1962 COPO Impala 409? First COPO?

[sixtiesmuscle]

'62 Belair is an expert on this stuff, but, if memory serves me, no the '62 Z11 "package" was only available over the counter, so, would have been dealer installed, or, sold to basically anyone who wanted it. The story is that No '62s got aluminum front ends from the factory. Since Chevy wanted to sell Impalas & Super Sports, but, most racers put the aluminum on Belairs & Bicaynes in '62, Chevy decided to build the '63 Z11s as the only way to get the aluminum components. That, at least is the story I've heard many time over the years.

[Belair62]

I don't know if any 62's officially left the factory with aluminum.It has always been said that it was an over the counter,service parts type of program. I wouldn't doubt if there was a few though since Pontiac was pumping them out in aluminum in 62 from your friendly Pontiac dealer and even had some 61 aluminum parts.This is an interesting subject,maybe Jim Mattison would have some insight..

[JoeC]

In the 1998 MCR interview, Jim did mention that the 1962 409s may have been done using the COPO system but he was not there at the time. He worked in the Fleet and Special Order Dept. from 67 to 72.

[bowtie3168]

BelAir62,
Have you seen Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick's video about the history of his life? There is alot of great info on it. There is a great deal of "Super Duty" info. One of the many things that I learned was that Arnie's '64 GTO 2dr sedan came with a 421 SD and an aluminum nose. I know that I will be questioned on this but the video states it.

Andrew

[JoeC]

The 1963 421 SD Pontiac Lemans Tempest is a wild production car. It is probably the first production Muscle car if you use the definition that a Muscle car is a big engine in a non full size body. I have read that six coupes and 6 station wagons were built with alu front ends. In 1963 someone had a bright idea to run the Stock Cars against the sports cars at Daytona. The race was the 1963 Daytona Speedweek "Challenge Cup" and was an oval track race. There were Ferraris, Porsches, a Ford powered Maserati, and 427 Corvettes powered by the 427 Mystery Motor. The Stock car guys blew everyone away with a Ray Nichels prepared 1963 421 SD Pontiac Lemans. Driven by Paul Goldsmith it averaged 145 MPH to win. A J. Foyt was second in a 63 Z06 Corvette. here are some sites on Arnie "the Farmer" Beswick's drag cars. He does say that his 64 GTO was the only one to leave the factory with the alu front end.
http://www.grocerygetterwagon.com/history.htm
http://www.arniebeswick.com/photos.htm

[Belair62]

Interestings stuff.Arnies bio states the same thing about the Alloy GTO....he sure had some clout at Pontiac to get that type of stuff out the back door AFTER the GM racing ban.When Arnie made his comeback after his devastating fire,the car he used was from the original owner of my 63 SD Catalina,a gentleman by the name of Jake Howard. Sadly I am contemplating selling the old warrior.

[Casey Marks]

Not '62 COPO, but since the Poncho stuff came up ......

One of my best friends does all of the automatic trans restos for SuperCar Specialties (Scott Tiemann). Either last year or the year before, Scott did one of the (6) wagons you speak of. The trans in those cars were absolutely mind-boggling. Called the "Tempest-Torque", it was mounted in the rear of the car companioned with the rear-axle (think front drive Toronado style - only in the back). The "driveshaft" basically connects directly to the engine, and runs back to the trans. The "Tempest-Torque" itself was what was used during this time period, BUT, this did not use the same "off-the-shelf" internals that a regular production trans would have. The owner had spent years and copious $$$ aquiring legit SD Tempest-Torque pieces specifically for this rebuild. The SD parts had different hardness levels than the regular stuff, as well as "Experimental" stamped pieces, etc. It really was a neat piece. Hard as hell to do, but when it was done, it was a sweetheart. Many of the pieces had to be made from scratch because they were absolutely unavailable. The best part ?? The guy was going to make some passes down the track with it !! Too cool !

[69hurstSC]

Yep, the thread is 13 years old. Though I did want to post this correction pulled off &quot;The Farmer&quot;s website. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]

&quot;With the release of the new GTO's in 1964, Arnie again had his name on an order form
for one of these powerhouse muscle cars. This new GTO escaped Pontiac, the only
known car to leave those confines with an aluminum front end and no sound deadener.
Shortly after taking delivery,<span style="font-weight: bold"> Arnie immediately removed the 389 in favor of one of his
trusty SD421's. </span> Factory Experimental action was red hot, with the aluminum Dodge 426
hemi Rams and Ford 427 Thunderbolts blazing trails everywhere. Arnie was a feared
competitor regardless, and no opponent ever underestimated the reserved &quot;Farmer&quot; and
his now legendary Pontiacs.&quot;

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: bowtie3168</div><div class="ubbcode-body">BelAir62,&lt;br&gt; Have you seen Arnie &quot;The Farmer&quot; Beswick's video about the history of his life? There is alot of great info on it. There is a great deal of &quot;Super Duty&quot; info. One of the many things that I learned was that Arnie's '64 GTO 2dr sedan came with a 421 SD and an aluminum nose. I know that I will be questioned on this but the video states it.&lt;p&gt; Andrew </div></div>

[300deluxeL79]

20 aluminum nose '62 impalas were built in july '62, A.R. Smith received 2 of them, one becoming OR III
OR 1 '61 biscayne was a single 4bbl 360 horse 409, later converted to 2-4bbls for O/SS

[Verne_Frantz]

I don't believe any official records have ever surfaced that confirm the 20 Impalas, but that number has floated around the hobby for many years, along with various numbers of loose sets of front end aluminum.
From the history I know of, I'd tend to believe it was less than 20. As far as them being early COPOs, I doubt it. Typically, any cars from that era that went through the F&amp;SO department had the COPO or F&amp;SO number on the trim tags. Those Impalas don't have that.
This is the first time I've seen this old thread so I'll add a few more things. Every one that has been accounted for was a Super Sport. None of them were built with any Z-11 equipment, but with standard 2x4 409s updated to '63 specs. That included cam, valve springs, exhaust push rods, exhaust manifolds and the single point vacuum advance Service Package distributor.

Verne [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]