1962 COPO Impala 409? First COPO?

[sixtiesmuscle]

Just saw a picture of the '66 L79 Nova that I think was the first "Grumpy's Toy". Kinda makes sense because he was running a small block against all the "big block" Fords & Mopars in Super Stock.

[copo69]

The "BLack Arrow" car was owned by Doc Burgess and driven by Jenkins. The '66 Nova was tough in A/S but Jere Stahl's '66 Mopar was the dominant car in the class.

[JoeC]

There was also a Strickler/Jenkins 426 Hemi Dodge 2% A/FX (1964) car called "The Dodge Boys". I remember reading that a lot of guys were running the auto trans cars but Strickler ran a 4sp. They say that Strickler was so good with shifting his 4sp that many people thought it was an auto trans car.

[bowtie3168]

copo69 and whitetop,
Good answers guys, copo69 was completly correct! By the way, Jenkins '66 was a Non SS car and was one of two, Jenkins lost the #1 car in a towing accident.

Andrew

[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]

[Fast67VelleN2O]

Verne,
How many original 1962 aluminum front ends are still around would you say?

-Matt

[Verne_Frantz]

I'm aware of 9 of them, most on Belairs though. (not factory)

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

[dvss1]

I bought a pair of 62 aluminum fenders out at carlisle in the spring 2009