The rolling chassis go on sale Thursday, March 28, at noon EST and will be priced at $55,000. Each specially numbered chassis is assembled by hand at the same facility that constructs Chevrolet’s COPO Camaro production race cars.

“This is a great opportunity to buy a factory-built foundation for a competitive Camaro race car, saving racers the time of building their own from the ground up and offering them the opportunity to compete with a piece of Chevrolet history, because we’re only going to build a few of them,” said Jim Campbell, General Motors U.S. Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Add your powertrain assembly and you’ve got a race car that’s ready to tackle the drag strip.”

Many of the components required to complete the transformation into a full race car, including crate engines, racing engine components, electronics – controllers and harnesses – and more, are available direct from Chevrolet Performance. The catalog is online at chevroletperformance.com.

“Finishing off your race car with authentic Chevrolet Performance parts helps make it all-Chevy, with uncompromising performance and confidence-inspiring durability,” said Campbell. “All of our hardcore racing parts have been designed and tested to standards unmatched in the aftermarket.”
Ordering information and chassis details

Customers will call 1-800-306-3005 to order a Camaro rolling chassis. The call center will send purchase certificates for the limited number of rolling chassis to be constructed, and customers will take the certificates to the Chevrolet dealerships of their choice to complete the sales.

The completed rolling chassis requires customer pickup in the Detroit area. Each will be serialized, but will not have a Vehicle Identification Number, so they cannot be titled or licensed for road use.

Each rolling chassis is constructed with hardware from the Oshawa assembly plant that manufactures regular-production Camaros. Each is fitted with an NHRA-approved roll cage and other safety equipment, along with NHRA-approved racing chassis and suspension components, including brakes and solid rear axle – minus the third member. Bogart racing wheels mounted on Hoosier tires are also included.

All will come in Summit White, with a production Camaro hood and SS grille, production window glass, headlamps, tail lamps and more. Inside, racing seats, a production-style instrument panel, steering wheel, racing switch panel, door panels, headliner and black carpeting are included. Basic body and chassis wiring is built into the rolling chassis, but it does not come with engine harnesses or a battery.

Customers will need to add basic equipment to complete the assembly, including:

Engine and air inlet system
Engine mounts
Engine controller and wire harness
Exhaust headers
Coolant hoses (a radiator is included)
Transmission and shifter assembly
Driveshaft

Chevrolet Performance’s entire range of high-performance and racing crate engines is available to power the rolling chassis, including the three 2013 COPO LS-family engines, which were developed for NHRA Stock Eliminator classes. They include a 350-cubic-inch engine rated at 325 horsepower; a 396-cubic-inch engine rated at 375 horsepower, and a 427-cubic-inch engine rated at 425 horsepower (part number 17802825). Supercharged crate engines based on the 2012 COPO Camaro program are also available, including a 327-cubic-inch engine with a 2.9L supercharger (part number 17802826) and a 327 with a 4.0L blower (part number 17802827). The 350 and 396 engines will be available later this year.

Chevrolet Performance’s new “COPO Build Book,” part number 88958767, provides an overview of the factory race cars’ assembly process and can be a reference manual for those who intend to complete their Camaro rolling chassis for Stock Eliminator or Super Stock drag racing. It also provides general assembly details that can help builders complete their race car more quickly.

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4.5 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature spirited performance, expressive design, and high quality. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

News Source: General Motors

The ZL1 uses a six-speed Tremec manual transmission with a dual-plate clutch, 20-inch Goodyear Supercar tires, Brembo brakes, and a MagneRide active suspension, which was originally made for the Chevy Corvette.

The COPO system was truly intended for more mundane fleet type of alterations. The most common use of COPO system was to specify fleet paint schemes for municipal vehicles, heavy duty springs and special fabrics for use in taxicabs. It was never intended for creating ultra high performance Chevrolet vehicles, but try telling that to Don Yenko, Baldwin-Motion, and Berger Chevrolet.

Don Yenko of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, is largely credited with being the first to exploit Chevy’s COPO system. Exploiting it, is probably not the right term to use here, Yenko simply build Chevrolets the way he thought they should have been built all along, more powerful.

Chevrolet had two primary COPO codes for camaro 9560 and 9561. There were also, perhaps one of the best keep secrets, the COPO 9567 option.

Without a doubt, the most exotic of all Camaros were those rare 1969 models equipped with COPO 9560, which cost $4,160.15 above the cost of a base Camaro coupe. The price tag ran higher if any other options were ordered. At $7,000 new, it was quite simply, the most exotic engine available at the time from any auto maker, the all-aluminum ZL1 427.

The ZL1 featured an aluminum cylinder case, cylinder heads, intake manifold, and even an aluminum water pump. The ZL1 was fitted with forged aluminum Chevrolet TRW pistons, which squeezed on the air/fuel mixtue at 12.25:1. This predominantly aluminum ZL1 engine was incredibly lightweight. For comparison, the ZL1 weighted roughly the same as a typical cast-iron “small block” 350 V-8.

Chevrolet was hoping to get the ZL1 Camaros into the lower class in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) drag racing, because they knew results at the track was results in the showroom. Chevy under rated the horsepower at 425, but both sanctioning bodies quickly saw through chevrolets facade and re-classed the ZL1 engine into the appropriate class. Word spread fast, the stock ZL1′s were churning out nearly 550 horsepower on the dyno.

Professional engine tuners, quickly changed from the pathetic cast-iron exhaust manifolds to tubular exhaust headers which allowed the engine the produce enormous horsepower. Though teams kept the true horsepower secret, drag strip performances in the mid-10-second bracket indicated that they were developing around 600 horsepower.

Today, these COPO Camaros are some of most coveted Camaros ever. This was not the case the late 60′s, given its steep price tag most Camaro buyer passed on these exotic optioned Camaros. In fact, most of the 9560-equipped Camaros that made it to the dealers’ showrooms sat there for ages before ultimately being sold at a steep discount to get them off the lot!

1993 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 “572″ Custom Coupe

1993 ZL1 Chevrolet Camaro

1993 ZL1 Chevrolet Camaro

The 1993 ZL1 was, in truth, built on a dare. When the 1993 Camaro first came out, a person from the media stated to an important employee in Chevrolet that “I bet we will never see another big-block Camaro built”. The ZL1 was a one of a kind not sold to the public, boasting a 572ci Donovan Aluminum Block Big Block Engine with over 700 hp (520 kW). Custom body styling, hood, black paint, and custom magnesium alloy wheels were also featured.

Barrett-Jackson Lot: 902 – Sold for 145,000 – Sold on a Scrap Title.
Features a Donovan big block aluminum 572cid engine with Brodie heads that produces an estimated 673hp with 710 ft/Lb of torque. Also has a Tremec 5-speed transmission, Brembo front disc and production disc rear brakes, Aluminum wheels with 11″ rims, Goodyear gsc 275 x 17 tires on 9.5″ rims (front) and Goodyear gsc 315 x 17 tires on 11″ rims (rear). Has a black exterior with silver striping, modified hood and ground effect package. The interior is production.

1993 Camaro ZL1 on the 1/4 mile track runs a 9.55 seconds at 144 mph

Source(s):
http://www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/lotdetails.aspx?aid=283&ln=902&pop=0&it=1
http://regalwhiskey.com/index.html – Car Ad

Unless you lived near a Chevrolet performance dealer like Yenko, Berger, Gibb, Rosenthal, Indianatlantic or Rathmann, the chance of finding anL78 on the showroom floor was somewhere between slim and none. You had to know how to get your mitts on a Special Product Order form and fill out the right information, then get the dealer to order it for you. You gave him your deposit and then you waited six to eight weeks for the hauler to arrive with your L78 Chevelle.

What was the L78? It was 375 hp wrapped up inside a 396-cid engine. There was only one other option that made the L78 look mundane, and that was the L89, which parked a set of aluminum cylinder heads atop the iron-block 396, but retained the same 375hp rating. The L78 was an expensive option ($252.80), but the L89 was even more ($647.75). As enigmatic as the L78 was in the showroom, thanks to magazine coverage, 9,486 L78 Chevelles were ordered in 1969. The RPO Z25 Super Sport package was now an option (RPO Z25) on any Chevelle V-8 hardtop or convertible. Along with specific emblems on the grille, front fenders and the blacked out taillamp panel, the SS package also featured a domed hood and power front disc brakes. Sales of the 1969 SS option were strong, with 86,307 rolling out of dealers’ doors.

Part of the L78 SS396 package was the F41 heavy-duty suspension. The F41used firm springs, a large stabilizer bar and firm shocks up front, along with a four-link coil spring rear configuration with firm shocks. The rear lower control arms were boxed by a plate welded across the sides for reinforcement. A rear stabilizer bar was bolted to the inner sides of the control arms. The upper arms were braced to handle the massive torque of the L78. The optional 14×6 sport wheels with F70x14wide oval bias belt tires put a wide footprint on the ground, however they’d go up in smoke when the wood was laid to the L78.

The L78 396 had a 375hp rating measured at 5600 rpm and peak torque of 415 lb-ft came on at 3600 rpm. The L78 was fitted with aluminum impact