The 2012 COPO Camaro is worth your attention for a number of reasons, says Hot Rod editor-in-chief David Freiburger. For starters, it was inspired by the 1969 COPO Camaro, a drag car produced from GM’s Central Office Production Order (COPO) system. That car started Feature life as a standard 1969 Camaro and was modified with a number of race-specific parts including an all-aluminum race engine. Only 69 were built and the car was completely street legal.
Many similarities exist between the original drag car and this 2012 COPO Camaro. GM has readied the car for the drag strip replacing the independent rear suspension fora solid rear axle. The 2012 COPO Camaro will be available with three engines – a 7.0-liter naturally aspirated V-8 and two supercharged 5.3-liter V-8s. GM hasn’t released power figures, but it did provide a starting price of $89,000. Unlike the original COPO Camaro, however, the 2012 version won’t be street legal.
Freiburger also checks out GM’s Wixom Performance Build Center, where much of the development and assembly of the drag car take place. His tour of the facility reveals a number of interesting tidbits including the fact that the engines are all hand-built. He also gets to test out the new 1LE package, which places all the suspension bits from the ZL1 Camaro (minus the magnetic shocks) into the SS.
