General Motors’ COPO system — a backdoor means for building some wicked performance machines in the 1960s — may be no more, but that isn’t stopping today’s Chevrolet dealers from building bespoke performance Camaros of their own. The 2011 GM Performance Parts catalog now lists COPO-esque 2011 Camaros by DeNooyer Chevrolet in New York and NeSmith Chevrolet in Georgia. Here is the official announcement from GM:
GRAND BLANC, Mich. – Dealership-created performance packages were an important part of Chevrolet’s muscle car heritage. Names like Yenko, Nickey, Berger and others helped drive high-performance options, while enhancing the mystique of one-off collectables decades later. In fact, it was creative ordering on the part of dealers that created the legendary COPO Camaros of the late 1960s – cars available from those enterprising dealers, but not offered in any official catalog or order guide.
More than 40 years later, a couple of dealers – DeNooyer Chevrolet in New York and Georgia’s NeSmith Chevrolet – have rekindled the concept of using Chevrolet’s own parts to create specialty Camaros that simply aren’t offered in regular production. DeNooyer used GM Performance Parts’ (GMPP) LSX454 crate engine (part number 19244611) to build a modern 454 engine for the Camaro SS, while NeSmith transplanted the supercharged LS9 engine from the Corvette ZR1 into their Camaro.
“These great Camaros exemplify the spirit of dealer-built super cars that grew out of the muscle car era,” says Dr. Jamie Meyer, product integration manager for GM Performance Parts. “They are the COPO Camaros of the 21st century.”
Both cars are featured on the cover the 2011 GM Performance Parts catalog… CONTINUED HERE.
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