This is a story I would like to share with Canadian Pontiac enthusiasts since I figure youd be interested in hearing about it. It concerns a discussion I had with an owner back in December 1993.

I was at the International Center in Mississauga (by Toronto Airport) for an automotive flea market, I had just walked past a bunch of 1968 Catalina parts and I overheard a guy ask if anything there would fit his 1968 Strato Chief 427. I immediately doubled back and went over to talk with the guy. We ended up talking for two hours!

The guy was from Brantford Ontario and was restoring a car that he had ordered new, sold many years ago and had recently bought back.. The car was a 1968 Pontiac Strato Chief 2-door sedan that was stripped down except for some go-fast stuff. It was powered by an Astro Jet 427 385-horse, backed by a Muncie M20 4-speed, running back to factory 3.73:1 Positraction (Safe-T-Track?) rear. It had manual steering and manual 11" drum brakes. The other options were 14x6 Rally Wheels, G70-14 redline tires, H.D. suspension, tinted glass all around, AM radio and power rear antenna. He ordered the car with a manual rear antenna but GM built it with a power rear antenna. He said it was dark green with I believe black interior. When I asked if it was Verdoro Green se said no, it was a really dark green, Im figuring it might have been Nightshade Green. It was street driven. Has anyone seen or heard of that car?

In talking more with that guy, he had also ordered new in 68 a 68 Beaumont SD-396 coupe. Details on that one are fuzzy but I do recall that it was dark green. He ordered everything on that car, PW,PS, PDB, buckets, console, vinyl top. He ordered it with A/C but GM built it without A/C. 1968 was in fact the first year that you could order A/C on a Beaumont or Canadian Chevelle (most people dont realize that). I cant recall what he said happened to that car, but he did order another car in 69 to replace it a COPO Chevelle!

He tried to order his COPO 427 Chevelle at the local Brantford Chevrolet dealer but the dealer though he was crazy. Chevrolet did not make a 427 Chevelle he was told. So off he went to a dealer more than an hour away (especially back then before highway 403 ran to highway 401). He went to Central Chev-Olds in London, something we now know as one of the in-the-loop knowledgeable high performance Chevrolet dealers. Something like 20 COPO Chevelles were sold new in Canada, and a significant number of those went through Central Chev-Olds. They also sold COPO Camaros, L88 vettes, and the only 2 1970 COPO Novas sold new that werent converted to Yenko Deuces. When he finally got the car he would take it to the local dealer in Brantford for service. He showed it to them and said "see? I told you Chevy made a 427 Chevelle!"

The details that I can remember about his COPO Chevelle was that it was Fathom Green with black bench seat interior, had manual steering, maybe an AM radio. He had sold the car many years ago and had tried to track it down. He tracked it down to a scrap yard around 1986 but he got there too late, Six months before the scrap yard had changed ownership and all cars had been crushed, including his COPO Chevelle(moment of somber silence...). He did say that the original MQ code 427 did survive and at that point resided in a street rod, I think he said it was in a 32 Ford coupe.