1962 COPO Impala 409? First COPO?

[JoeC]

I have heard that some of the Impalas were built using the COPO system. The 63 Impala was built using RPO Z-11 so I guess there was no need to use the COPO system in 63 but I found this information on an Impala web site:
In addition to the 57 1963 Z-11 Impalas sold, "there were about 20 C.O.P.O. 1962 Impala's built mid to late in the year with aluminum front ends and equipped with 409's. These 409's had special features like the Z-11 intake manifold, special camshaft, heads, etc. There were also 18 extra sets of aluminum front ends made for that year and sold to race car drivers".
If this is true, the 62 Impala would be an early use of the COPO system to build high performance cars. There may have been some Corvettes built before 1962 using the COPO system. Anyone know when the first high performance COPO car was built?