Re: C1 COPO 348c.i.

[Ty T.]

I had a 59 with a 396/425h stolen in St Louis in early 1970. Black w/silver coves. You didn't happen to see that one did you Bill?
Side bar: When I lived down there while going to school, one of my room mates had a friend who worked at the Corvette plant. His goal was to steal a part at a time and build his own Corvette. I don't know if he got her done or not.

[Clem Z.]

sounds like a johnny cash song *NM*

[Bill W.]

Re: C1 COPO 348c.i.

no didnt see that one.

[Matt Purdy]

Re: sounds like a johnny cash song

Was there even such thing as COPO cars in the late 50's? I thought COPO was a 67-71 type thing.....

[Verne Frantz]

At least '58

Matt,
I'm not sure when "COPO" orders started, but I can verify they existed back as far as 1958. I've documented a '58 Biscayne that was a COPO, actually stamped on the cowl tag. I've also seen '62s and '63s (full size).
Verne

[John H.]

Re: At least '58

The COPO system has been around since the early 50's; contrary to popular belief, it wasn't for building performance cars - it was to manage commercial fleet and special orders, primarily for truck customers, which was 99% of its everyday usage. It didn't become "famous" among enthusiasts until the mid-60's, when it began to be used occasionally for performance "packages".

[Verne Frantz]

Re: At least '58

John,
That coincides with my findings completely. The few full size COPOs I've recorded have all been "bottom of the line" cars with no high performance attributes at all. Although one 4dr sedan did have the 300hp 327 installed. That car had some earmarks that made me think "FBI".

I've also wondered what particular aspects of an order "forced" it into a COPO requirement, rather than simply an F&SO (Fleet & Special Order). I'd appreciate your comments. Were the F&SOs also processed through the Central Office?

Verne.

[John H.]

Re: At least '58

Verne -

The F&SO Group was a subset of the Chevrolet Central Office Sales Department, and performed the liaison between commercial customers, Sales, and Engineering to put the desired "package" together; once the customer's needs were satisfied and Engineering signed off on the combination in terms of function, durability, safety, part availability and/or procurement, the F&SO Group issued the production order (with a specific numbered F&SO or COPO letter describing the "package" in part number-level detail) and worked with Purchasing and Production Control to schedule the parts into the plant for production.

F&SO's (mostly for trucks) covered everything from special paint colors and two-tones to major mechanical issues involving suspension, GVW ratings, brakes, wheels, tires, special wheelbases and prop shafts. Chevy truck plants in those days had twelve different shades of "white", and up to 1800 possible combinations of prop shafts.

Most passenger car F&SO's and COPO's (other than the "famous" ones for 427 and ZL-1 Camaros) dealt with paint issues - stripe deletes, non-standard paint colors, oddball two-tones, etc.

[Verne Frantz]

Re: At least '58

Thanks, as always John.
By the way, the two F&SO cars I've recorded were both police cars, with the appropriate Body and Chassis RPO packages. A 4 digit order number was stamped on the cowl tag along with "F&SO".

Verne