1967 Yenko Camaro
source: Wikimedia
Most car buyers would never know this, but many major carmakers allow certain vehicles to be bulk-purchased in special configurations – packages and powerplants that are not otherwise available to the public. Police departments use this purchasing method on a regular basis to buy souped-up Fords and Dodges. Trucking companies and utility providers use it to get vehicles that are capable of certain commercial work. None of this matters to us – except in the case of the COPO Camaro.
In the mid-sixties, a man named Don Yenko started chopping up Camaros and building them “the right way”. That is, Yenko Chevrolet (supervised by Don Yenko) addressed the sad reality that GM limited displacement of the Camaro to a “meager” 6.6L V8 – no bigger motor would be allowed. This put the Camaro at a serious disadvantage against the Mustangs, Cudas, and Darts of the day, including most notably, the GT500.
Yenko fixed all that by exploiting the Central Office Production Order system. He ordered a number of standard production Camaros and used the COPO system to swap out the original L-78 powerplants with Hellfire-breathing 427 motors. Yes, the same 7.0L V8 found in the Corvette. Yenko also beefed up the Camaro’s drivetrain with a 4.10 rear and upgraded, heavy-duty suspension to handle the extra torque. Yenko also installed fiberglass hoods that featured the Stinger profile often found on the big-block Corvettes of the same year.
source: Flickr
The result was a light pony car that made around 450 horses and over 500 torques. To Ford fans, Carroll Shelby was the guru of the Mustang, cooking up mad-scientist experiments that put to shame most other muscle on the road. Don Yenko was the answer Chevy fans were looking for. Other Chevy retailers included Nickey in Chicago, Dana in California, and Baldwin-Motion in New York did the same thing, but only Yenko had dealer outlets in 19 states. This earned clout with Chevy, and so the 427-converted Camaro became affectionately known as the Yenko Camaro.
Eventually, the suits at GM wised up and realized Yenko was onto something. The Yenko Camaro couldn’t officially race under the Chevy name because it wasn’t actually built in Chevy’s factories. Once the suits realized this was more of a detriment to them than it was a boon to Yenko, they set out to make it official. In 1969, Chevy announced the COPO Camaro, outfitted with the same 427 motor and drivetrain that Yenko smartly cooked up years before. While that’s great for Chevy, it was Yenko that made the car. Therefore, the Yenko Camaro earns a spot on our list (sorry, GM execs).
