Rare Camaros

While almost any first generation Camaro can be considered relatively unique, there are a few cars, models, and options that qualify as really rare. In this section we'll explore some of them.
First of all, there are several Regular Production Options that are relatively rare, with less than 500 produced. They include the following:

1967

1968

1969

While these particular options don't really increase the car's value, they are rare.

The 1969 Pace Car replica is not really rare, with over 3,675 produced, but is not all that common either.
The 1967 Z/28 can be considered rare, with only 602 produced.
Any Camaro with the L89 engine is a rare car. This was the aluminum head 396 engine, which sold 272 units in '68, and another 311 in '69.
Another rare option is the JL8 4-wheel disc brake setup. There were only 206 factory equipped JL8 cars sold, but there were many more with the service package rear end from the dealer installed.

Original JL8 rear axle is tapered.	Service package rear axle is larger, no taper.

In addition, factory JL8 cars used 11-3/4 inch front rotors, while regular cars used an 11 inch rotor.

Moving on down the line of rare Camaros, we come to the special dealer prepared cars. One of the first dealers to build high performace Camaros was Baldwin Chevrolet in conjunction with Motion Performance. There were soon several hundred 427 Phase III Baldwin Motion Camaros rolling off the lot, although the exact number is unknown. It is believed that all the cars had a broad stripe running from front to rear down the middle of the car, as well as a special hood scoop. In 1969 the 427 Phase III Camaro listed for $4,998.95. In addition to the big block cars, Motion also built several Phase III Z/28's, which included Mallory ignition, dual electric fuel pumps, tuned equal length headers, special hood scoop, Scheifer Rev-Lok clutch and aluminum flywheel, and a Lakewood scattershield.

Dana Chevrolet was founded by Peyton Cramer, and named after a street, Dana Avenue. Dana Chevrolet built 427 Camaros from 1967 through 1969, but the cars remain a mystery today. It is not known how many were built. If you think you have one of these Camaros, please contact us!

Another such dealer was Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago. Nickey also offered 472/425 hp engines transplanted into the Camaro, but again, not much is known about these cars. I have seen figures that indicate about 35 of these Camaros were built, but this is not confirmed.

The COPO Camaros

COPO stands for Central Office Production Order, and these were the real high performance Camaros. They were very limited production, and of course, are very rare.

Other rare cars include 1967 Pace Car Replicas, with 200-350 built. We can add the actual 1969 Pace Cars, the ones that actually paced the race. There were three of these, one given to the race winner, Mario Andretti, and now rumored to be in New Zealand, and the two remaining ones are owned by Mark Levi and Gary Nichols.
There were also two special Z/28 Camaros built by Don Yenko Chevrolet in 1967, called the Stormer. Neither of these cars can be found.
Chevy built 2 prototype ZL1's with special graphics, but decided against producing the car. The wherabouts of the prototypes are unknown.

And finally, what may be the rarest Camaro of all - there was one 1968 Z/28 Camaro convertible built for Chevrolet General Manager Pete Estes on July 15, 1968. It is the only Z/28 convertible ever built. Options included a folding rear seat, auxiliary console-mounted instruments, auxiliary lighting, power windows, remote outside mirror, custom seat belts, performance suspension package, four-wheel disc brakes, blue light stereo system, positraction, ‘69 prototype fiberglass hood, cross-ram air and powder coated factory headers. This car was then delivered to Mr. Estes through Bill Markley Chevrolet in Detroit, whereupon the car was used as Mr. Estes daily transportation until December 17, 1968. On that day, it was officially sold to its first owner, T.H. Standen. Standen sold the car to Vern Nye, another GM employee, only two years later, in whose hands it remained for nearly 20 years. Only recently was the car made known to the public.
I had thought that the car's whereabouts were unknown, but Michael Sullivan found it for me! The car was sold at auction to the Rock 'n Roll Toy Store, LTD., in Highland park, IL. Michael found it on the web, and was kind enough to let me know about it. Thanks, Mike!
So how did this car come to be built at all? According to Jim Mattison, who worked in the special projects division at the time, they needed approval to build the Z/28 for the general public instead of trying to build just enough to homologate for SCCA racing. They figured that if Pete Estes, the Chevrolet General manager, drove a Z/28 he would like it enough to approve the plan. The problem was that Estes was a convertible freak, and he wouldn't drive anything else. They could give him a regular Z/28 coupe but it would probably just sit in the company garage. They decided the only solution was to build a convertible Z/28 and give that to Estes. The result - Estes drove the car, loved it, and we got the Z/28.