I bought my 69 Z28 back in 1973 when I was 16 years old. I bought the car from the original owner (through a bank; long story there) and for no older than the car was, it had lead a pretty rough life. I slowly fixed it up over time and had a ball with it over the years. I did a lot of autocrossing in the late 70's and made a few changes to the car and it really shined at the autocrosses; both low speed and high speed courses.
Back then the cars weren't that special, so mods and in my case, adding options the car didn't originally come with was no big deal. I think the worst part about being that young with a 69 Z28 was that it was my everyday driver, 365 days a year. In the winter, on went the snow tires and trudging thru the snow and salt like any other Impala or Malibu, etc. As time went on it became more and more special to me, and the magazines called them future collectors items. I'm so amazed at some of the survivor cars on here, the owners either had the foresight to know they were special from the start, or just plain luck, that these cars are around today in their untouched condition.
I remember when the "cowl tag decoded" articles started coming out in the magazines and I was so disappointed that mine only said X77 instead of X77D80 because I knew it came from the factory with the spoilers. Now you guys have figured it all out when these different changes occurred, but they didn't know that stuff back in the early 80's.

Around 1975 or 76 I T-boned a girl who ran a stop sign. It was a low speed accident but it did crumple the front end up on the Z. It barely did anything to the hood but the insurance company called for a new hood! Who could resist adding the ZL2 hood and supporting parts!! All brand new right from GM! Also, I always liked the black grill in these cars, so I opted for that too. The only part that was discontinued at that time was the correct extension to raise the flange and seal up to the bottom of the hood. A few years later I was able to find a repop of the extension and added that then.
Here's the car around 1977:

I still have the jacket but unfortunately I sold the car in 1986. I'm so glad I still have several pictures from back then and that I took a pic of the cowl tag while I had the car. A few weeks ago I googled the VIN: 124379N639570 and I was surprised it hit on a Keith Martin/ Ebay Motors website indicating it sold at auction in 2009 for $52,000. All of the picture links were broken due to time.
Is there anything in the CRG databases about that car?
I am currently trying to close a deal on another 69 Z28 but I'll wait until it actually happens before I post anything about that car.
That's my little story.

Thanks, John