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?

[bowtie3168]

I was speaking with the owner of Dave Stricker's 1962 Bel Air "The Old Reliable" during last year's "York US 30 Reunion". I am not sure if the '62s had the aluminum nose installed at the dealership or if they were installed at the factory. The '62 is owned by a gentleman from Ohio and he bought the car at a swap meet in the early 1980s with the help of Dave Stricker himself! Unfortunatley Dave Strickler died of a heart attack while mowing his lawn in 1984.

Andrew

[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 !

[Chevy454]

Casey:

Good to see you back again! I hope you have a better reception than I did over at the Mopar board!

Anyway, neat set-up with the trans in the wagon...reminds me of the setup that was in a 944 that I used to have. I had a LOT of problems with the shifter linkage (I guess the Germans don't do a lot of speed shifting like I do!)...how was the linkage set up on the wagon?