An Interesting Story From My Childhood...COPO 87 Cutlass?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I have been thinking of this story for a little while now, and I figured I would share it with the board. Back when I used to live in Dutchess County New York, I was talking to a substitute bus driver one day about cars (I was an Uber car geek even at 13!). I loved Chevys at the time and was probably reading Hot Rod on the bus. She mentioned her special order Cutlass Supreme, and said it was one of the last RWD models. She said she insisted she wanted a Chevy 350 in it and it took about 6 months to get it as it was special built just for her. If this story is true, then it would be a COPO G body that was not a taxi or police version. The parts were available within GM at the time, and there was even a 350 powered B body, so emissions may not have been a issue for GM either. Is it true or not? I don't know. It was 22 years ago. However, it is a story that lends itself to some interesting speculation, doesn't it?

 

[Stoopud]

I don't know if that story is true or not, but I once saw a real original green 1987 Grand National, so who knows. The guy who sold me my GP had the GN in the garage, said that his father-in-law or someone had worked for GM and had the car custom made at the factory (he even showed me the title that it was a GN - he was very proud of it). Maybe that bus driver had a similar opprotunity. I wonder how may G-body's that do not exist, actually exist.

 

[supercrackerbox]

I'd be more inclined to think that the dealer did the swap and not the factory, but stranger things have happened.

 

[joe_padavano]

The story is almost certainly false. The EPA and other federal laws prohibit this swapping. The combination would require complete EPA certification testing and the correct engine code would have had to have been used in the VIN. Why are these stories always like UFO sightings, with a friend-of-my-sister's-husband and no actual car as proof.

 

[j17_mia]

well.. in Mexico the late 80's Monte Carlos did come with a 350 and a 4spd manual trans.. so maybe she wasn't lying

 

[DrRansom442]

The story is almost certainly false. The EPA and other federal laws prohibit this swapping. The combination would require complete EPA certification testing and the correct engine code would have had to have been used in the VIN. Why are these stories always like UFO sightings, with a friend-of-my-sister's-husband and no actual car as proof.

I heard a simular story ... oddly enough also a school bus driver (maybe they are distant cousins) but they claimed it was an 89 and it had an Olds 350 ... So, I dismissed the claims even then.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I don't know if that story is true or not, but I once saw a real original green 1987 Grand National, so who knows. The guy who sold me my GP had the GN in the garage, said that his father-in-law or someone had worked for GM and had the car custom made at the factory (he even showed me the title that it was a GN - he was very proud of it). Maybe that bus driver had a similar opprotunity. I wonder how may G-body's that do not exist, actually exist.

In some cases, such cars were special ordered from GM, and have a callout at the bottom of the SPID. I am not sure if the SPID is like the old Protect-a-plate where the original owner's name is there on a special order car as well, but maybe it is. GM would paint your car any color you wanted if you were willing to pay extra for it and wait. It was a rare thing to see, but a few special color cars did get built every year for a while. Remember: Fleet sales vehicles are ordered in company colors, so it was not unheard of for normal cars to be ordered this way either. The ability to order a car ala carte was one of the things that used to separate an American car from the far more generic Japanese ones. As for legality, the engine was already certified for passenger car applications as it was a B body engine in 9C1 Caprices. The parts to put a 305 in a Monte Carlo make it a bolt in for a Cutlass as the pin outs on the harness are the same for a Cutlass bulkhead connector as they are on a Monte Carlo in the key areas that matter. If it is a TBI engine, that could have been done using a Caprice computer and a 4.3 Monte wiring harness and gas tank along with a Monte Carlo exhaust and transmission. That is what makes the story so intriguing to me. I basically did my swap as a 100% GM parts bin install on my car, and everything worked except for the oil pressure light. I used all same year 305 parts from 1985 model year cars (wiring harness too) and the correct pulleys, computer, etc. to make it smog legal (at first...) even in California. It is how I learned all of the stock systems for these cars as well as I know them. I came to love GM for how generic everything was with respect to a given engine family and chassis combination.

 

[cutty]

the corvette had a 305 for 1 year so anything is possible.........lol

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

the corvette had a 305 for 1 year so anything is possible.........lol

True, but only in The People's Socialist Democratic Republic of California for 1982.

 

[jrm81bu]

the corvette had a 305 for 1 year so anything is possible.........lol

Lol, if you're gonna go there...there was a time the corvette only had a straight six.