Chevrolet is previewing the COPO Camaro 50th Anniversary Special Edition package that it will offer from 2019 with an extreme racing version of it at the 2018 SEMA show. The 2019 COPO Camaro race car it revealed today marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of the original COPO Camaro, which Jim Campbell, GM U.S. Vice President of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, said is “one of the most enduring legacies in drag racing, with a powerful past and fast future.”

What makes the Chevrolet COPO Camaro special

The full-blown racing car unveiled at SEMA is finished in the same unique shade of Anniversary Blue Metallic which will be used on the body of the actual limited edition production version. And, like the original, it too will have a unique front end design not shared with any other Camaro variant - this front end look could actually be a preview for a future facelift the manufacturer has planned for 2020.

It also has unique graphics which will make their way onto the body of the limited production COPO Camaro 50th Anniversary Special Edition of which only 69 examples will be made - this is the exact number of original models built with the 427 ZL1 engine.

Aside from the obvious exterior changes, Chevy will also offer a 50th Anniversary Engine Appearance Package which reproduces the look of the original engine from back in the day thanks to an orange engine block, chrome valve covers and a high-rise intake manifold finished in black.

Power is not rated.

In case you didn’t notice by the skinny front tires and massive rear drag radials, the original COPO was a drag racer. GM actually brought it back in 2012, when it revealed a similar concept also at the SEMA show, but up until now, there was no production version based on it. This year it was revealed alongside the silent but deadly eCOPO all-electric drag racer which packs 700 horsepower and 600 pound-feet (814 Nm) of torque.

We’ve yet to see what the road-going version of this latest COPO will be like since, aside from the news that it will bear the new fascia, not that much was revealed.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro.

Read our full review on the 2018 Chevrolet ECOPO Camaro Concept.

Read our full review on the 2018 Chevrolet COPO Camaro.

Read our full review on the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro SS Shock.