Twenty years ago this month, John Hennessey launched tuning company Hennessey Performance as a way to help fund his need for speed. The company is still going strong today, so to celebrate, Hennessey announced a limited run of 20 special-edition Chevrolet Camaros.
The 20th-anniversary HPE650 Camaros are fitted with a supercharged version of the .2-liter V-8 engine, allowing the mill to produce a whopping 655 hp. Hennessey says that’s enough power to rocket the car to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds at 122 mph. Those numbers are possible thanks to a TVS supercharger, a less-restrictive exhaust, larger fuel injectors, a reprogrammed engine computer, new camshafts, and revised cylinder heads.
Hennessey will let you order the Camaro with a manual or automatic transmission, and as a coupe or convertible, but the color scheme is fixed: black paint with black leather upholstery. Other visual dress-up comes in the form of 20-inch Hennessey wheels wearing Pirelli P-Zero tires, serial plaques and 20th Anniversary Edition badges, a redesigned engine cover, and a new splitter and side skirts from CarbonAero. The car rides on suspension that has been lowered one inch below the stock ride height.
Coupe models start at $79,500, while convertibles will command $84,500. Just 20 copies will be built, one for each year of Hennessey Performance’s existence, and each car will be affixed with a specialized, sequential serial number.
With a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 at its heart, Hennessey’s HPE650 follows the basic powertrain formula followed by the forthcoming Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 — which, like the HPE650, will be offered as a convertible. The factory-baked version only has 580 hp, but it does include upgrades like Brembo brakes, Performance Traction Management, and the bragging rights that come with a 7:41.27 Nürburgring lap time.
