1969 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe COPO Tribute

Up for auction is this 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 COPO Tribute, finished in red over a black interior, powered by a 427 cubic inch V8 running through a four-speed automatic transmission, with 101,735 miles on the clock. This is a compelling "barn find" Camaro, restored then put away for two decades, and then finally pulled out into the sunlight last year. It is in great condition, runs and drives well, and is equipped with the proper engine and transmission with date codes from the era. Making it even more interesting is the research that determined it to be as close as it could be to being a COPO Camaro without actually being one - that fact finally confirmed by the group of people that know where to look. While it was understandably disappointing to the current owner to discover it wasn't a factory COPO build after purchase, it's still quite valuable in its own right. It's a very well specced first-generation Camaro, originally built in the plant in Van Nuys, California. It was fully restored and brought to a high specification, finhing a four year process in 2003.. and promptly stored in a barn for two decades straight. Pulled out and cleaned up, and already hitting the show circuit, this COPO tribute does have some fluid leaks, as one would expect from a car that sat for so long, but it runs and drives with no hesitation. This is our second auction of a tribute car of the famed COPO specification of first-generation Camaros. COPO is the acronym for the Central Office Purchase Order, which was a department of Chevrolet usually reserved for dealers ordering fleet sales. But this was the era when GM was removing performance options from dealer ordering sheets - intentionally done as a result of public pressure over fear of high-performance cars being considered "dangerous". So, frustratingly, GM forbade Chevrolet from installing engines larger than 400 cu inches for all mid-size and smaller models - so the sports cars suddenly couldn't be ordered with the best engine. Fortunately, the committed upper management at Chevy ensured that the performance options were still available - you just had to get creative about where in the company they were ordered _from_. Yenko Chevrolet, the famous Pittsburgh, PA dealership that ordered the most of these "forbidden" models, were among those committed to working the angles to get their favorite models with the big motor - despite the fearful corporate environment that resulted in the official ban. While that situation made those COPO cars both rare and now, incredibly expensive, creating a very similar specification from widely available Chevy parts is possible - and results in a very desirable tribute car, like the example featured here. With a thorough restoration and upgrade done both cosmetically and mechanically, this high performance COPO tribute is ready to go for the next owner.