1969 Chevrolet Camaro COPO For Sale

Spearheaded by Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Chevrolet dealer and highly successful SCCA road racer Don Yenko, the legendary COPO Camaro, Chevelle and Nova were produced by Chevrolet and sold at the height of the American Supercar era. Using Chevrolet’s COPO (Central Office Production Order) system which was normally utilized for large-scale commercial, police and taxi fleet orders, Yenko and a number of other performance-minded Chevrolet dealers were able to circumvent General Motors’ self-enforced racing ban dating back to 1963. The system also allowed an end run around GM’s corporate policy forbidding the factory installation of engines larger than 400 CI in its intermediate models and sporty F-Body models.

Vince Piggins, Chevrolet’s head of Product Promotions Engineering, was instrumental in the use of GM’s COPO system, with Chevrolet dealers closely associated with the factory; unsurprising, given his past success at Hudson during that company’s brief but brilliant NASCAR dominance of the early 1950s. Equipped with Chevrolet’s potent RPO L72 iron block-and-head 427 CI V-8 engine, Chevrolet stalwarts including Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins took the fight to Chrysler and Ford in NHRA Super Stock drag racing competition. In short, these special, low-production (201 COPO 427 cars and 69 ZL1) factory-built supercars rank firmly at the top of the classic muscle car ladder. They were also the basis for Don Yenko’s legendary Super Camaros in 1969.