Photo: Mecum
COPO technically stands for Central Office Production Orders, but that’s too boring of a moniker to properly describe the cars wearing it. A brainchild of Chevrolet, COPO used for muscle cars has been associated ever since 1969 with incredible machines.
1969 was the first official year for COPO Camaros, a year when the bowtie carmaker found the means it needed for circumventing GM’s decision not to allow Chevy to fi its cars with engines larger than 400ci (6.6-liter) in displacement. The division did so by deciding to allow customers to spec their muscle cars using the process usually used for fleet and special orders.
In 1969, there were just 69 such COPO Camaro machines made at an official level, and of them just 58 featured the Rally Sport option. The one we have here is one of those 58, and it surfaced this month as it is getting ready to sell in May during the Mecum auction in Indianapolis.
The car was the subject of a restoration process performed by an undisclosed garage sometime in the past, a process that kept the car's original 427ci (7.0-liter) engine. The unit is tied to an automatic transmission, and, back in its day, the output was rated at 425 horsepower.
This particular example comes in Hugger Orange with a special ducted hood over a black and white interior with bucket seats and center console. It rides on rally wheels wrapped in Goodyear Polyglas tires, and sells complete with history documents and a COPO Connection Certificate. Mecum does not make any estimate as to how much the car is expected to fetch.
The 1969 COPO Camaro is not the only one of its family to go under the hammer these days. A much fresher incarnation, one designed to honor the original COPOs, just went for a respectable $101,427 this past week during an online sale.
In 1969, there were just 69 such COPO Camaro machines made at an official level, and of them just 58 featured the Rally Sport option. The one we have here is one of those 58, and it surfaced this month as it is getting ready to sell in May during the Mecum auction in Indianapolis.
The car was the subject of a restoration process performed by an undisclosed garage sometime in the past, a process that kept the car's original 427ci (7.0-liter) engine. The unit is tied to an automatic transmission, and, back in its day, the output was rated at 425 horsepower.
This particular example comes in Hugger Orange with a special ducted hood over a black and white interior with bucket seats and center console. It rides on rally wheels wrapped in Goodyear Polyglas tires, and sells complete with history documents and a COPO Connection Certificate. Mecum does not make any estimate as to how much the car is expected to fetch.
The 1969 COPO Camaro is not the only one of its family to go under the hammer these days. A much fresher incarnation, one designed to honor the original COPOs, just went for a respectable $101,427 this past week during an online sale.
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