COPO orders

[Keith B.]

Nothing really to do with Corvettes in general. But on here I often hear when you ordered a car it had to be approved at the central office. Where exactly was the office. Was there more then one?

[Dan D.]

Re: COPO orders

Back in the day...each division had it's own central office. Buick was in Flint, Oldsmobile was in Lansing, Cadillac was in Detroit, Pontiac was in Pontiac...and, off the top of my head, I can't remember where Chevrolet and GMC were. As far as COPO...I don't know what it may have later evolved into...but, back when I worked for them (I was with Pontiac Division) Central Office Production Order was when someone in the "head shed" wanted something built that was outside the parameters of the normal build. Back in those days you didn't have to worry about any regulations. You could throw any driveline configuration into any platform...no problem. That's how the first muscle cars came about. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful but I'm reaching back into the 60's

[Joe L.]

Re: COPO orders

Nothing really to do with Corvettes in general. But on here I often hear when you ordered a car it had to be approved at the central office. Where exactly was the office. Was there more then one?

Keith------


The Chevrolet Central Office was located in Warren, MI as part of the Tech Center. There was probably an earlier one, before Warren opened. I expect that one was likely in Detroit. At some point in the 50's or early 60's a lot of Chevrolet offices and facilities moved from Detroit to Warren.

[Keith B.]

Re: COPO orders

Thanks guys. So when a dealer ordered a car they mailed the order into that office and then they took care of it from there.

[Larry E.]

Re: COPO orders

One wonders where did all the documents/paperwork/records ended up back then. Seems like that when one deals with
old Chevrolet records they all seemingly just simply disappear into thin air. JMHO-Larry

[Duke W.]

Re: COPO orders

Thanks guys. So when a dealer ordered a car they mailed the order into that office and then they took care of it from there.

Do some searching for posts by John Hinckley on the subject. The vast majority of COPOs were for fleets like police cars, taxis, etc. The term gained notoriety when Chevrolet decided to build the 50 '69 ZL-1 Camaros via the COPO process, which was less administratively complicated than going through the RPO or LPO release process for those ZL-1s or other special configurations that were built at the same time.

Dealer stock and customer special orders went through the zone office, not the central office.

Duke

[Keith B.]

Re: COPO orders

Ok then where were the zone offices. And if a zone office received a order that wasent to spec did they send it the central office?

[Joe L.]

Re: COPO orders

Ok then where were the zone offices. And if a zone office received a order that wasent to spec did they send it the central office?

Keith------


There were zone offices all over the country. The one for northern California was, I believe, in Oakland during the pre-60's and, then, moved to Fremont.

I believe that if an order was rejected by the zone office it was returned to the dealer.

[Duke W.]

Re: COPO orders

And if a zone office received a order that wasent to spec did they send it the central office?

For the most part dealers were limited to ordering cars with standard RPOs, but zone approval was required for certain things like "non-standard" interior and exterior color combinations. Once approved by the zone, the order was sent to the plant. A COPO might be required for a large police car order with special equipment.

[Patrick T.]

Re: COPO orders

Do some searching for posts by John Hinckley on the subject. The vast majority of COPOs were for fleets like police cars, taxis, etc. The term gained notoriety when Chevrolet decided to build the 50 '69 ZL-1 Camaros via the COPO process, which was less administratively complicated than going through the RPO or LPO release process for those ZL-1s or other special configurations that were built at the same time.

And here are the 50 ZL-1 Camaro's courtesy of John Hinckley.

[Mike E.]

Re: COPO orders

And here are the 50 ZL-1 Camaro's courtesy of John Hinckley.

Were those only produced at Norwood, Ohio? or did they make them at Van Nuys, California too?

Mike

[Larry E.]

Re: COPO orders

Another picture of Yenko COPO's; note the single axle tractor. Larry

[Paul D.]

Re: COPO orders

Well I guess we now know where all the Rally rims at flea markets came from! Just about all the restored original ZL-1s (as well as high perf Chrysler products) cross the auction block wearing painted steel wheels and poverty caps. While watching a recent auction, I wondered if a dealer would actually order a Hemi convertible like that. Chip.