1962 COPO Impala 409? First COPO?

[Verne_Frantz]

That is a question I hope to find the answer to before I die. Several records indicate the RPO availablity of the QA (380hp) and QB (409hp) after that June date, but NO real cars have surfaced that I know of. There is also no found record of QAs or QBs shipped by July 7th '61. The only record of "shipped" 409s by that date are for RPO 580 which was the 1x4 360hp version.
The most unusual piece of that puzzle I've come across is a '61 409 block (cast 623) with a QA suffix, indicating the Spl Hi-Perf 1x4 engine (meaning it had the large port heads and matching intake) BUT it was originally installed in a 1962 Chevy! There was a huge delay between the assembly of that engine and the '62 it was installed in.
I intend to cover a lot of this topic in the book I am currently writing, but I will avoid printing any hearsay or hobby rumors that have floated around for decades. I like to deal with truth that can be proven.

Grumpy looked at the deck stamp on my '62 '09 back in 1982 and said, "huuumph!". What does that mean? Absolutely nothing!

Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]