One of these two Chevrolets could be ordered by nearly anyone with the cash; the other required knowing about a hidden engine code most dealers had never heard of. Both hid more horsepower than their factory ratings admitted to. Here’s how a mass-produced 450-horsepower Chevelle and a nearly unobtainable 71-unit Camaro both earned a permanent place in muscle car history.
From the reign of classic muscle cars, here are two that we just can’t get over. Both of these cars are powerful and impressive.  Here’s why we’ll never forget these American roadsters.
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1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454
Chevrolet offered two versions of this 454 cubic inch v-8; LS5 and LS6. They could crank up an impressive 360 and 450 horsepower respectively. The LS6 has since been regarded as the last gasp of the muscle-car era and quite an impressive one at that. No other muscle car would match the 4-barrel carburetor, sweeping roof and bulged look of this monster on wheels.
Image by VanguardMotorSales.com
Less than 70 of these were ever built. Not only did it have the most powerful engine, but also became the rarest production car that has ever been made by Chevrolet. The iconic 427 V-8 engine was capable of producing more than 430 horsepower.
Image by SuperChevy.com
Two Chevrolets built at the very end of the 1960s took completely opposite approaches to the same goal, and only one of them let the public know what it was really capable of. One offered the biggest engine option regular buyers could actually order and drive home. The other was buried so deep in a hidden order code that most Chevrolet dealers themselves didn’t know it existed, and it may have been underrated by more than 100 horsepower on paper. Only a handful of buyers ever found out how to ask for it. Which of these two cars do you think left a bigger mark on Chevrolet’s muscle car legacy — the one everyone could buy, or the one almost nobody knew to ask for?
The Engine Order Code Almost Nobody Knew About
The 1969 Camaro ZL1 wasn’t a trim level you could simply check a box for — it came through COPO 9560, a special-order code that let racers and a handful of insiders order an all-aluminum 427 block that officially weighed about the same as Chevy’s small-block 327. Only 69 Camaros (plus two Corvettes) ever received it, making the ZL1 one of the rarest muscle-car engine packages Chevrolet ever built.
Underrated on Purpose
Chevrolet rated the ZL1’s output at 430 horsepower gross, but the all-aluminum 427 is widely believed to have actually produced well over 500 horsepower in as-installed form — a gap that reflects how the era’s insurance-conscious horsepower ratings often undersold what an engine could really do. The LS6-powered Chevelle SS took the opposite path: Chevrolet built 4,475 LS6 engines for the 1970 model year, most of them landing in Chevelles that any dealer could order, making genuine 450-horsepower performance something a regular buyer — not just a racer with insider knowledge — could actually drive home.
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Can you guess which of these 3 classic cars appreciated the most?
It looks like a copo
Would have liked to had a COPO
I need a COPO. Any color.
Sweet !!!!
Sharp!
Nice