Chevrolet reveals Camaro dragster

Chevrolet has today whipped the covers off the 2018 COPO Camaro, whose bold orange paint work, titanic bonnet scoop and chunky Hoosier tyres give it the appearance of a life-sized toy car.

Funny that, considering the new model can be ordered with Hot Wheels livery.

Powered by a choice of naturally-aspirated 427 cubic-inch (7.0-litre) or supercharged 350 cubic-inch (5.7-litre) V8 engines, Chevrolet reckons the COPO cars are good for "mid-eight-second quarter-mile times at nearly 160mph".

Translation – the COPO Camaro is crazy fast. These things generate so much thrust off front standstill they need wheelie bars to stop them flipping.

Both engines are paired to an extra-beefy ATI TH400 three-speed automatic transmission (SFI-approved) that can handle repeated punishment and, as has been the case since 2012, the new COPO Camaro models are designed to compete in the NHRA's Stock Eliminator class.

As such, the hand-build cars are get a special solid rear axle in lieu of production-version independent rear axle, along with racing suspension and chassis components.

There's very little sound insulation inside the car and no back seats either -- just a rip-roaring rear-drive V8 with tyre-shredding on the menu.

Just 69 of these hand-build drag racers will be made available in the USA and, although they're not street-legal, there are several instances of the vehicles being tuned to be driven on the road, where they'd likely give the Dodge Demon a fright.

It's unlikely we'll see the wild COPO drag car offered in Australia, even once the new Chevrolet Camaro lands in Australia from late 2018 or early 2019, but the interest the new Camaro is generating is on the rise.

In the US, however, Chevrolet will also release 2500 units of the street-legal Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels 50th Anniversary Edition, which has a similar appearance to the COPO cars.

Pegged as a $US4995 option on 2SS and 2LT coupe and convertible Camaros, the limited-run packs add orange exterior paint with grey/white decal stripes, and orange/black interiors.

The sporty body kits are finished in grey, as are the alloy wheels, and there are Hot Wheels badges on the front guards too. Other changes include orange seat belts, specially embroidered head restraints, orange knee pads and Hot Wheels logos on the door sills and steering wheel.

COPO stands for "Central Office Production Order system," a special catalogue system used by Chevy dealers since the late 1960s to create unique high-performance cars.

According to Chevrolet it was Fred Gibb, an Illinois Chevy dealer, who created the first ever ZL-1 COPO Camaro in 1969. Gibb ordered 50 Camaro cars fitted with an all-aluminium ZL-1 engine, and other showrooms in the US ended up doing the same.

In total, 69 COPO Camaros were built that year, and since the program was revived in 2012 that's always been the production run.

The cars have been successful in competition too, with several class wins in 2017. Check out more details on the COPO program.

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