How a $4,160 Engine Killed the 1969 Camaro ZL1

A man who builds 427s for a living knows what one weighs. His shoulders know it. In a small clean room off the big block line at Tonawanda, late in 1968, one of them lifted a block that came up wrong, because it was not iron. It was aluminum, and the price Chevrolet eventually put on it killed the whole program in five months. A 1969 Camaro sport coupe with a V8 started at $2,727. The ZL1 engine option, by itself, was $4,160.50. We cover Fred Gibb, the Chevrolet dealer in La Harpe, Illinois who agreed to buy 50 of them before anyone told him the cost, Vince Piggins and the fleet paperwork that walked around GM's own rules, the 50-car drag racing rule that started it, and a bone stock car running 13.16 at 110 with the exhaust and smog pump still attached. Gibb sold 13. Blank check, time machine, 1969, one car. The aluminum 427 Camaro, the Boss 429, or a Hemi and a four speed. Pick one and defend it. #ZL1 #COPOCamaro #FredGibb #Camaro #DetroitIron