The COPO name traces its history far back to the golden days of muscle cars, but that hasn’t stopped Chevrolet from digging into its past to create modern-day successors. In fact, this latest addition should make Camaro enthusiasts weak in the knees. Give a warm, tire-roasting welcome to the 2016 COPO Camaro.
Chevrolet introduced the 2016 COPO Camaro at the 2015 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and provided preliminary details on performance, availability and design influence.
Foremost, the 2016 COPO Camaro has been an ongoing collaboration with NHRA Funny Car Driver, Courtney Force. Force guided designers to create a one-off show piece for SEMA, which will be auctioned off at a 2016 Barrett-Jackson event, with proceeds going to the United Way.
“With the new Gen Six Camaro as its foundation, the 2016 COPO Camaro begins the next chapter of an historic racing legacy,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “It’s great to have Courtney Force on Team Chevy and to work with her on the design of the new COPO Camaro show car. Most important, her effort will help raise money for a great cause.”
The 2016 COPO Camaro show car features a Red Hot exterior color with Courtney Force-signature graphics and red-accented grille trim. Under the hood is a delightful sounding, concept 350 cubic-inch racing engine with a 2.9-liter Whipple supercharger.
And, of course, the 2016 COPO Camaro benefits from the host of improvements ushered in with the sixth-generation of the car, namely in structural rigidity, and weight loss.
The 2016 COPO Camaro show car also benefits from an NHRA-certified chrome-moly roll cage, lightweight racing bucket seats personalized with the COPO logo and Courtney Force’s signature, five-point safety harnesses and a floor-mounted shifter. The instrument panel contains racing gauges and a competition switch panel. Alas, Chevrolet says these features are merely conceptual.
Although what you see here is for show, Chevrolet has very real plans to produce the 2016 COPO Camaro. In fact, 69 units will be built for drag racing enthusiasts across the United States.
Serious buyers will have three engine options including a supercharged 350 (5.7L), a naturally aspirated 427 (7.0L) engine and an all-new LT-based 376 (6.2L) engine. The engines are backed by a racing-prepped Turbo 400 three-speed automatic transmission.
Other performance and racing features of the production 2016 COPO Camaro include:
- Lightweight, adjustable strut-type front suspension
- Four-link rear suspension with adjustable coil-overs, Panhard bar and stabilizer bar
- Rear axle with an aluminum center section featuring a spool-type differential and 40-spline gun- drilled axle shafts
- Lightweight, racing-type four-wheel disc brakes (un-assisted)
- Un-assisted rack-and-pinion steering system
- Fuel cell with built-in high-pressure fuel pump
- Unique racing wire harness.
Racers interested in their very own 2016 COPO Camaro must head to the link here, where a third-party will select purchasers from the pool of interested customers at random.
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