You sort of expect to pay a small markup on the first available cars of a new model, but this is nuts. The first 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 offered for sale went for a cool $250,000 at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Las Vegas on Saturday evening. Okay, maybe it’s not so nuts when you consider that the entire quarter-million from the sale of the car, which was donated by Fairway Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Las Vegas, went to the YMCA of Southern Nevada.
The man who placed the winning bid is no novice when it comes to owning fast cars––Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and chairman of Hendrick Automotive Group. Hendrick’s ZL1 will be the 69th ZL1 produced at the Oshawa Assembly Plant, a tribute to the legendary 1969 Camaro ZL1, of which only 69 were produced.
The 1969 is the most exclusive and elite Camaro in history. That year, ZL1 was the code name for the 427-cubic-inch, all-aluminum big-block engine that was developed for Corvette race cars in the late 1960s, and found its way into ‘69 Camaros in 1969. The ’69 Camaro recently was voted the Best Chevy of All Time in an online poll.
The 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is equipped with a supercharged 6.2-liter LSA V-8 engine that delivers 580 horsepower and 556 lb.-ft. of torque. Hendrick’s car will be the only one produced with a Carbon Flash Metallic exterior.
