Resurgence of the COPO Camaro
What is “COPO?” COPO stands for “Central Office Production Order” which means it’s a high performance Camaro that doesn’t come with regular production options. This Bad Boy isn’t necessarily available to the public and can only be special ordered through a dealer. The COPO Camaro can’t be licensed, titled, and registered for highway use but then, you probably wouldn’t want to drive it on a public highway. There’s no underbody sealant and very little insulation to muffle the rumble of the engine and the sound of the road beneath you. Nor is there a back seat or power accessories to accommodate sissies. This ain’t your mommy’s luxury sedan, folks.
The COPO Camaro was designed exclusively for off-road drag racing. Therefore it meets all NHRA racing specs – the whole reason behind the absence of a rear seat and interior gizmos and gadgets. It’s a lighter weight racing machine that lunges off the track and thunders to the finish line in record time. It does come equipped with two racing bucket seats, a driver-side racing harness, competition gear shifter in the floor, and Chevy performance gauges across the dash. We should also mention there are six engines available, four of which are naturally aspirated and three that are equipped with a seriously powerful supercharger. Our pick is the 350 LSX-based 5.7 liter V8 with the 2.9 liter supercharger, rated by the NHRA at 500 horsepower. For those of you performance junkies out there, check out this video taken back in 2011 while Chevy was testing out the new COPO concept. The COPO Camaro had its humble beginnings in 1969. Created specifically for drag racing, Chevy produced only 69 of the ZL1 COPO. It was so magnificently popular when it was reintroduced in 2011, Chevy has continued the tradition each year since, rolling only 69 COPO’s off the assembly line in Wixom, Michigan with a little help from each auto’s future owner. Gotta COPO? ClassicMuscle.com has your COPO Camaro parts and Chevy performance parts