Factory Production 69 Camaro JL8 L-78?

[VINCE Z28]

Do we know of any 69 Camaros with L-78 and  JL8 from the factory with docs?

[william]

No. Of the 206 JL8 builds about 50 exist, few with docs. The only non Z/28 to date is an L65/4-speed. Very original when found but no docs.

[KurtS]

There's a fake L89 (now with a L88 I think) with JL8 that bounces around. 71-B, X22 D80  fake tag. Started life as a SS350....

[69Z28-RS]

I've mentioned this before, and have intended to get with the owner and try to get some photos, but around 1978, a young fella came to my house after purchasing a used '69 Camaro SS (396/auto)..  Not a bad car for the time (just used).   I had noticed the advertisement which the local Oldsmobile dealer had ran, showing a '69 Camaro tradein for $900, but elected NOT to go check it out..  When the young fellas came by and I checked out the car, I was extremely aggravated that I hadn't gone to check out the car, as when I checked it had the JL8 rear end!!   I offered him more than he paid for the car to let me swap the rears (his car and mine), but he didn't do it.. and before I told him, he was totally unaware of the disk brake rear!...

The last time I called him (he still has the car) he was busy remodeling his house and the car was in storage; I really need to call him again and if I'm successful, I'll get lots of photos and detail..   (There's NO doubt in my mind that it was an original JL8 installation!)..

[bcmiller]

I think that we all hope that you will be successful.

[william]

As a production option, JL8 included Corvette front brakes. Requires some rare parts to adapt. A production build would have 15" rally wheels. Chevrolet offered a retrofit kit to adapt Corvette rear brakes to the standard 12 bolt rear axle. It was for off-road use only; no provision for a parking brake.

By 1978 that car was nearly 10 years old. Anything could have been done to it. The JL8 option was released to production January '69 and dropped in June. Earliest known build was mid-February '69. If the car was built outside the February - early June time frame, it wasn't built with JL8.

[WorkinProgress]

The two Indy 500 track cars, the one that paced and the backup car both came with L89, JL8 and F70-15 tires.

                                         - Warren

Update...

Was just corresponding with one of the owners of the Pace Car track car. From what he understands, after the two Pace Car track cars were completed on the assembly line, they were shipped to Chevrolet Engineering where the JL8 parts were installed. So, I guess these two cars cannot be included in the 206 JL8s produced.

[69Z28-RS]

As a production option, JL8 included Corvette front brakes. Requires some rare parts to adapt. A production build would have 15" rally wheels. Chevrolet offered a retrofit kit to adapt Corvette rear brakes to the standard 12 bolt rear axle. It was for off-road use only; no provision for a parking brake.

By 1978 that car was nearly 10 years old. Anything could have been done to it. The JL8 option was released to production January '69 and dropped in June. Earliest known build was mid-February '69. If the car was built outside the February - early June time frame, it wasn't built with JL8.

William,   It must be easier for you to 'imagine' someone ADDING a JL8 rear, wheels, brakes etc to a 69 Camaro SS/RS 396/auto, sometime in the car's first 9 yrs, and THEN trading it in on a new 1978 Oldsmobile? (and getting less than $900 on the trade in)   

I couldn't imagine it then, and can't imagine it now!   which is why I'm 99% certain that it was original to that car...  I don't know what the young owner did to it in the last 40 yrs (but I told him NOT to modify it and to keep it as original as possible with GM parts - rebuilding the brakes), but in 1978 it had all the appearance of a 9 yr old original car without any work having been done to it...

[WorkinProgress]

Would need to have someone knowledgeable about JL8 to inspect the 396/auto car. Back in the seventies era, there were plenty of disc brake rears that were pulled out of wrecked cars. The front parts are far more harder to find than the rear ends, as no one realized the front JL8 disc parts were different than standard disc brakes. That is why an inspection would be needed to confirm the 396/auto is legit.

                                                                   - Warren

[BULLITT65]

Interesting that it would be a 396 auto car. To dove tail with the other thread about dealer orders getting cancelled. I wonder how many JL8 optioned camaro orders were never fulfilled back then? for such a small window and small production, was it worth the marketing value to have it as a option on the car from a business perspective? seems like it would have cost a lot to make up all the parts front and back  and training to install , to be profitable for that small of a run.

[69Z28-RS]

The JL8 option was predominantly for SCCA racers, who KNEW about it, and who could afford it...

[william]

As a production option, JL8 included Corvette front brakes. Requires some rare parts to adapt. A production build would have 15" rally wheels. Chevrolet offered a retrofit kit to adapt Corvette rear brakes to the standard 12 bolt rear axle. It was for off-road use only; no provision for a parking brake.

By 1978 that car was nearly 10 years old. Anything could have been done to it. The JL8 option was released to production January '69 and dropped in June. Earliest known build was mid-February '69. If the car was built outside the February - early June time frame, it wasn't built with JL8.

William,   It must be easier for you to 'imagine' someone ADDING a JL8 rear, wheels, brakes etc to a 69 Camaro SS/RS 396/auto, sometime in the car's first 9 yrs, and THEN trading it in on a new 1978 Oldsmobile? (and getting less than $900 on the trade in)   

I couldn't imagine it then, and can't imagine it now!   which is why I'm 99% certain that it was original to that car...  I don't know what the young owner did to it in the last 40 yrs (but I told him NOT to modify it and to keep it as original as possible with GM parts - rebuilding the brakes), but in 1978 it had all the appearance of a 9 yr old original car without any work having been done to it...

It's more a matter of hearing dozens of stories like this over 43 years in the hobby. Guess how many of those were verified.

[JKZ27]

I can only imagine the stories over that duration.
50 known to exist, Is there any docs or POP's showing JL8 where the car is waiting to be found or known destroyed?
I have a neighbor (speaking of stories) who informed me of a 69 Z w/ 4 wheel discs that was totaled back in the day by a local guy. I told him to ask the guy if he stil had the paperwork. I'm not sure he took me seriously so I'm gonna ask again.

Gary, make the call! 

[dannystarr]

I talked about this years ago when I first joined this site. My old friend who lives down the road has a '69 Camaro Z/28 with JL8... KINDA!!
So he is a master diesel mechanic, working on BIG machinery. He gets a call from a friend who wants him to go with him to an auction, to help him access a new Cat before possible purchase. In the middle of the auction of tractors, caterpillars and the like, out pops a LeMans Blue Camaro. So the guy bid on it and got it for 13K. Then goes through a divorce and my friend buys it from him for the price prev. paid. Fast forward, I go look at it to decode it and it is a 6 Cylinder cowl tag. Story goes,... the original owner totaled the car, then went and found a complete car and put ALL the Z/28 goodies on it. Including the JL8. I drove it, it stops GREAT! But the engine, trans, hidden VINS are ALL mismatched. I tried to buy it from him and he doesn't wanna sell. Now it has been sitting stuck in 3rd gear in his garage for just about 20 years? BUT, he doesn't wanna sell it, go figure. Some day.. maybe in the next 20 years, I will go get the numbers off the rear. Cool car with rear defrost, 4 speaker stereo system, wood wheel, console gauge package, lots more options. If I remember right, I offered him 30K... Good thing, cause I only had 6K in my account...  Good Times Danny   

[red69]

I stripped a JL-8 car in 1976. Car had had a very rough life totaled and rebuilt, then wrecked several more times. My brother and I bought the car for $1800 (borrowed the money from our Dad). I thought I would put the rear-end in my Z and sell the car, then I realized the whole front set was different. So I pulled the cars nose to nose and took everything down to the master cylinder. I took the brakes, my brother swapped the trans, heads and intake for junk stuff and we drove the car to Seattle and sold it to a dealer for $1800! Still running the brakes, long story, but shows how different times were.