what does copo mean

[Norm reynolds]

Hi I am new to your forum. I am a 30 ASE master tec . I am now on disability and spend my time reading up on old cars ,and find the that history of musclecars fancying
I have leaned a lot on your fourm but I keep reading about copo cars. What is a copo, I know that it stands for central office production order.I dont what to sound stupit but I still do not unerstand what it means and if these are rare cars
Norm

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Norm;
The COPO ordering system was the method used by various customers to order 'fleet' vehicles. The customers were usually municipalities (police cars, township vehicles), taxi companies, ect... These companies simply wanted some special equipment, options combination, or even a color change for a bunch of vehicles. Fred Gibb in Laharpe, IL figured why not use this method to order special equipment that makes the cars go faster! (sort of like a fleet order of factory built/warrantied race cars). The only stipulation was that the COPO request needed to use existing GM parts, and had to be approved by the engineering dept. Fred Gibb used this method to order 50 L78 Novas with the TH400 trans, which was a special trans in '68. Obviously, dropping a Corvette L72 427 engine into a '69 Camaro or '69 Chevelle was fairly easy, as was an LT1 350 into a '70 Nova, so they were approved but not advertised by GM. Many of the COPO cars went to Yenko Chev. who then added his finishing touches and sold them through his dealer network.

I believe the COPO secret got out in '69 via Jim Mattison who was dating Berger's daughter?? Any truth to that??
M

[Chevy454]

Norm:

First off, "welcome" to the site! I think you came to the right place to get your question answered (correctly!), and feel free to ask any questions you might have.

[Norm reynolds]

Thanks for the info Now I understand.I love the cars of the 60,s and the story behind them. its a lot of FUN. I will be here form time to time reading learning, and some time to put my two cents in. Thank you for the infor about the copo cars
Norm

[Arctic Z Dan]

COPO = Central Office Production Order. (I believe) It's something like that anyhow. Later, Dan

[Keith Tedford]

You will see COPO (Central Office Production Order) on page III in the front of the Chevelle/MonteCarlo parts catalogue #P014. Prior to 1967 it was called the CSL or Canadian Special List. At least that what shows up in the Canadian parts catalogues. COPO was never hidden, just unimportant until recent years. There is/was a COPO catalogue available. Wow! I bought one. There wasn't one thing in there about any of the stuff that we were interested in. Lots of the truck stuff that we wouldn't be interested in.

[Edited by Keith Tedford (11-01-2001 at 09:54 PM).]