00 BERGER SS
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1999 Berger Camaro SS Concept Car
(CO-99)
Everything you wanted to know…...
One of kind, 4th Gen. Berger Camaro. This car has a history so I am going to go in depth on the history behind the car. I am going to get detailed so hold on and enjoy. I am going leave nothing out, because if you’re interested in this car you will want to know everything…I will not sugar coat anything just for the sell.Birth:
Original Owner- Dennis Barker; Dennis ordered the car in August of ’98. He received the car in October of ’98. The car is a true hugger orange SS camaro. The car was ordered thru Berger Chevrolet. It is the only true Hugger Orange Berger. All other hugger Orange Cars were black cars painted orange.
Sometime in July of ’99 the idea of bringing back the Berger Camaro’s for Berger Chevrolet’s 75th Anniversary was brought about. Per Dennis the initial number of cars approved to be built was 25. Dennis was the guy you contacted if you wanted a Berger Camaro. Dennis’s car was used as one of two concept cars prior to production. It is the only ’99 Berger the other concept car was a ’00. Dennis used the car as his daily driver and he is known around the Grand Rapids area as being the burn out king. If you go to GMMG’s website there is a video of Dennis doing a huge burnout. The car was used as a promotional tool and can be seen in many different pictures as the car evolved. In the fall of ’00 the car was converted to a stage 1 car then to a stage II Car a year later. Dennis took the car all over the country to promote the Berger’s, the stickers that are on the car show where’s its been and what year. In 2001 the car was signed by John Moss, while Dennis was on the power tour.
The Sale: Dennis sold the car to John Fullerton (Sales Manager) of Jacky Jones Chevrolet in Murphy, NC in the summer of 2004. The car had right around 89,000 miles on it. I traded a ’01 1LE car for the concept car in order to acquire it. The car was never titled in an individual’s name at the dealership so I guess that makes me the second owner. Upon acquirement I immediately went to work on making the car super clean cosmetically. Mechanically the car was solid; it just needed some detailing work to make it a really nice car. Sometime in the transition between the Dennis and Jacky Jones the car had the last pieces of the Berger Package installed. Which included; Hound’s-tooth interior, chambered exhaust, black SS grill installed and the back panel was finally painted black. The hood, hatch, front and rear bumpers were also repainted. Time line of the car over the past 5 years.
2004: Lip of the wheels stripped down to bare metal then polished out by hand. I replaced several interior pieces due to signs of wear below is the list of things I replaced cosmetically and some mechanical. All parts were ordered thru Chevy, so they are Genuine GM, unless otherwise noted. The car has had the normal maintenance done as well, all documented. · New center Console installed· Some other minor plastic interior pieces replaced· I replaced rubber bumpers on doors, and gas door. · I also replaced some clips, bolts, screws and nuts. · Fuel filter· Gas Cap and Radiator Cap· Installed a rear 1LE sway bar. The car had a front 1LE sway bar so I wanted the back to match· Installed a BMR adjustable Pan hard bar. · Replaced crank sensor and cam sensor, only because I was about to get the car dyno tuned. I wanted new sensors in the car for the tune. · Metco sub frame bracing installed. Only because the flimsy factory piece was missing. · Replaced Outer Tie rod ends with some Bear Brake, “Bear Trackers.· Good air filter installed· New upper ball joints installed. · Had the hood signed by Matt Murphy, owner of GMMG.
2005: Took the car to Steel, AL and ran the car thru the Quarter mile. This is the only time the car has been to the strip since I have had the car. It ran 12.9’s on street tires. This car is easily a mid 12 second car with some good shoes on it. I have time slips. Did 2 legs of the 2005 power tour, Nashville and Birmingham. Car was dyno tuned again..
2006:· Driver’s side Window motor replaced.· Front Drivers Side Speaker Replaced.· New rear plastic interior pieces installed· Got Invited to the “Forge Show”. An invitational only show displaying some of the finest and rarest muscle cars on the planet. I detailed the car for 5 weeks in order to get ready for it. · Had the hood signed by Valerie Harrell, Daughter of “Mr. Chevrolet”.· I have pictures and even video of the “Forge Show”.
2007:· Replaced rear yoke on the Differential due to a leak.· New Thermostat installed. · Had the car dyno tuned again for the last time. · Replaced some of the Exhaust Clamps.
2008: Parked the car for 8 months, no reason just had other things going on..
2009:· New LS7 clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, and slave cylinder installed.· Ran the car thru Dills Gap, AKA the dragons tail…..lots of fun· Computer went bad, had to replace. Computer reflashed to my old tune..
I have put about 17,000 miles on the car since I have owned it. Most of its highway miles but I do occasionally play in the car. Who wouldn’t, the car is a blast to drive. It has been driven in the rain, but only on occasion and it’s only because I got caught in it. This car is nice but it’s no trailer Queen. I would give it 9 out of 10. I have all documentation and several pictures of the car while Dennis had it. The car at one time was on the cover of Year Ones catalogue. There are several pics of the car on the internet showing it in different phases, all of which I have copies of..
In 2004 I had Matt Murphy wrote me a letter documenting the history of the car. This is the only 99 Berger on the planet, don’t miss out. I am only going to list this once.!!!!!Cool Facts:· It’s one of one when it comes to Berger’s· It’s a true SS car regardless of the Berger conversion. If you break it down by just 99 SS Camaros its one of 174 Hugger Orange T-Top cars with a six speed Transmission.· It’s one of two pre-production Concept cars.· It’s one of about 15 cars that have the signed dash. Things that a wrong with the car, minor as they may be I am still going to list them.· Passenger side window motor is getting a little slow· Tires are almost done, they are the tires off my ’01 camaro. I have never had a brand new set of tires on this car.· Drivers’ side collector is leaking; I may have it fixed by the time I sell. · Drivers’ side sub frame has a dent in it; this was like this before I got the car. It will get fixed if I keep the car. See pictureListed below is how the car is equipped. This car has different equipment on it compared to other Berger’s, I am assuming since it was the concept car it received things the other cars did not.· Hugger Orange Exterior-Paint Code: 99U· Dual Hood & Deck Lid Stripes· Black Billet Grill with SS Emblem· Black Rear Tail Light Panel· Berger “Prescribed Power” Fender Emblems· Chrome “by Berger” Rear Emblem· Camaro Rear Tail Panel Letters in Chrome· Fitted Car Cover with Berger SS Logo· Power Antenna· Phase II LS1 Motor· 435 HP/410 TQ Package (Includes 1 ¾ Headers)· Cat Back Chambered Exhaust· LS7 Flywheel· LS7 Clutch· B&M Short Throw Shifter· Mobile 1 Oil Fill Cap & Decal· High Flow Air Box Lid with “Power by Berger” decal· 3.73 Rear Axle· Front and Rear Eibach 1.5” Lowering Springs· Front and Rear Dimpled Rotors· Black Powder Coated Calipers· Hurst Line Lock (Barker Button)· 1LE Front and Rear Sway Bars· FM 5 Fiske Wheels (17×9.5)· BF Goodrich KWDS Tires· Camaro SS Floor Mats· White Hurst Shift Ball· Rearview Mirror w/Compass/Temp/Auto Dimmer· Horsepower and Torque Dash Plaque· Black and White Hounds-tooth Seat Covers· Camaro SS Rear Deck Cover· White Face Gauges with “by Berger” Logo· Selling Dealer: Berger Chevrolet-Grand Rapids, MI· Salesman: Dennis Barker· Personally signed by:· Helen Gibb (Wife of Fred Gibb)· Scott Settlemire (Chevrolet Camaro Brand Manager, General Motors)· Dennis Barker (Camaro Project Manager-Berger Chevrolet-Grand Rapids, MI)· Matt Murphy (CEO/President-GMMG Inc)· Matt Berger (General Manager-Berger Chevrolet-Grand Rapids, MI)· Dale Berger (Company President-Berger Chevrolet-Grand Rapids, MI)· John Moss (Manager of General Motors Specialty Vehicle Group)· Valerie Harrell (Daughter of Dick Harrell, “Mr. Chevrolet”)I have a few spare parts for the car of which includes:· The original White Leather Seat Covers· Hugger Orange Strut Tower
Submitted by the owner Chris – Oct.26, 2009 – photos from Chris to follow.
John Smith #12 SS @ 2009 Berger Show
2000 Berger SS
One black coupe (#15) was painted 1969 Daytona Yellow
One black Convert (#28) was painted Corvette Millennium Yellow
The first 20 of a planned 100-car series, this first year included one red prototype (#PR-1).
All 2000 Berger SS’s had 6 speed manual transmissions & 375 hp engines.
Berger History – Back in the day!
Berger SS #17
Black
Phase 5 – ‘454’ – 650hp
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a | ’00 Berger SS | |||||||||
Car # | Color | Stripe | Roof | Trans | Engine | Owner | City | State | Phone | |
1999 | ||||||||||
CO-99 | Orange | White | T-Top | II/435 | Justin | TN | Chris (TN) sold – March 2018 | |||
2000 | ||||||||||
PR-1 | Red | Black | T-Top | IIX/475 | Brad | Central Iowa | IA | |||
PR-2 | Black | T-Top | ||||||||
1 | White | Conv | 375 | Pat | Floyd Garrett Museum | |||||
2 | White | Black | T-Top | 600 hp | MI | |||||
3 | Red | delete | T-Top | 375 | KDW | AZ | ||||
4 | Red | Black | T-Top | 375 | Jason | MI | ||||
5 | Silver | Black | T-Top | 475 | BJ | NSCC | MN | MN NSCC | ||
6 | Red | T-Top | ||||||||
7 | Red | T-Top | ||||||||
8 | Red | Black | T-Top | 375 | Don | ND | was Miranda-IL | |||
9 | Red | T-Top | ||||||||
10 | NMB | White | T-Top | 375 | John | MI | ||||
11 | NBM | T-Top | 375 | Ryan | MI | was Brian – OO | ||||
12 | Black | Red | T-Top | 375? | John | MI | 09 Berger BurnOut | |||
13 | Black | T-Top | ||||||||
14 | White | Black | T-Top | 375 | SVH | MI | ||||
15 | DaytYellow | Black | T-Top | 375 | Mike | TX | Daytona Yellow Custom Paint | |||
16 | NBM | White | T-Top | 475 | ||||||
17 | Black | White | T-Top | Phase5/650hp | Trigger | OH | ||||
18 | Black | Red | T-Top | 375 | David Jr & Sr | Niagara Region | Ontario, Canada | Simon – Canada – Sold Dec 2017-75k miles | ||
19 | Black | Red | T-Top | 375 | Steve | MI | ||||
20 | White | Orange | T-Top | 6spd | 375 | CA | Painted stripes | |||
21 | Black | Red | T-Top | 375 | JS | MI | ||||
22 | NBM | White | T-Top | 6spd | 375 |
Jason 5/18
|
36k miles
|
OH
|
Pals with Vince – Bill B WI | Sold at least 3 times since 2012-was Brian – Sold 9/25/15 |
23 | Black | T-Top | 375 | |||||||
24 | Black | Red | T-Top | 375 | Gib & Tammy | MI | Painted stripes | |||
25 | Red | Back | Convert | 375 | Robin | MD | ||||
26 | Black | Convert | 375 | MI | ||||||
26 | NBM | Silver | ||||||||
27 | Black | Convert | ||||||||
28 | MillYellow | Black | Convert | II/435 | Nyle | Converted to Phase 2 by 3rd owner | ||||
29 | Red | Black | Convert | Tommy | MI | Original owner | 1550 miles 8/24/12 |
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Enjoy!
Click – Berger Tribute video
Click – Berger SS Web Photos
‘Don’t let anything but fear & common sense hold you back!’
Click – CO99 @ 2010 Holley Fest
‘When hell feezes over, we will drive there too!’
I met CO-99 owner (Chris White )while visiting GMMG March 2010
BERGER SS FAQ’s
There are 104 total Bergers over 3 years; 100 productions, 3 prototypes & 1 for Matt Berger.
For 2000 cars #1 thru #29 and PR-1 all T-Top or Convertible
For 2001 cars #30 thru #57 and PR-2 all T-Top or Convertible
For 2002 cars #58 thru #100, PR-3 and #000 (Matt Berger’s) I know of two 2002 Hardtops, all others were T-Top or Convertible. Berger built the Berger SS over three years, 2000 to celebrate their 75th anniversary as a Chevy Dealership. They then carried it out in 2001, and 2002 producing a total of 100 Berger SS‘s
In 2000 there were 30 built ’00 Chrome 10 spokes
In 2001 there were 27 built ’01 Mallet 396
In 2002 there were 43 built ’02 Fikse FM5
From the Dealership at the time of ordering the engine choices were:
In 2000, there was only the 375 HP package.
In 2001 and 2002, there was the 380 HP Phase 1 and the 435 HP Phase 2.
Now after the fact any Berger SS can be sent back to GMMG for the upgrades – even up to the Phase 3 (427 w/ 600 HP), but the Phase 3 was originally developed for the ZL1. So if you saw a 2001 Berger SS with a Phase 3 it was sent back to GMMG to modify.
Now in 2002 there was another special edition Camaro, called the ZL1, there were 69 units built and a majority of them were sold form Berger, their engine choices were:
Phase 1, LS6 w/ ~400 HP
Phase 2, LS6 w/ 475 HP
Phase 3, C5R 427 w/ 600 HP
‘If it can’t kill you, it isn’t a real sport!’
‘I’ll go first because if I don’t make it we KNOW you won’t’
BERGER SS (from Camaro White Book) | ||||||
2000 Berger SS | Paint | T-Top | ||||
Code | Coupe | Convert | Total | |||
Arctic White | 10 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||
Sebring Silver Met. | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
Navy Blue Metallic (NBM) | 28 | 4 | 0 | 4 | ||
Black | 41 | 10 | 3 | 13 | ||
Bright Red | 81 | 7 | 2 | 9 | ||
—— | —– | —– | ||||
2000 Totals | 25 | 6 | 31 |
Click – Daytona Pace Cars & Jim’s Collection
SS #15 & Double COPO ’69 (Daytona Yellow)