COPO *Big cars*

[JoeC]

The story I heard on the 435 HP Impala was that they were 4 door Nevada State Police cars 1969.
I had posted a question about the USAF ElCaminos on another site after seeing it on team Chevelle. A guy sent me an email saying he remembered seeing them when he was in the Air Force. He didn't remember if they were 425 HP or 375 HP but he did remember they were fast and loud and pretty well beat up when he saw them. He thougt the AF may have modified them for more HP. He said they were blue with USAF letters on the driver side door. There was no passenger side door. There was a plane (I don't remember the model) that when it had a full payload it had to have wheel struts holding the wings from hitting the ground. The wheels would drop off when the plane left the runway. Two ElCaminos would go out and pick up the wheel struts. If the plane returned with full payload the two ElCaminos would be waiting and would race after the plane. The passengers in the two elcaminos would have to install the wheel struts under the wings before the plane slowed down or the wings would drag on the runway! That's what he told me as best I can remember.

[Belair62]

Pretty sure that would be a U-2 spyplane.It has wheels at the outer edge of wing tips.They are still in service and probably doing a bit of duty over Afghanistan right now. A local police dept here had hemi and 427 chase cars. Never saw under the hood.Just the back seat !

[Mr70]

That 1969 Kingswood Wagon is in January 2000 Muscle car review.It never says COPO exactly.Only that it does have L-72 on it's window sticker still apllied to the window.It took 4 tries to order it,and 6 months to deliver.It currently has a CE block and was drag raced for a while.This car is all still orignal.I would be looking for a buildsheet or something to see what was the factory engine if it was a dealer transplant.

There is a Black 1965 4-door Biscayne in Muscle Car Review Janary 1999.It came with a 396/425HP and a 4 speed.It never mentions COPO,but is presumed to be 1 of 1.It is also in July 1990 MuscleCars Magazine.

[L72COPO]

Spent three years in the Air Force during the middle 60's. While stationed on Guam, during late 67 early 68, I witnessed many take-off and landings of the U-2 spy plane. As stated previously they did require a wheel drop on take off and reinstalled at landing to keep the wing tips from draging. This was not due to payload but due to an extremely wide wing span. All the chase vehicles I saw were Ford pick-up trucks with no special engines just standard USAF equipment. To reinstall the wheel assembly on landing the planes were going slow enough for the ground crew to actually run along the side of the plane.

[MikeA]

I remember reading in MCR (I think) about the Air Force El Camino chase cars. I will look for the article this weekend.

Mike

[bobwak]

That car is a COPO car and my grandfather owned it!

[Belair62]

Any idea why it was a COPO ???