Chevy Builds Two Drag Racing COPO Camaros for 2017
Courtesy of The Drive
Behind every product release, there is a lot of time and planning. Every day, there are 11 million meetings being held. Many happen in the engineering and pre-production stages. Others have to do with marketing and rollout.
For such a high-powered, intricate vehicle, it must have taken Chevrolet a long time and a lot of meetings to come up with its two limited production Camaros, designed specifically for drag racing.
Vintage Camaros ordered under GM’s Central Office Production Order system are extremely expensive. Starting in 1969, COPO was used by dealers to build high-performance vehicles that buyers couldn’t find anywhere else. They were often one-of-a-kind. Each year, Chevy releases 69 new cars, to commemorate the year that the COPO Camaro became an option.
This year, instead of just one model, Chevy released two.
The first is a drag race development Camaro. With 600 horsepower and a modified LT1 engine, it can travel a quarter mile in 10.685 seconds at 125.73 mph.
The development Camaro has a compilation of some of the best previous models on a stock Camaro, almost like what a DIYer would do if they had the resources.
It’s been upgraded with a GM Performance Cam and Head kit, performance exhaust, and high-flow induction. Tall racing slicks on 16-inch Bogart wheels give this model a proper launch grip, requiring prototyped brake discs. The car was displayed at the 2016 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
The second of the two cars, a 2017 collector COPO Camaro, is the first factory- designed racing Camaro. Also displayed at this year’s SEMA show, the COPO Camaro is equipped with a LSX Small Block-based 350 engine and a 2.9-liter twin-screw supercharger.
It has a 580 NHRA rating and a maximum recommended engine speed of 8,000 rpm. It has an ATI TH400-style three-speed automatic transmission, which is not much of a change from the 2016 model.
A concept finish called “Titanium Blue Me Away” appears on the show car, in satin paint. Smoked tail lamps, black bowties, and export market lights are other appearance revisions, but the car’s interior is stock.
The COPO Camaro is one of 69, as per tradition, and will be auctioned in January 2017 at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction, with the proceeds supporting the United Way.
For a chance to get your hands on one of the 68 remaining COPO Camaros, register at Chevrolet.com/COPO. The remaining cars will be distributed randomly among those who register.
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