1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1
In the late ’60s, Chevrolet was under a racing ban proposed by General Motors. This meant that no official Chevrolet products could race, or Chevrolet, as a manufacturer, couldn’t participate in any racing activity. Of course, nobody stopped Chevrolet from helping racing teams through its backdoor programs in which particular engines and components were developed. In the late ’60s, Can-Am was a famous racing series featuring prototype-class cars with V8 engines. Chevrolet wanted to purpose-build a power plant for this championship, so they produced an all-aluminum 427 big block called the ZL-1 in 1969 (via How Stuff Works).
It was a high-revving, 7.0-liter V8 with around 550 horsepower in mild tune. Chevrolet produced about 200 of those engines. While most of them went to Can-Am racing teams, 69 ZL-1s were installed in C.O.P.O Camaros and sold to drag racing teams. The Camaro ZL-1 was the same as the regular 1969 Camaro on the outside, but it was so fast that it was barely street-legal. The official 1969 Chevrolet literature doesn’t mention the ZL-1 option for the Camaro. But if you were a successful drag racer or a dealer, you knew about this expensive option. That’s why only 69 Camaros ZL-1s left the factory.