Hi, I have a 69 malibu and was thinking of cloning it to a copo. What are the options that need installed to make it a clone. I have an orig. 68 427 with sept build and just wanting ideas on what else was installed on a copo (interior,wheels,paint colors, and such). Thanks Brian

Hi, I have a 69 malibu and was thinking of cloning it to a copo. What are the options that need installed to make it a clone. I have an orig. 68 427 with sept build and just wanting ideas on what else was installed on a copo (interior,wheels,paint colors, and such). Thanks Brian

interior-stock malibu
wheels-SS type wheels-14inch or 15 inch ralleye's
paint colors-any available color..72 and 76 would have a - - paint code on the trim tag as they are SS only color and a COPO is not a SS
most did not have the Malibu molding but instaed had the SS front molding
should have disc brakes
should have a SS hood

COPO's were malibus with a big motor and Power Brakes

COPO's were malibus with a big motor and Power Brakes

At the risk of beating a dead horse, this puzzles me. So much has been written on the copo's beginnings based on hearsay, not fact.

The way I understand it;

The copo 427 cars started out as 396/375hp cars...this was only optional in an SS
Malibu interiors....same as SS but without 4 badges???
Front disc breaks....optional on malibus and standard on SS
No lower side moldings....SS only, except for 300 series cars which didn't qualify
SS hood.... only available on the ss, even though some copo 427 were born with a flat hood.
Bright trimmed front marker lights......only available on SS
Fuel line 3/8 single....L78 exclusively
Large capacity cooling....Big block only without C60 option
Air conditioning not available....396/375hp only.

So remind me how a copo was ordered on a malibu based body assembled from fisher body with side molding trim.
It just makes sense these cars were ordered as Supersport cars, then a couple badges replace with malibu versions and continued assembly with a 427/425hp instead of a 396/375hp.

What am I missing?


Jerry

In taking our car apart, I see that it is basically built with standard SS396 parts but because there were no SS427 emblems, GM decided to put no emblems on the car at all. About the only thing L78 would be the fuel line for the 780 Holley and the carb itself. Our car has the BQ rad, if that makes any difference. The Malibu interior worked fine. In the end, they built a car that was as cheap or cheaper than an L78 SS396. They did it all with existing parts. The KQ rearend was really the only different part that I can see. The COPO cars were 13637 Malibu based as were most SS396 cars except for convertibles and 300 Deluxe SS's. The COPO cars had to be the bargain performance cars of all time.

The way I see it, the COPO 427 Chevelle was sort of a double conversion.

Some 1969 Chevelle literature called the SS396 Chevelle a "conversion" where you can order the SS396 as an RPO option on certain models. When the SS396 option was ordered your Chevelle would recieve the SS396 conversion.

The build sheets will list in the RPO box "Z25 SS 396", and/or "ZL3 CONV SS396" and/or
"L78 396 4BBL V-8" and/or "L34 396 4BBL V-8" or others.

all of the above are for the SS396 option.

COPO 427 Chevelles got both the SS396 L78 conversion and the COPO 427 conversion as listed on the buildsheet.

The COPO 427 Chevelles used a special TH400 and KQ rear but were built as a SS396 L78 with a 427 L72 short block and no SS396 emblems.
The heads, intake, carb, were same as L78. Hood, wheels, trim, was SS396. Wheels still had the SS emblems, some even had SS steering wheel emblem (some didn't).

They could not use the SS396 emblems on the grill, tail, or interior so they used the bow tie on the grill, used Malibu interior emblems, and deleted the tail and fender emblems.

Some COPO 427 Chevelles, including the Yenkos, were built with COPO 9737 so they had 15 in rally wheels and special tires.

I have not seen a COPO 427 Chevelle with a flat hood. One yellow COPO 427 Chevelle has a mix of SS396 trim and Malibu outside trim with gray lower body accent, but that is the only one like that that I know of.

On the COPO cars did they get the SS parking lights or did they come through with the Malibu parking lights. Seems like I have seen both styles on some restorations?

Did they also have the 140 mph speedometer or was that just the Camaro COPO cars?

I remember seeing a frost green copo years ago. The current owner claimed he purchased the car from the orig. owner and it had a flat hood. The orig. owner claimed it to be original and after researching like cars, he claimed his was not the only example. The second owner put a SS hood on the car during restoration "to avoid the sceptics".

When I posted my comment on malibu origins, I thought a few would chime in with evidence of that claim. It seems that is the concensus, just want to know why.

Jerry

On the COPO cars did they get the SS parking lights or did they come through with the Malibu parking lights. Seems like I have seen both styles on some restorations?

Did they also have the 140 mph speedometer or was that just the Camaro COPO cars?

In all the original photos, magazine articles,etc. ( that I have seen) they had the SS396 trim including hood, grill, black tail panel, parking lights, etc.

The steering wheel emblem may not have been clear to assembly which one to use so it appears that either SS emblem, bowtie, or Malibu emblem was used.

the 140 mph speedometer was not included with the COPO 9737 on the 427 Chevelles but was used on COPO 9737 Camaros in 1968 and 1969.

Ours has the SS style turn signals with the thin stainless trim and black paint. The steering wheel has the blue bow tie. The rest is as Joe describes.