually break the bar loose from the rest of the grill. Never mind the people who would grab the emblem thinking that it was the hood release as on some cars. If I'm wrong a lot of people will be scrambling for nothing. The COPO Chevelles had the Malibu interior with the SS396 exterior less the SS396 emblems. The steering wheel emblems were anything from Malibu to blue bow tie to SS396 so who knows what other mistakes crept in. Throwing an oddball into the mix can really mess with the heads of the production workers. Just talking to a worker, as he works, can throw him off his routine, so I can see where all these little inconsistancies creep in.

Keith, I have a few original grills that I saved over the years and will take a look at them. There is probably some type of a date code on the grills but will need to see if it can be decoded to see if grill date is before car's build date.

My memory tells me there was a difference but the old memory has had 58 years to deteriorate too. One Grille number is 3938180 and it has the reinforcements.

Guys if you think about GM wasn't painting these grills on the assembly line ... so there would have been a different part number at the assembly line (blacked-out & silver tipped) for SS & Malibu.

Now replacement parts (even in '69) don't always follow the same criteria. There may have only ever been one replacement part available, because the body shop could alway black-out a grill.