What’s a COPO, you ask? Back in the heyday of American muscle cars, COPO was an acronym for Central Office Production Order, which was, for all intents and purposes, a way for Chevrolet and its enterprising dealer network to sneak high-performance option packages and oversize engines past the bigwigs at General Motors and into the waiting hands of automotive enthusiasts.
With ancient history out of the way, what’s COPO mean in 2011? Well, it still means performance, but there’s certainly no way Chevy is going to bypass the powers-that-be at GM HQ, especially not with a Camaro proof-of-concept that’s destined to live out its life at the drag strip in NHRA Stock Eliminator drag racing competition.
According to Jim Campbell, GM U.S. vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, the COPO Camaro that is debuting this week at SEMA “is a clear indication that Chevrolet intends to homologate the Camaro for sportsman drag racing.” Seems pretty clear to us, too – in lieu of the standard independent rear suspension setup is a straight axle that’s perfectly suited to straight-line racing. Plus, there’s a full roll cage for safety.
Buyers of the COPO Camaro, if and when it becomes available, will be able to fit one of two suggested engine packages: one 427-cubic-inch naturally aspirated V8 (7.9 liters for A Stock racing) and one 327-cubic-inch supercharged V8 (5.3 liters for for AA Stock racing). The car you see in our live images is powered by a prototype version of the supercharged 327.
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