Corvette World

Two rare 1969 Corvettes were purchased by individuals with the RPO ZL1 option package. Records from the Tonawanda engine plant indicates they built 94 ZL1 engines for 1969. Eighty of these were coded for manual transmissions and 14 for the TH400 automatic transmission. The majority of these engines were sold to racers and a few through private parties or used for magazine tests and evaluations; but only two were sold to the general public and, oddly enough, one was a 4-speed manual transmission car and one was ordered with the Th400 automatic transmission.

The TH400 automatic car is a convertible ordered in Monaco Orange and the 4-speed car is a coupe in Daytona Yellow. The ZL1 option cost $4,718.00, just $63.00 less than the base price of the coupe and $280 more than the convertible. The Daytona Yellow coupe was optioned with the ZL1 stripe kit while the Monaco Orange convertible was not. The ZL1 required the J56 heavy duty brakes, F41 suspension, K66 transistor ignition, and G81 Positraction options as well.

© C1-C3 CorvetteWorld

© C1-C3 CorvetteWorld

© C1-C3 CorvetteWorld

© C1-C3 CorvetteWorld

Note the lack of radio suppression equipment. Why? No radio could be ordered with the ZL1 engine so there was no noise suppression required.


© C1-C3 CorvetteWorld