For all of the hand wringing over whether Camaro will make it into the electric-car era, Chevy seems determined to ride out the nameplate’s legacy as boldly, and loudly, as possible with its new quarter-mile special, the COPO Camaro, designed to compete in the NHRA’s Stock and Super Stock classes.
The COPO legend traces back to a practice of working the system to make the factory produce something that it might not ordinarily offer. The Central Office Production Option (or Production Order, depending on who you ask) was intended mostly for fleet-type vehicles with specific combinations of options — think taxicabs and specially equipped trucks. But, in the late ’60s, this system was used to create performance cars that were not supposed to exist, like 427-urged Camaros. This practice yielded…
