1962 COPO Impala 409? First COPO?

[Verne_Frantz]

Carleen, That's a lot to digest in your post but I can add some comments. First of all, there was no such thing as a '62 Z-11. Late in '62, the '63 Z-11 engine parts became available and some racers added them to their A/S 409s and then ran A/FX, (as shown in the Hayden Proffitt photo) but none of that was done at the factory or as a COPO.
The photo of Dyno Don's '62 with the "1962 1/2" on the rear window signified that the engine had been upgraded with '63 425hp parts (not Z-11) through a service package that was released in April '62. Joe Gardner's Northwind was always a stock 409hp '62.
As for COPOs, there were 10 std transmission W engines shipped between June 8th and July 7th '61 under a COPO order. I don't know the specs on those engines and its really not clear if they were 348s or 409s, but Chevy released an RPO on June 8th '61 for the 2x4 version of the 409. Since an RPO was released, I'm not sure why a COPO would be necessary to obtain those engines. There had to be something else different about them because they carried a different (higher) part number than the new 2x4 409. During that same time, 34 COPO W engines were shipped with Powerglide transmissions. I believe these were probably 348s for some fleet purchase.

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