COPO question .

[hugger1]

Other than the well known Camaro's , Chevelle's , Nova's , are there other COPO cars ?
what about Vette's ?

The reason i ask is i was at Floyd Garrett's and he had a car there listed as a COPO.
I believe it was a 69 Caprice WAGON , maybe a Impala Wagon , ( sorry , i cant remember ).
it was White with the Woodgrain sides and the 427 in it and i believe had the base steel wheels with Dog Dish caps.
The car was spotless and with Low miles too if i remember right.

I was courious if anyone else has seen this car.

[SS427]

This question has come up on some of the other boards regarding the big cars and has never really been answered. The general concensus is that they would not be considered a COPO because of the fact that these cars had the 427/425 on the option list anyway. They could also be ordered with pretty much any speed part and those were on the option lists as well. I quess a ZL-1 or L-88 Impala would be considered a COPO but I have never heard of any.

My '69 SS427 Impala convertible was supposedly ordered with the 427/400 3-deuce engine in it. The engine was delivered with a 4 bbl and not the 3-deuce intake. I have never found any proof to this other than the original owners statement (I bought from him in 1979) and the fact that the engine had strange GM cast pistons (unlike stock 390 or 400 horse) and 7/16 pushrods and guide plates. Unfortunately, the engine was hurt in 1981 and changed before the numbers days mattered!!!

One other oddity on the car is underneath the Chevrolet script on the trunk is a bar that resembles the 66-67 427 Turbo-jet emblem found on Corvettes. However it is void of flags and is simply the bar. Many people have stated that this is nothing more than someones handiwork (in 1979?). I also ran across and photographed another '69 SS427 in a used car lot in Phoenix back in about 1984 with that exact same emblem. Unfortunately, I did not make note of the assembly plant to see if it was the same as mine. I still have the photos somewhere.

[Edited by SS427 (02-20-2002 at 10:19 AM).]

[Rat_Pack]

Hugger1, I have seen this car a number of times while up at Floyd's. I am usually there at least once a month just to see what is new. About 2 weeks ago I was up there and I made it a point to look at the window sticker and it is not a COPO as the "display board" says. The L72 was a normal RPO that was ordered on this car. Did you happen to notice the picture of the car from a magazine article that was taped to the window? The car in the picture had a dark colored painted top at one time and this one does not. Same car? Yes. This car has been somewhat restored at one time and has a very good repaint, if you look closely you will find places of overspray. Not knocking this car as it is a very nice piece but I would not bank on it being totally original. Also the window sticker has been re-applied to the window as the car in the picture shows that it is not even there...................RatPack.............

[hugger1]

Hey Rat-Pack .

Do you live close to there ?

I too stop in quite often , when i am in town .
My Mother lives in Sevierville about 15 minutes away , RIGHT BY 411 Drag strip.

I did see all the info but dont remember the specifics, I WILL LOOK CLOSER NEXT TRIP .

I was actually looking at the RED 69 Floyd had there and the Green Z28 that was next to it.
I took several shot for details i was interested in.
I'm usually down there 1 , sometimes 2 times a month and enjoy seeing the cars he has as well.
So if its Not a COPO , why advertise it as such .

SS427 - I might be wrong but i think a guy i know in Bloomington INDIANA had a 427 impala and i believe it had the Bar emblem like your describing.
His name is Don Hawkins and he had the car at INDY Super Chevy 2 yrs ago , It was for sale in the car coral and was a low milage car but in need of a restoration also.
His car was a Goldish color and a Covertable also .

I'm not positive but i will try to get hold of him and try to verify this....
I know he had a # of pics of this car .

He sold it for around $5500.00 AS IS. if i remember correctly.

[Stefano]

As far as COPO Corvettes go, there were as Corvette Guys call them "Big Brake" and "Big Tank" or "Tanker" Coupes made. A minimum production quantity of larger gas tanks was produced in order to meet homologation racing requirements.

I do not know off hand if this was listed as a standard RPO.

The Corvette Guys lurking in the shadows can chime in. We know your out there.

[Edited by Stefano (02-20-2002 at 11:38 PM).]

[JoeC]

Here is an old reply I made to a similar question;

The term "COPO Car" or "Coh Poe Car" as some people call it, has developed into a muscle car buzz word. Today it is normally used to describe a specially ordered limited edition high performance Chevrolet product such as the 1968 Nova SS 396/375 TH400, the 1969 ZL1 Camaro, the 1969 427/425 Camaro and Chevelle, or the 1970 LT1 Nova. The history is not exactly all clear but from what I can tell the origin of the COPO term is from the Chevrolet Central Office which was a Division of GM. A department in the Central Office was the Chevrolet Fleet & Special Order Department that processed the paper work for the sales and marketing of Chevy Special Vehicles. These special vehicles were not normally hi performance but may have been telephone trucks, taxi cabs, police cars, etc. Among these normally utilitarian vehicles were some hi po cars built to race. Chevy built special cars for racing as far back as 1957. The Chevy Central Office printed a book called "1957 Chevrolet Stock Car Competition Guide." This book told you how to order a 57 Chevy 150 Sedan with hi po cam, pistons, and even Corvette FI. All parts were RPO so the term COPO was not used but the book was published by Chevrolet Central Office. I have a copy of this book and it actually shows how to prepare a race car. I have read that Smokey Yunick had helped Chevy with this book. The next year I have in my notes was 1962 when Chevy wanted to run a competitive drag car. The hot ticket back then was to use aluminum parts to build light weight cars. Chevy built some aluminum front ends for the Impala/Belair sold as service parts and some people say that a few 1962 Impalas were built at the factory with alu nose and a special 409 with a 1963 Z11 type intake manifold on the 409. This may have been some type of COPO car (not sure). In 1963 the 427 Z11 was built using RPOs and 50 or more were made to qualify it for NHRA competition. The next car I have notes on is the special order Corvairs that Don Yenko bought to build his Yenko Stingers to race in SCCA where a minimum of 100 were required. In 1968 Yenko special ordered some COPO Camaros with 140 speedometers and other options but the facts on this car are not all clear. Then came the fifty 1968 COPO Nova 396/375 TH400 cars ordered by Fred Gibb and Dick Harrell. Then the 1969 427 ZL1 and L72 cars. In 1970 Yenko ordered a COPO LT1 Nova and there was a COPO number for a special big Camaro rear spoiler that became standard in 1971. There is some evidence that Yenko ordered a COPO Vega in 1971 but not many facts on this car. The hi po COPO cars as they are known today were ordered to "beat the system." Using the COPO process you were able to get a non SS big block 427 car or special trans and rear end or an alu motor or other parts not available using the normal order process.