Am I like a classic Chevrolet?

[Robin]

I am a classic Chevrolet enthusiast, and my research into the history of automobile manufacturing led me to these thoughts regarding my identity.  I hope that some of you will be able to relate to what I am saying, and may find it comforting.

 

When a customer ordered a new car from their local dealership, they were shown a list of options, such as colour, engine size, trim etc.  The customer would select the specification that suited them, and the order would be sent to the factory.  When the Chevrolet factory received the order from the dealership, a "build sheet" was written out, in order to let the workers on the assembly line know which components to install on that particular vehicle, so that the specification was as the customer ordered. 

 

When the new car reached the end of the assembly line, it was inspected.  If the features on the vehicle did not match the instructions on the build sheet, the mistake would be rectified, or if that was not possible, the car would have to be scrapped and another one built.  The car would not be sent to the customer if it was not what had been ordered.

 

This all seems fairly straight forward, but some customers wanted to buy a car with a combination of options that were not usually available together.  These special order vehicles were known as Central Office Production Order (COPO) cars.  Examples of this are cars with special colour schemes and trim, or that were fitted with engines from other models in the range, that were much more powerful than those that were offered as "Regular Production Options".  Some of these vehicles are rare, but extremely desirable and valuable to collectors.

 

I know that my parents did not tick the boxes on an order form when they conceived me, but it would be nice to think that someone wrote out the "build sheet" for me, and decided to create a COPO person.  I was not just a mistake on the assembly line, that got through because the inspector was asleep.

 

Robin.

[Charlize]

I would like to think that we are all special orders.  While we may not be more "valuable" than a standard model and may be harder to build we certainly aren't :

17 minutes ago, Robin said:

just a mistake on the assembly line, that got through because the inspector was asleep.

 

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[tracy_j]

I have to say that everyone is different. I just love that difference that makes all people interesting, in their own special way ❤️

 

Tracy