Final CHP Camaro Is The Last Real 455 HP Cruiser

Caecey Killian October 1, 2026 3 min read 0

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The final CHP Camaro goes on patrol in California this week, and it shows up with the same hardware that made the sixth-gen SS 1LE worth owning. Under the hood is Chevrolet’s naturally aspirated 6.2-liter LT1, rated at 455 horsepower and 455 lb-ft, backed by a 10-speed automatic. Because GM shut down sixth-gen production in late 2023, the California Highway Patrol is calling this one the last Camaro it will add to the fleet.

What The Final CHP Camaro Carries Over From The SS 1LE

The final CHP Camaro is an SS 1LE under the paint, so the performance parts stay where the factory put them. It wears the traditional black and white scheme with white doors on a black body, the Highway Patrol graphic and star badge on the doors, and the Safety, Service, and Security motto running down the rear quarter panel.

Patrol duty adds a low-profile red-and-blue light bar, extra lighting in the grille, rockers, and fenders, plus the antenna cluster that comes with the job. The black five-spoke wheels and red brake calipers survived the build, which tells you nobody at fleet operations wanted to sand the edges off it.

The 1LE package is what makes this one worth talking about instead of another fleet car with a wrap on it. It was built around holding a line on a road course, with the suspension, brakes, and cooling sorted for repeat hard laps, and none of that goes to waste on a car that lives on the highway.

Why There Will Not Be Another One

GM ended sixth-gen production late in 2023 for the 2024 model year; therefore, there is nothing left for the agency to order. That generation launched for 2016 and closed out the two-door Camaro era, so this car is working out of a parts bin that is already shrinking. CHP and F-bodies go back a long way, since the B4C pursuit cars of the early 1990s put Camaros in the same black and white paint.

Those B4C cars ran the 1LE suspension and LT1 power of their day; therefore, the final CHP Camaro is closing a loop that started with a fourth-gen F-body in the same paint. California has been handing Camaros a badge for close to thirty years.

Agencies run cars until the miles catch up with them. As a result, this one will still be sitting in traffic breaks and median U-turns long after the last new Camaro left a dealer lot. California has been friendlier to older iron lately, since Leno’s Law cleared the state Legislature with a smog exemption for collector cars.

What Comes Next For The Camaro Name

Reports point to an approved next-generation Camaro on an updated version of GM’s Alpha 2 rear-drive architecture, with a combustion engine up front and a manual transmission still on the menu. The body is where it gets interesting, because the next car is expected to arrive as a midsize four-door instead of a coupe.

That one will start a fight in every cruise-in parking lot in the country. We would take a four-door with a V8 and a clutch pedal over no Camaro at all, while plenty of readers will land on the other side of that argument. Dodge is chewing on the same question with the Copperhead hyper-muscle car, so the whole segment is working through it at once.

For now, the final CHP Camaro is out there wearing a badge. If you are running I-5 this fall and a black-and-white LT1 car lights you up, you will hear the 6.2 before you ever see the light bar.

AboutCaecey Killian

Caecey Killian covers builds, installs, and product features for Car Junkie Magazine. He has spent years on the floor of the garage chasing horsepower across SBC, LS, and modern muscle platforms, and that shop time runs through every article he writes. His current CJM project is Project Street Reaper, a 1976 Camaro built around a fresh SBC 350. He is also known for Project Mighty Mouse, a 1977 Chevy Nova running a 1962 small-journal 327 SBC, with build coverage published across multiple online automotive magazines. His media background spans long-form build documentation, install coverage, and product features across the magazine and the Car Junkie Magazine YouTube channel. He writes the way he wrenches: specific, honest about the mistakes, and grounded in real garage work.

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