My wife's uncle bought a '69 camaro new. Now sits in a field. He moves it to mow around it. Every year i come out here its a little more sad.
It has a 4 barrel 350, a 4sp, and that mighT be it. No power Steering. No power brakes. No a/c. Hubcaps. Theres rust, but no holes.
i dont think he'd sell it, but while i'm convincing him otherwise id like to know how much is too much.
I will give him 5k right now without seeing it
That sounds about right.
Want to know what might help him sell it?
Offer to buy it from him for $5k, and ask him to help work on it with you.
Risky. As soon as you pay him 5K, someone else will tell him "I'd have given you 10K for it". Instant family problems. Offer him solid market value or don't do it. At least in these parts a solid 69 shell is worth way more than 5K.
A good friend's brother has a '69 RS/SS that he's had since high-school(about 30-years), it's slowly returning to earth in his run down garage that the roof is about to cave in on. My friend & I were discussing it last year, and that it's probably worth about $10k in its present condition. He won't sell either. 
Save the car.....1969 is what everyone wants and plain jane types are really hot right now. Less options seem to be in. If the unibody is solid like you say and if you got it running and driving nice you are talking 10k. Unrestored running examples of "barn/field" finds are really hot. Its not going to get any better sitting there
Kazoospec is right. though i have some advantage, being the only living relative with any meaningful automotive knowledge. Several of them "like cars", but would be over their head changing oil.
Were COPO cars all strippers, dog dish caps etc.?
914Driver wrote: Were COPO cars all strippers, dog dish caps etc.?
if you are talking about Yenko's COPO cars no this is not one. i dont know of any that came with the 350 they had the 427 but that is not to say there isnt something special about this car. i would really like to see pictures of this car and the vin number then a better ballpark number could be given. if he bought it new then the build sheet should be in the car look under the seats
I'll give him a grand. 
If he's against selling it, gear the conversation toward "I know you love this car, let me help you preserve it." Can you offer better storage than sitting in a field?
The above suggestion about keeping him involved with a restoration sounds like a good idea too.
I have bought a couple of cars as the "Future Caretaker" over the "Car Nut". Cars that have sentimental value don't have a dollar value. Take a day and go over and work on the car. Show him you want to restore the car and bring it back to it's former glory. Doesn't have to be much. Wire brush and treat the rusty spots. Clean the car... Show your interest!
There was a car for years sitting down the road from me. 1965 Fastback Mustang. I would stop every now and then to see the car and inquire. One day I decided to stop at Home Depot and buy some tarps and concrete blocks. I went over to the house and asked the owner if I could jack the car up and get the frame rails out of the dirt. The owner and I spent a couple of hours cleaning up the car. I bought that car a couple of months later.....
914Driver wrote: Were COPO cars all strippers, dog dish caps etc.?
No, but most were. And while Yenkos started as COPOs, not all COPOs were Yenkos.
it's hard to know what to do. on one hand, if i gave him a car cover i don't believe he'd even use it. he won't part with the car, but he also won't make any effort to slow it's decay either.
Somebody tell Chip Foose about it, quick!
let me know the address and when nobody is home, and it'll disappear? it doesn't deserve to sit and rot. it's not grand theft auto if you pretend you are Thoreau and call it civil disobedience.
X2 on the theft, just leave $5k in the mailbox to alleviate any nasty guilt.
What a shame. I wonder what it is that makes people unable to sell a car like that. I watched an Opel GT return to the earth sitting in a yard in Indiana over a period of about fifteen years. Makes me sick.
do some research on car preservation, and talk to him about what you've learned, how the '69 camaro is an icon of american automobilia, and how you'd be honored to help with the preservation of such a special car.
I know this too well....my great-uncle for years had a ton of cool cars (International Scout II, a nice full-size Cherokee, Continental with suicide doors, and some other neat American land-yachts) just sitting around his farm field. He'd never sell any of them for even double their actual value, just moved them around the field occasionally. Now most of them are rusty goners, just like the $$$ heavy-duty utility trailers and other stuff he has there. I've tried many times to help him sell off this stuff while it still has some value (especially since he is selling the farm soon) but he seems to always want way more than what the stuff is worth and in the end it will all get auctioned or hauled to the scrapyard. Sad, since he has (or had) some cool, rare-ish stuff taht was once in good shape.
Odd part is that he keeps all these rust-buckets RUNNING so he can move them around, but makes no effort to preserve any other parts of the cars...
Sentimental hoarding is a frustrating thing to deal with, especially with older relatives who are just trying to hang on to "the good old days"
About 3 years difference. But, check this link...
I hate to be a prick, but here's my worthless opinion: 69 Camaro = yawn. They're waaaay toooo overdone, overpriced, and basically rubbed in the ground. Chevy made a few hundred thousand, but somehow I swear 10 million have survived. Take that same $5k mentioned above and buy something way more interesting and unique than yet another cookie cutter 1st generation Camaro..
The same theory applies to 55-57 Chevys and '32 Fords.
914Driver wrote: Were COPO cars all strippers, dog dish caps etc.?
Remember, wheel covers and rallye wheels were optional, so dog dish were probably the standard wheel set up for the base model. Most likely this one was special ordered if it doesn't have power steering, but has a 350.
It probably doesn't have floors anymore.
Let it rot, buy one that's already finished and be happy that you saved some money.
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