New book on COPO Chevrolets tells tale of rare muscle cars

I don’t envy authors or booksellers these days. The ways in which we all receive our information has become a very fickle environment, with (sometimes dubious) answers only a Google search away.

But a first flip through veteran automotive journalist Matt Avery’s new book, COPO Camaro, Chevelle and Nova: Chevrolet’s Ultimate Muscle Cars, put my mind to rest, for here is a tome whose size, layout and depth immediately appeals as an entertaining read while providing fresh reference-grade data on a fascinating chapter of the muscle car era.

Chevrolet’s Central Office Production Order was a legendary 1960s backdoor program in which savvy, performance-hungry car buyers could covertly order their staid Nova, Camaro or Chevelle with monstrous powerplants that GM’s management had otherwise disallowed because of public safety concerns.

More than simply striking an option box, the COPO cars were individually engineered vehicles which essentially offered a boutique-built supercar from the world’s largest automaker.

A revelation to me was that this loophole was first exploited on the Corvair Stinger by Chevrolet dealer Don Yenko to compete in SCCA racing against the dominant Shelby GT350s. The 33-page chapter devoted to the Stinger make this book a valuable reference to Corvair fans, as well as a powerful rebuke to Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed, which famously maligned the mid-engined, air-cooled American sports cars.

By the time Yenko turned his attention to refitting the 1967 Camaro with the big-block 427cid engine, the swap had already become common practice nationwide by hot-rodders and performance-oriented dealerships like Dana, Baldwin and Nickey. The book’s scope widened nicely to include references and background on these dealership conversions.

Yenko remained a central figure in the story of how the COPO process was applied to produce subsequent factory made-supercars such as the 1968 Yenko Super Camaro, the Gibb Chevy II Nova Super Sport, the ZL-1 Camaro, the 1969 COPO Chevelle, the 1970 Yenko Deuce Nova, the 1970 ½ COPO Camaro and the Vega Yenko Stinger — all which receive designated chapters in the book.

Peppered throughout are fascinating tidbits about the production, marketing and sales of these cars, with a wealth of period and original photographs. Appendices in the back of the book list data on each of the 69-produced ZL-1 Camaros and all 50 of the 1968 Gibb Novas.

Sidebars with personal accounts from mechanics, racers, corporate GM employees, dealers and original owners help bring the narrative to life.

Avery has done a yeoman’s work on this book, which takes a wealth of detail on these rare cars and weaves it into a light and entertaining read that you can absorb in satisfying intervals. With Christmas around the corner, it’s a sure hit for the Chevy lover in your life.

Reviewed

COPO Camaro, Chevelle and Nova: Chevrolet’s Ultimate Muscle Cars

By Matt Avery

CarTech, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-6613-2539-15

Hard cover and e-Book, 204 pages

Hard cover: $44.95, e-Book (PDF format): $39.95