In the glory days of the muscle car, Chevrolet dealers would sometimes manipulate GM’s centralized ordering system to whip up some crazy concoctions with performance parts not normally available on regular production cars from the Bowtie brand. Nowadays, the COPO cars (as they’re known, in honor of GM’s Central Office Production Order system) can bring in huge bucks, as collectors strive to snap up the remaining cars built by Yenko and other notable dealerships.
Fast forward a few decades, and two dealerships, DeNooyer Chevrolet in Albany N.Y, and NeSmith Chevrolet, which has two location Georgia, are reviving this trend by using parts from GM’s Performance Parts catalog. NeSmith’s car puts down 700 horsepower from an LS9 V8 (the same type used in the Corvette ZR1) but will run you $125,000. The DeNooyer car uses a GM crate engine, known as the LSX454, that puts down 620 horsepower.
More information can be found at www.nesmithnow.com, www.denooyerperformancedivision.com as well as www.gmperformanceparts.com
[Source: GM Inside News]