1969 copo l88 convertible

[Lee Stewart]

The Only COPO L88 Known To Exist

https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0522-50...8-convertible/

[Tracker1]

4.56 COPO axle order. I wonder if the intention was drag racing at first and then usage evolved into road racing....

[useless tony]

I am confused by this ad ....

I have heard that COPO means either Central Office Production Order or Central Office Purchase Order but that doesn't really matter as that isn't the confusing part. My understanding was that in 1969, Chevrolet would not sell Camaros with an engine larger than 400 cu in so several dealers got together and order a bunch of Camaros through the COPO "fleet" program. This allowed the dealers to put in a large order for Camaros with 427 engines. I have also heard of COPO Chevelles as this would allow a relatively large volume purchase of 427 Chevelles when the "factory" only offered the 396 as the largest engine.

That being said, IF the above is correct, COPO means "large fleet order" yet I have only ever heard of COPO Chevelles and COPO Camaros. If there is such a thing as a COPO Corvette, shouldn't there be a large number of them too, in order to satisfy the fleet order requirement?

I always assumed an L88 Corvette was simply a car that was available to order directly from a dealer (or maybe specifically from a "performance" dealer who knew how to find the possibly well hidden order code) and the low number of cars built simply reflects the low number of Corvettes ordered with the L88 engine.

If I am correct (and it doesn't appear that I am), how is it possible that a dealer ended up ordering a "fleet of one" L88 Corvette? I may be wrong but I seem to recall reading that a "fleet order" had to be a minimum of 50 cars, which is why several dealers got together to put in a COPO order of 427 Camaros.

What am I missing?

[TimG]

Does anyone know the VIN of this car?

[TimG]

I believe this car is a non J56 brake L88, that is why it is one of one and a COPO. J56 brakes were manditory on L88's.

[carnut4life]

I'm confused too Tony. It looks to me like the tank sticker says the COPO is listed after the ZR1 option as "COPO TRANS M22"

[BCreekDave]

The build sheet seems to indicate the COPO was the M22 trans? Was the standard trans for the L88 an M21? That seems strange.

[TimG]

M22 or M40 was standard, so that's not what's driving the COPO.

[BCreekDave]

I see the COPO M22 has a what appears to be a code "02ZW1AA"....maybe a wide ratio M22?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by useless tony

I have heard that COPO means either Central Office Production Order or Central Office Purchase Order ?

Central Office Production Order

Originally Posted by useless tony

That being said, IF the above is correct, COPO means "large fleet order"

It doesn't have to be "large". Not sure how you made that jump.

The COPO process existed well before all these performance vehicles were ordered. Its original intent, and major usage, was to configure special vehicles outside the production process. Normally this would be nondescript vehicles like special order taxi cabs, or some quantity of vehicles in a particular color or with regular option content removed.

The idea to co-opt the COPO process to create high performance dealer packages came later.

Also - often the production volume quantities were a constrain by race sanctioning bodies; ie - there needed to be 50 production vehicles in order to allow entry in a certain race class.

Jim Mattison, more famously known as the creator and owner of Pontiac Historic Services, did this job when he worked at Chevrolet.

K