In 1969, GM built what is regarded as one of the rarest, most desirable engines ever produced, the ZL-1. Factory installed in just 69 Camaros and 2 Corvettes, this ultra-rare engine was a racer’s wet dream. A 427 cubic-inch aluminum block, aluminum heads, and a huge carburetor blessed this beautiful motor, and in a Camaro with headers and slicks, it could easily turn 11-second quarter miles. Then in 1969, GM sold the rights to the ZL-1 engine to the famed Don Yenko, canceling their factory program. He went on to build these engines himself, sticking them in all sorts of race and street vehicles.

Bangshift found a never-been-run ZL-1 engine up for auction on eBay. This engine is ready to drop into a car, and even still have the original break-in oil. How is that for original?

It is a mystery to us how such an engine could sit around for years without ever ending up in a car of some sort.

Whoever had this engine had to know what they were sitting on. Perhaps they just wanted to wait until the right day, when this engine would become incredibly valuable. The ZL-1 Camaros cost over $7,200 from the factory in those days, more than twice the price of a ’69 Camaro SS.

Thus why just a few were built and sold. The Yenko engines are more prevalent, and this one is supposedly rated at 600 horsepower and comes with an M21 Muncie 4-speed transmission (not a famed “Rock Crusher”).

A rare, rebuilt Holley 1050cfm three-barrel carburetor is include as well. While the engine is ready to drop into a project car, it is in a way even cooler as a stand-alone showpiece. For $50,000, it ain’t exactly cheap either, and it’s basically a time capsule frozen in the day it was built, never run, never abused. Does this engine deserve a car, or a pedestal?