[daltondavid]

In 1967 Don Yenko wanted to do for the Camaro what Carroll Shelby had done for the Mustang. He took 396 Camaros, Pulled the Engine, swapped in a 427 added His own version of Torq Thrust wheels and some Decals . I believe he did 65 Cars the first year. in 68 he did more and he approached GM about saving him the time and effort of Engine swaps and sending 396 Engines back etc. GM Reluctantly agreed. They made a stripped down version of a 396 SS Camaro with a 427/425 HP engine installed at Chevrolet. Many came with Steel wheels and Dog Dish Hubcaps as they were mostly expected to go right to Yenko for Conversion or Do Service at Drag Strips. My Car was optioned with Rally Wheels, Endura Bumper and AM/FM Radio, Tinted Glass. These cars were ordered through the "Central Office Production Order". Hence the Acronym "COPO". Normal duties at COPO were filling orders for Taxi Cab Fleets in special Colors, Police Units, Truck fleets, etc. as word got out to other Chevrolet Dealerships, They too wanted a Piece of The Performance Pie. Places like BERGER Chevrolet and Nickey had also been big promoters of High Performance Cars and they started to order them in. initially a Dealership Had to order a minimum of 5 Cars, but towards the end of production, you could order just 1 Car. GM has not released Records on Production numbers as they Do not really know as yet. What is known is that there were 1000 Engines Built. How Many went into Chevelles, Nova's , Camaro's is unknown. as well as How many of those were produced as warranty replacements? This was a Car that was not advertised by GM and basicly snuck out the Back Door and unleashed on the Public. It was a One Year Deal, 1969. Now, How many remain today? Not Many as they were Wrecked, Raced, Stolen and stripped, Gas guzzlers in the Mid Seventies etc. The Car I have is all original Sheetmetal with No Rust Repair. all original Glass, Rims, Interior, 23,053 Miles. Very well kept Car. Never Tubbed. The Original Rear is Gone but replaced with another 12 Bolt posi Unit and the M-21 is Gone as well, but has an M-22. But the All important VIN stamped Engine survived! The original Owner Removed it from the Car and Ran a 427/435 Vette Motor in the Car. when that eventually failed, The original Engine returned. Currently there are 2 other COPO Cars for Sale. One is Painted Red and should be Gold, Not Original Engine, But has original Rear and Trans. He wants $180K. there is a Brown COPO with Non Original Engine, Trans and Rear and he is asking $139K. the important thing about the Engine being original is that besides Date Cast Codes, Your VIN is stamped into a Rough Casting, so it cannot be ground down and restamped. This is important in Authenticating these cars. You Cannot get a Marti Report or PHS Documentation for Chevrolet cars. For some reason they refuse to release the knowledge. I believe the Guy that runs PHS has been trying to get them to do it, But the talks keep breaking down. should they ever get it together, some fear that Many GM Specialty Cars will be exposed as fakes since you cannot tell by a VIN number if a Car came with a 6 cylinder or an LS6 454! and the Corvette Crowd might really be in for a surprise should the knowledge be released! That is why it is so important that GM Cars Have Documentation, versus other Brands that can be proven more easily. My Car Has the All Important Certificate from the "COPO Connection" Authenticating the Vehicle.