Part of the beauty of the 1964-74 Musclecar Era was that manufacturers had started to embrace the idea that the buyer needed to be the one dictating options, not the factory. The first-generation Mustang proved that point…you could order the most sedate little coupe anyone could ask for, six cylinder and all, or you could convince a Texan chicken farmer to take your car and make it do things that were just about unspeakable. You could order up a completely loaded Buick or Oldsmobile, but get it with performance that would scare a typical legacy customer of the company. You could go to a lot, check a few boxes on a form, and come away with a bare-bones basic Dodge that had enough grunt under the hood to warrant warnings from the company itself about that vehicle’s use. Or you could go balls-out with the colors, stripes, wheels, whatever your heart dreamed of if you were so inclined.

But sometimes, you had to go above and beyond. In the case of GM, that was a necessity. Before 1970, the company had instituted a 400 cubic inch limit on their intermediate models and that meant that Ford and Chrysler products were having a field day with them, because they enjoyed no such restriction. But you all know about the dealership specials, the Yenkos, the Motion cars, and the like. They got 427-powered machines delivered to them easily enough…what gave? The Corporate Office Production Order program or COPO. Using this internal ordering process, it was possible to bypass the GM cubic inch limit in small batches, and that’s what happened to this Fathom Green 1969 Chevelle. Gloriously understated on the outside, the gear underneath is the stuff that street racer dreams are made of. Thanks to COPO code 9566AA, this is a 425-horse iron-block L72 427 powered thumper with the M-22 “Rockcrusher” four-gear, and the “KQ”-code 4.10 Positraction-equipped rear axle. It’s nowhere near as flashy as a Yenko Chevelle, but it’d bury it’s speedometer just as fast.

Mecum Auctions’ Dallas 2018: Lot S81.8 – 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle COPO 9566AA