A rare factory Chevy Camaro drag car has popped up at a salvage auction in suspiciously good condition. Here’s what’s going on.
Copart largely exists as a salvage auction site, hosting cars that are only worth the literal sum of their parts. It’s the kind of place where you’ll do a double-take if you see, say, a flawless 2020 Chevrolet COPO Camaro that doesn’t look like it has anything wrong with it. As it turns out, the car has a reason for being there—though whether it’s a good one is for you to decide.
The COPO Camaro is listed for sale from Copart‘s Louisville, Kentucky lot, and is said to be the second of 69 made for 2020. It’s a factory drag car that pays tribute to the original COPO Camaros, which were essentially special-order workarounds to get higher-performing Camaros than General Motors’ internal politics allowed. The COPO cars of today, though, aren’t road cars; they’re purpose-built drag cars, with a roll cage, drag slicks, wheelie bar, parachute, and of course, a 350 cubic-inch, supercharged LSX V8 that revs to 9,500 rpm. The result? A factory Chevy that can run eight-second passes in the quarter mile.
Only 69 COPOs are made each year, so they’re expensive, but they’re built to be beaten on. Yet this one seemingly hasn’t been, and has instead ended up on what’s normally a salvage auction site. Exactly why is outlined on Copart’s blog: the car is “a charitable donation to benefit disabled veterans.” (Read: a tax write-off for its former owner.) We contacted GM to clarify whether it donated the car, but no reply has been received at the time of publication.
New COPOs cost well over $100,000, with 2020 models running from $117,500 to $170,000 new according to the NHRA. This one could be a deal though, as bidding stands at $61,000 with under a day to go. The auction wraps up at 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, after which someone will own one hell of a turnkey drag car.
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