[mkorgan]

Yes, I know this is not the COPO section but as an owner of a ZL1 1LE, I thought this audience would appreciate this so if not, please just skip to the next thread. I thought I would create of post detailing my experience with the GM High Performance COPO Program and the process of getting my COPO Camaro from dream to reality. If you have no interest in the COPO program, then this is not the post for you. However, if you would like to know more about how a COPO Camaro owner gets chosen and how the car comes to life, I hope you enjoy this thread.

Before I get too far, let me say that I am extremely lucky to even have the opportunity to go through the process, but it is also the coolest part of the program. To choose who will have the opportunity to own a COPO, General Motors collects entries to their COPO selection program throughout the year at various locations where their GM Performance Parts products are on display. Events like Mecum and Barret-Jackson auctions, various high-performance racing events, and large car shows often host the display. I submitted my entry at the annual Turkey Rod Run Car Show in Daytona Beach back in November of ’17. After collecting thousands of entries, GM uses a third-party company to “randomly rank” a mailing list of potential buyers of their opportunity to own 1 of 69 COPO Camaros built each year since the program started back up in 2012. I asked several times and was confirmed several times, there is no way to buy a COPO Camaro without going through the lottery process. Each year hundreds of dealers and race team enter the lottery just like I did and each year only 69 lucky folks get chosen. The dealer that I ran my COPO through and the one I bought my ZL1 1LE through both have entered the lottery every year and have never been chosen. I talked to a few GM sponsored race teams at the annual Gatornationals NHRA event earlier this year and even they can only get one through the lottery, just like you or me. I found this part of the selection process VERY COOL as it levels the playing field for everyone interested in owning one of these cars. No matter if you are Richard Childress or just little old me, the lottery is the only way you are going to have the opportunity to have one of these cars built to your spec’s and a few other cool things I will touch on in more detail later. I only say this to point our how lucky I was to have my name drawn.

Upon receiving the notification, you have 48 hours to inform GM of your intentions. If you decide to move forward with a purchase, you have 10 days to put down your deposit and lock in your order. With the notification of selection comes the Official COPO Ordering Form detailing all the options available that year (colors, graphics, motor options, racing accessories, etc.., etc.). You also have to select a dealer to run the transaction through. The COPO Camaro is a PART NUMBER ordered through the parts department of the Chevrolet dealership of your choice. This can actually be a fairly fun experience in and of itself because when you call them and tell them why you are calling them it is very likely they have no idea what you are talking about and will try to put you back to the regular sales teams. I chose a very small Chevrolet dealer here in Florida to work the deal through and the parts department manager had worked there for over 35 years (managing the department for 23 of those years) and had no idea what a COPO was, how to order one, or what the hell he was supposed to do. It was actually quite a fun experience working with this guy as he was just as excited as I was once I sent him a copy of the email I received from GM and he realized what was going on. All payments go through the parts department and once they confirm that you have paid for the car in full, they are out of the deal. They do make a very small commission for handling the paperwork, but it only ends up being about 3% of the total deal.

With the deposit paid and the order form completed and submitted to GM, it is just a waiting process from that point forward. I would like to say that my contact during the entire process was the most awesome communicator at a large corporation I have ever dealt with in my many, many years of corporate sales. To keep him free of any unwanted spamming, I will just share with you his title: “Manager Chevrolet Performance, COPO, and Performance Parts Licensing General Motors | Customer Care and Aftersales”. From the time I received my initial notification (which I originally thought was SPAM and actually called his CELL PHONE to confirm it was legit, yes he provided and answered his cell phone number) to the night before I picked up the car, I must have emailed this man 50 times asking various questions from options and performance data combinations prior to ordering to scheduling my pick up and everything in between. In every case, this gentleman emailed me back with 24 hours, many times within just a couple hours with the exact information I needed and then would call me to make sure I understood his answers and to ask if I had any further questions. One of the key things I was told is that the COPO Production Center only delivers 3 cars per week (which actually became 2 this year due to the additional graphics packages that slowed the production process) and that I would be contacted to give an updated ETA on delivery which was exactly was happened. Outstanding, almost unbelievable communication through the entire process.

Fast forward to July. I was contacted by this gentleman and was told my car would be ready by the end of the month and he wanted to work with me on a date that worked for me to come and pick the car up. They also were willing to ship the car to me, but I informed them early in the process that I wanted to come up and personally meet the team that built my car, tour the facility, and pick up the car myself. I live in Central Florida and the COPO Production facility is in Oxford, Mi. The trip is 1200 miles (one way) and the experience of picking up the car, touring the facility, meeting the build team, signing off on the Quality Control sheet as the final approver of the build (yes, I got to do that ) and meeting the manager of the COPO Camaro Build Program was one of the most awesome car related experiences of my life and worth every mile. Now, on to the build and what makes a COPO a COPO.

A lot of folks have the impression that a COPO is similar to the Dodge Demon, a street car with just a crazy big motor and little else. I hope what I am about to show you will dispel that myth and explain why this car is not street legal, EPA approved, or just another Camaro with a big motor, tricky transmission, and fancy rear-end and suspension. It takes three weeks to build a COPO from the day the body comes in the front door to the finished product rolls out the back door. The COPO is an 8 second CERTFIED NHRA, IHRA Stock Eliminator race car that without a single modification can be taken from the build center to an NHRA sanction event and raced. As you will see, the NHRA certifies the car at various stages of the build process and then certifies the final build for race day activities.

Now for the fun part….my tour through the facility and some of the additional things I learned. To be fair, there are a LOT of picture here and many of them are hard to determine what you are looking at because of the level of detail that goes into the build. I hope they help and I will try to answer whatever questions you have but here it goes….

This is how the build center receives the car from the Camaro production facility down the road in Lansing.






Obviously, this isn't my car, this is an orange car with the collectors appearance package. The doors and trunk lids are removed to be put back on at a later time.

Back in 1969 when the original COPO program was launched, all COPO Camaros started as V6 regardless of the final build. To keep the COPO heritage in tact, the same concept exists today. All COPOs start as V6 bodies. The first thing that happens to these bodies is that everything not needed for the final product is removed. This ultimately ends up removing hundreds of pounds of excess weight from the car frame that is needed to pass crash test for production cars but not needed for drag cars that are going to have a full frame and roll cage. Here are some photos of some of the extra weight being cut out of the car as well as things not needed for the final build like rear shock towers, etc.



















Once the cutting is complete, now the installation of the new panels, roll cage, suspension brackets, etc. are installed. As mentioned, these are v6 cars which also means that additional work is needed on the nose of the car to extend the front end of the car for the additional space needed for the build. Also, in the COPO, the motors are moved back in the engine bay 4" to improve the weight shift distribution at launch which requires access ways to the rears of the motor to be cut into the firewall (you will see that above).

























Now, it is off to the paint, striping, and graphics. When it comes back, the fun stuff starts to go in.....




















So, brake line are in, undercarriage is painted, engine compartment prepped, trunk area prepped, everything is ready for the final driveline components, interior, fuel cell, and final touches.....



























And finally....the final product.....


















For those who saw my earlier post, I have not had any seat time in her yet as it has been raining down here in Florida just about everyday. However, I will check back in later and let you know the results of all the hard work that goes into these beasts. If you actually stuck it out to the end of this post...thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it.



And by the way....if I knew how to delete these last two pics...I would. Maybe a mod can come in an help a brother out.

[SteveV]

F'ing awesome.

You sir, are my current hero.

Be interesting to see what kind of times you get the first time you take her out.

Yes, I did see the other post where people said these are 8.5 second cars. I am sure that time varies by driver.

Looking forward to seeing some track videos....

[waterman]

Thanks for sharing. Great post.

[Intimidator]

Thank you for that post...AND CONGRATS!!!

[SSDan]

Way cool! Thanks for all the details. I wish you the best as you make your lottery dream come true and let that thing rip down the strip!

[JB'sZL1]

Yes. Thank you. Very informative. Great write up. Great pics.

[Revalot]

D** is all I can say !���� !

[dwill8335]

ditto awesome

[solobaric]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind me asking, how does one go about insuring this? Since a lot of collectors insurance won't cover racing etc...

[Firehead640]

Very cool little article, thanks for making and posting it.

[Badgerbimmer]

Great job! You should add your first driving experience and publish this as an article somewhere!!

[NW-99SS]

Love the build process and great pics - thanks for sharing!

[Ryephile]

Wow! Thank you for sharing!

[JoeP@TeamBeckyD]

Great Read - Awesome Pics!
....Congrats!


Becky