[elcamino]

I was around back in those days and ordered a new 1970 SS454 (LS5) from Public Chevrolet in Calumet, MI in spring of 1970. I remember seeing ads for Nickey Chev in Chicago. I had wanted a Buick GS-455 but the local Buick dealer would not order the car for me. Said they did not want to sell any of those cars and to go somewhere else. My 2002 TA came from this Dealer which is still in the same family. I wish I could say I still had that car in the garage. Unfortunately I could not afford to drive the car because of the lousy mileage (10mpg) and high insurance. I went to work for the M-DOT and traveling all over SW michigan on constuction projects was draining my wallet and I traded it for a 1972 El Camino SS350. The car sat on a dealers lot for over a year.

<font color="red">So if I understand it.
A few dealers talked Chevy into building these race cars and to get it built they untilized the COPO process because there was a policy at GM about how big an engine could be installed as a RPO in Camaro and Chevelle, nothing over 400 cid. Then in 1970 all hell broke loose and you could get over 400 CID in the Chevelles and no more need for the COPO process. The COPO system was in existance long before the factory hot rods were built and since those were only a drop in the bucket. little info was published in GM parts etc. </font color> We would get special equipment vehicles at work (state of mich) but I don't know if they were copo's. My '99 suburban was an oddball and built for fleet. Took over a year thru Wheels and when I had brake problems they had to call Chevy to get the right part numbers because none of the parts that the books had would fit. Was a '99 3/4 4x4 sururban on a 1 ton chassis, work truck with Silverado cloth interior and special option package.