COPO question .

[TimG]

Corvettes ordered with the L88 and ZL1 options were COPO cars. Big tank cars were not COPO cars, this was regualr production option NO3. Some special colors were COPO options, you may have had to push very hard to get this through. One example is a 1967 Corvette, silver exterior with red interior.
This combination was not considered available, a few were built on a COPO basis.

[Mr70]

Welcome Tom Hendricks..what took you so long.

[hugger1]

There is a Corvette listed for sale here locally and advertized as a possible "PHASE III" Corvette

Is this a Baldwin Motion car ?

What exactly is a PHASE III CAR ?

[Kurt S]

L88 and ZL1 were RPO's. No COPO order was required for an RPO. May have required the Central Office to approve (the special color combos did require this), but they did not require any additional engineering so thus did not get a COPO # assigned to them.

[Denis]

hugger1, see http://www.corvettes-musclecars.com/corvette/69Baldwin

[Tom Hendricks]

Thanks Rick:

I must have been sleeping. I never knew you guys were here partying without me. Looks like a good place to learn more stuff !!

[Edited by Tom Hendricks (02-26-2002 at 07:48 AM).]

[JoeC]

QUOTE.."but they did not require any additional engineering so thus did not get a COPO # assigned to them."

I would disagree with this because there may have been different types of special paint. Some early Camaros had special paint but it was no more then deleting the mandatory nose stripe on an SS. This may not have required processing by the COPO system. When a car received a complete color change to a non standard color, I believe it would require approval through the COPO system. Jim Mattison recalled in his interview that he did paperwork for some strange colors requested by Chevy dealers. Also I have seen Chevelle build sheets with special paint that have some COPO type numbers on them. Some special paint 1970 Chevelles have been found with strange numbers stamped on the trim tag.

[Stefano]

There are people like Jim M. who were there, so I just want to clearify my understanding(I don't know I wasn't there).
It would be highly unlikely to get the Central Office to process a single special request ,not that it couldn't get done for the likes of, lets say Pete Estes, but unlikely for a single vehicle. Usually it would require at least a few???

[Jim Mattison]

Guys, I don't mean to stir the pot, but the '69 Kingswood Wagon at Floyd Garrett's did come through the Chevrolet Fleet & Special Order Department (COPO)!

Most think that all COPO cars had some very special equipment on them, like the '69 Camaros and Chevelles with the L72-427 engines. However, a COPO could also be a car (or truck) with a non-recommended combination of RPO equipment. Remember COPO stands for Central Office Production Order.

Some examples are: "stripe delete" on Z-28s and SS models, non-recommended color/trim combinations, black painted 1970-72 Corvettes and even the L72 engine in a full-size Chevy wagon required a special "ok" to get built. We also processed tons of special paint orders for customers.

The Chevrolet Fleet & Special Order Group had the authority and power to tell an assembly plant to build most anything (assuming that it was buildable). Many of the vehicles that we built were single orders, something that we could not do today!
I even remember building a '69 Corvette for one of the guys at the office with an L88 hood on a Corvette with the L36 (390 hp) engine.

I am going to try and get out to more events this year and put some of the myths about what the Chevrolet Fleet & Special Order Department (COPO group) did and didn't do. It is a very interesting story and a high point in my automotive career!

Jim Mattison

[Stefano]

Thanks Jim,
Nothing like getting it right from the 'Horses Mouth'!