Photo: Barrett-Jackson
If you want to split hairs, the full term would be Central Office Production Orders. In this enlarged form though it means nothing. Contract that to COPO, and pretty much anyone knows what we’re talking about.
COPO is not as much an organization as it is a system. It was exploited by a bunch of Chevrolet dealers to cheat the carmaker’s ordering process and produce, as per Chevrolet itself, “cars that otherwise would never have existed.”
COPO was initially meant to serve the needs of fleet customers, and was mostly used by truck companies and by municipalities for their police departments. But once said dealers (backed by drag racers) got to work, COPO became a household name for extreme Camaros as well.
Now (and then) known as the COPO Camaro, the line of high-performance cars came to be in 1969 (and only then), when 69 of them were made and sent out to interested customers.
The line wouldn’t be brought back until 2012, when Chevrolet launched the fifth-gen Camaro. That means original COPOs are not that easy to come by, and can be insanely expensive when found. And that can only mean one thing: the rise of the clones.
That’s kind of what we have here, a COPO-style 1969 Chevrolet Camaro listed for sale by Barrett-Jackson during its auction later this month in Houston, Texas.
Wrapped in Hugger Orange, it's an usual Camaro that “underwent a nut-and-bolt rotisserie restoration.” The centerpiece of the build is the 427ci engine fitted under the hood, good for 425 hp and tied to a 4-speed manual transmission.
We’re told the car comes with the correct 512 casting number block and correct chambered exhaust, and it also flaunts power steering and power brakes. Inside, the unnamed shop that worked on the build fitted Dakota Digital gauges on the dashboard.
The car spins poverty caps wheels, and it has done so for just 200 miles (322 km) since the drivetrain was rebuilt. It’ll probably do that for a lot more miles once it gets a new owner – the car is selling with no reserve, so the battle for it should be pretty intense.
COPO was initially meant to serve the needs of fleet customers, and was mostly used by truck companies and by municipalities for their police departments. But once said dealers (backed by drag racers) got to work, COPO became a household name for extreme Camaros as well.
Now (and then) known as the COPO Camaro, the line of high-performance cars came to be in 1969 (and only then), when 69 of them were made and sent out to interested customers.
The line wouldn’t be brought back until 2012, when Chevrolet launched the fifth-gen Camaro. That means original COPOs are not that easy to come by, and can be insanely expensive when found. And that can only mean one thing: the rise of the clones.
That’s kind of what we have here, a COPO-style 1969 Chevrolet Camaro listed for sale by Barrett-Jackson during its auction later this month in Houston, Texas.
Wrapped in Hugger Orange, it's an usual Camaro that “underwent a nut-and-bolt rotisserie restoration.” The centerpiece of the build is the 427ci engine fitted under the hood, good for 425 hp and tied to a 4-speed manual transmission.
We’re told the car comes with the correct 512 casting number block and correct chambered exhaust, and it also flaunts power steering and power brakes. Inside, the unnamed shop that worked on the build fitted Dakota Digital gauges on the dashboard.
The car spins poverty caps wheels, and it has done so for just 200 miles (322 km) since the drivetrain was rebuilt. It’ll probably do that for a lot more miles once it gets a new owner – the car is selling with no reserve, so the battle for it should be pretty intense.
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