Is there a difference between a Dealership copo and a regular copo? other than the fact that one was done at the factory and one was done at the dealership?

Originally posted by 1ss427:
Is there a difference between a Dealership copo and a regular copo? other than the fact that one was done at the factory and one was done at the dealership? COPO stood for Central office production order....

So with this said, it came from the factory as a copo. Dealer cars were just dealer option cars.... It would be like ordering a 375 hp nova and putting a 427 in it. It came as a regular 375hp nova. The dealer opted to install a 427, no the factory.

There isn't really such a thing as a "dealer COPO"...

The acronim COPO stands for Central Office Production Order. Without this order coming from the Central (or main) office, the factory would not allow certain options to be installed (or at least authorized)...

COPO ordering was used for fleet orders like police cars and taxis and government agencies. These were cars/trucks with options not generally offered to the general public.

Performance dealers like "Yenko" used to swap out the 396 engines for 427 crate motors (usually just short blocks?), but this was alot of trouble having to buy the shortblock and pay your mechanic to do the swap, etc... These were obviously NOT factory built cars.

Chevy and GM wouldn't officially allow regular production mid-size and compacts to have such a powerful engine. By having someone within GM/Chevy create the COPO specs, these cars could then be ordered with the options that were generally restricted for that car line and built at the factory, just like the other COPOs (police cruisers, etc).

It was a way for the performance dealers to get the cars their customers wanted without having to do as much in-house labor.

The '69 Yenko Camaros and Chevelles were COPO cars with the stripes etc. added by the dealer. Any dealer could order a COPO Chevelle or Camaro using the appropriate COPO codes. The dealer that I bought our Chevelle through was just a little outfit with a two car show room in a small town. They ended up selling 3 COPO Chevelles before the model year was done.

so if you own a dealership optioned 427 car thats not a copo than its a lesser car? or does that actualy make it more rare?
Like a 396 ss with a dealership optioned 427/435?

on another note has anyone ever seen the three inch wide stripes on a 69? (like the 70 stripes only 3 inches wide)

so if you own a dealership optioned 427 car thats not a copo than its a lesser car?Not necessarily, but alot will depend on the dealership... I think a car from a big name dealer like Yenko, Gibb, Nickey, Baldwin, Dana and Berger (or someone in their network) might be more desirable, and more easy to authenticate...

Any dealer could perform the swap, and at this point 35+ years later, who would know (unless there was real good documentation).

Its an Apple-to-Oranges comparison. It might also be a time-frame issue.

Once the 427 COPOs were available, I wonder how many dealers might still have taken the time to swap the 396 for a 427 crate (maybe not all dealers knew about the 427 COPOs, or maybe some customers had already ordered the 396-version and prior to delivery heard of the COPO and wanted the 427...)...

I wonder how many dealer-installed 427 cars are known that were "built" after the COPO was available?

Most of the widely known "dealer" cars seem to have used the COPO when it was available...

][/QUOTE] or maybe some customers had already ordered the 396-version and prior to delivery heard of the COPO and wanted the 427...)...

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This is exactly my situation!

I know of one case of that very thing happening. A guy had just taken posession of his L78 Chevelle when he found out about the COPO deal. He eventually ended up with a 427 short block installed in the car. I have the heads from this engine after it spent a summer in a Mandella ski boat. It is amazing how these cars had no real value attached to them back then. The 427 was really no big deal. After all, within a month of buying our COPO Chevelle, I could order a 450 hp 454 in a '70. That's how quickly things were changing. No one foresaw that the end was coming so soon. It was just bigger and better. Chevy had plans for the LS6 in the Camaros as well but the idea was canned at the last minute. The plan had gone so far that the Camaro parts books even listed everything. Too bad.