COPO Olds
 

Is there such a thing as an Olds Copo? Thanks

Re: COPO Olds
 

I would think the closest thing would be a Hurst Olds....aside from that I dont think there was anything comparable to the Chevy COPO program, as far as performance cars go.

Re: COPO Olds
 

No COPO for Olds, but I have seen many special paint - - 442s, W30s and some W31s.

Re: COPO Olds
 

Where's DaveH at...he walked the line with his W31, and knew the ins/outs of Olds...

Re: COPO Olds
 

I have never heard of an offical way of getting what you wanted (like COPO) , but I have heard of many special order colors. Special powertrains? (maybe backdoor specials with Dale Smith but I have heard nothing else). https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

ZR900 You must be from Minnesota or saw the Silver Olds listed by the guy in the Cities? I dont believe that the car has anything to do with COPO rather its just a rare unusual car. 1972 V code Supremes, They are a low production number car but they also made alot of the fastback style and a some convertibles also.
Same concept as COPO take a Plain Jane and put a 455 with w30 options and a 4 speed but not worth the same coin as a COPO.

Re: COPO Olds
 

You could order the Cutlass Supreme SX and get the 455 in it. Not sure if same 455 as 442 or not. Have seen several in mags over the years.

Re: COPO Olds
 

I was thinking that the 66 w-30 was about as close as a COPO that Olds did. Only 54 made. Factory built race cars really.

Re: COPO Olds
 

[ QUOTE ]
You could order the Cutlass Supreme SX and get the 455 in it. Not sure if same 455 as 442 or not. Have seen several in mags over the years.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I recall correctly the 455 that came in the SX was a 2bbl.

Re: COPO Olds
 

Rainer,

--------There was a so called "mileage version" 455 with a two barrel, I believe, but the standard 455 available with the SX was a quadrajet. I know as we had a couple of them go thru Classic Motors back in the day with paperwork. Cant remember codes or any of that stuff.......Bill S

Re: COPO Olds
 

How about OWCO. Or Oldsmobile Wholseale Car order. In 1972`the two hurst olds models could be ordered on one of these forms using a code called Select-A-Unit. Dealers were instructed to use the OWCO form and select code 21 for W-46 or 22 for W-46. Codes w-45 and W46 were used for 1968 1969 1970 (Rallyee 350) and 1972. I am not sure about later years. Oldmobile was not big in the fleet business like Chevrolet (not having a truck division) so the concept of a special fleet division was not as prominent. The SX started as a Turnpike Cruiser option in 1967.

Re: COPO Olds
 

The car in question is a 1972 Plain Jane Supreme Not an SX. Oldsmobile made 77 of these cars in 72. They are documented by Olds and Ive seen letter head stating that there were only 77 made from the olds files before the fire. The were V code cars equipt with a 455 4 bbl, and basicly the W30 Package, all were 4 speeds pretty rare cool car but its hard to put a value on one.

Re: COPO Olds
 

That combination was a regular production order. Any 1972 Cutlass could be ordered with a 455 and 4 speed. Wagons and sedans may be the exception. Engine codes were in the serial number
U Code 455 4bbl Auto trans
V Code 455 4 bbl 4 speed
X code 455 4 bbl high performance (W-30)

Re: COPO Olds
 

[ QUOTE ]
Rainer,

--------There was a so called "mileage version" 455 with a two barrel, I believe, but the standard 455 available with the SX was a quadrajet. I know as we had a couple of them go thru Classic Motors back in the day with paperwork. Cant remember codes or any of that stuff.......Bill S

[/ QUOTE ]

Got it, Bill - thanks https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

there was a 4 speed with a/c V code supreme on 442.com last month,i believe it was 22k asking price.

Re: COPO Olds
 

The only X Code Cutlass Supreme hardtop was a Hurst Olds, don't know if it is a version of a COPO, but you could not order one off the street since the X code was only available with the 442 option and the 442 option was not available in the Cutlass Supreme coupe. I would imagine that it took some internal authorization to get the X code engine in the Cutlass Supreme coupe. There is one in town, definitely a Hurst Olds with an X code in the VIN.

Re: COPO Olds
 

Here is one This has all the paper work to show that it was a speacal ordered car and built at olds would this not be a copo http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...6/HPIM0631.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...6/HPIM0632.jpg

Re: COPO Olds
 

Norm and others. The key point here is that COPO is a reference to a process to order a special car through the Chevrolet Division. Whatever the other divisions had it was not referred to as COPO. Chevrolet being the larget division probably needeed this process so that things did not get bogged down. The other divisions may have had other acronyms for their process,but it does not make sense to call anything a COPO other than a Chevrolet product.

Re: COPO Olds
 

--------I want that longroof!!!!!!!........Bill S

Re: COPO Olds
 

[ QUOTE ]
Here is one This has all the paper work to show that it was a special ordered car and built at olds would this not be a copo

[/ QUOTE ]
Sorry to be such a skeptical party pooper, but
I'd be *REALLY** interested in seeing this paperwork......According to the March 1970 issue of Car Life (Wonder Wagon The Van of Steel p76, an article on a wagon very much like the one we are discussing, but built for testing by Olds) "Getting personal, Oldsmobile builds a superior Supercar, the 4-4-2. The Olds Cutlass is a comfortable station wagon. But those who have the power to make the decisions have spoken: the two cars cannot be combined. You can have a W-30 4-4-2, and you can have a Cutlass wagon, but you'd better have a two-car garage." There are ALWAYS exceptions, but....
I call shenanigans on this one......the Medical Director or Press wagons from Indy are legit, but this one smells like an outright fake....at least to me... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

I'd have to agree on that too.

Re: COPO Olds
 

somebody very knowledgable with Oldsmobile says there are two w30 wagons,and he knows who owns one of them.i dont think this blue one is it,i think it's a 70.

Re: COPO Olds
 

------I dont care if its real or not!!! I just want it!!! Definetly a faster wagon than Charlies Furd Wagonmaster........Bill S

Re: COPO Olds
 

If you want a faster wagon, all you have to do is ask! My buddy just finished this car bringing it back to the war paint it had in the early to mid 70's. SS/QA record holder in the NHRA for '73 and '74. Run by the 'Go Shop' in Lansing, MI with backdoor help from Dale Smith. http://usera.imagecave.com/smallhurst/REARSHOT.jpg https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

The 68 Hurst/Olds came down the line with the 455 between its fenders. Olds dropped in an engine that was non-standard for the body style (much like a COPO 427 Camaro/Chevelle), and on a limited basis under special order (again, like the COPO Camaro/Chevelle), so technically this is a "COPO Olds". https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/naughty.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

The blue one is the real deal It was over a year ago I do not have the vin but saw all the paper work built sheet
and window sticker all # matching I thought the same thing at frist that some one built it but after looking it over real good I do belive it came from the factory like this
I have talked to a few olds people that realy know more that me about olds about it I know the owner and when I told them about the w-30 blue wagon his name came up and was told that it is a known real car

Re: COPO Olds
 

Norm,
Not to be a pain in the arse here and I mean no disrespect (and I am pretty sure that I am beating a dead horse), but there are a number of things on it that scream clone. After looking at literally 100's of W-30 clones, this has a few hallmarks if you will, of a run of the mill clone...the most glaring, are the crappy repo red inner fenders and repo hood, the PCV is not W30 equipment, and the air cleaner base does not appear to be an original OAI unit.

Andy mentioned the 2 possible 70 cars, and I can buy that, because one of the cars was probably featured in the article I quoted. The car was a Cutlass wagon with the W25 OAI (Olds calls ram air Outside Air Induction) hood, NO 4-4-2 or W-30 badging.

A few other things, if this is represented as a 71, I strongly doubt that Olds would have stuck 4-4-2 badging on it. In 1971 the 4-4-2 had its own VIN designation...Thats like badging a Cutlass as a 4-4-2. If it was represented as a 72, it should not have the red inner fender wells. I could go on and on, but I think I have made my point...I've said my peace, and I promise to shut up... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/wink.gif

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

Great deductive reasoning!

Re: COPO Olds
 

So if this was born as a Cutlass wagon with an OAI hood, would this be like the 1971 Pontiac T41 optioned (GTO hood and Endura nose) Lemans wagons?

Still a cool looking W-30 wagon, but the history is questionable.

The acronym for 442 still fits though.

4-real?
4-door
2-hard to believe

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

I see the Lemans wagon as an ornamentation package, while the Cutlass wagon would be more performance-oriented because of the ram air system. I see them as two different things.

Re: COPO Olds
 

All right I'll just comment one last time https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...s/rolleyes.gif...I agree with 442w30...my 71 Lemans Sport had the T41 option...the hood on it was RA, but there was no pan, just a regular old air cleaner..all cosmetic...Olds didn't offer just the W25 hood...as far as I know, it always was functional OAI with the OAI air cleaner....and I cant even say for sure if it was even offered on anything but the "A" bodies....this is like the W35 option on convertibles..it wasn't available, but there are a number of people who swear it was, and their car came that way...not sure if you were joking, but 64 was the only year a 4 door 4-4-2 was available otherwise its..

4-4bbl Carb
4-4spd trans (or 400/455 ci depending on year)
2-Dual Exhaust

so yes, it **could** just be a Cutlass wagon with OAI...

no more....really...I promise https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

Good stuff Josh! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

Just saw this thread or would have thrown in my 2 cents earlier. COPO as stated earlier was a Chevrolet thing and had to do with how the cars were ordered from the factory. Olds, Buick, Pontiac, and Cadillac all had their own sales and marketing teams as well as their own engineering release systems for Production. Central Office at that time was only for Chevrolet as far as the car divisons go. So the COPO would naturally only apply to Chevrolet.

The 4 divisions all ran like separate businesses and the only commonality was at the BOP plants where more than one brand was assembled. That later became GMAD when the gov't was looking to bust up GM. At that time half of the new cars sold was a GM, half of those were Chevrolets. Chevrolet Engineering was in the GM Tech Center, whereas the other divisions were not located there and ran independently of that.


Olds had two ways to get a car built on the assembly lines. Either a production release or an engineering release. Engineering releases were never for salable cars. They were for preproduction units or experimental purposes only. A good example would be the 2 swiss cheese frame W31's that were built there in 1970. At least partially built. They wee pulled off the line at Body drop and pushed out the back door into an enclosed trailer and never heard of again.

Engineering garage did a lot of the modifications to production cars after they were built. If these cars were built to the production release process initially, they could be converted back to production level and resold. Not all got totally converted back if you had the right connections. It would have to be something really invisible, though and the modifications that were put on the car while technically an engineering test car would and could never be on a window sticker.

No W30 wagons built on line. Indy pace cars (actual ones at Indy) had all kinds of tweaks done at Exprerimental garage. And if Dale Smith had anything to do with it, all bets are off. They did everything imaginable out there through his "back door" connection. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: COPO Olds
 

[ QUOTE ]
A good example would be the 2 swiss cheese frame W31's that were built there in 1970. At least partially built. They wee pulled off the line at Body drop and pushed out the back door into an enclosed trailer and never heard of again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dave, where the heck did that come from? https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/hmmm.gif Would love to hear more about those W-31's.

As this hobby has grown, and with the internet, I find it amazing how many one-off or lightweight GM cars have surfaced. Just a couple years ago, the story broke about the 6 lightweight 65 GTO's that were shuttled out the back door with thinner than stock sheet metal. And quite a few years ago, another story was printed on a 69 Firebird that was built by PMD Engineering, where they installed a (new) 455 with round port heads, and cruised the streets "testing" the combo. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/naughty.gif