1962 Corvette “Police Package” – Precursor to Z06

By Manuel Carrillo III - March 27, 2015

This is a 1962 Chevrolet Corvette with RPO (Regular Production Option) 687, but “RPO 687” falls short of provoking imagination. “Police Package” does provoke imagination, however, and so that’s why I’m calling this car “the ’62 Corvette with the police package”.

As much as it looks like this Corvette was crafted for cops, RPO 687 was actually for road racers. Think about it as the precursor to RPO Z06 that would be offered in the C2 the following model year. RPO 687 was the option package that made the C1 Corvette more track-capable, but if you ordered it in triple-black like the one you see here, one tends to imagine this as a Corvette to chase bad guys rather than a first-place finish.

Now, if you define a police package as something that will make you more noticeable to law enforcement, then this definitely was a police package in the sense that it was fast enough to make you stand out like Cheech & Chong’s smoking van.

1962 Chevrolet Corvette (C1) with RPO 687 (2)

I wouldn’t go as far as saying RPO 687 was a “run from the police” package because that would just be irresponsible of me, although back in 1962, this car with all its go-fast bits and pieces, could have easily dusted detectives in pursuit.

While it left out any provisions for mounting a 12-gauge between the seats, “RPO 687” did mean the factory would install heavy-duty braking, suspension and steering at a time when “heavy-duty” meant “faster”. In this day and age “heavy-duty” is more of a pickup truck thing, but I digress.

1962 Chevrolet Corvette (C1) with RPO 687 (4)

Before you could check box 687, though, you had to order the fuel-injected 360-horsepower 327, and you had to mate that engine to a four-speed manual. With requirements like that, it’s clear Chevrolet wanted you to get the most out of the car’s other high-performance components.

According to the Hemmings Daily article where I stumbled upon this mean ‘Vette, RPO 687 offered performance bits such as upgraded shocks front and rear, air scoops to cool all four brakes, “metallic brake linings, finned brake drums and a quick-ratio steering adapter.”

Fortunately for collectors, and unfortunately for regular folk, this track-tussling RPO is rare. Chevrolet built 246 examples. This car with its 4.11 Positraction rear end went up for auction in October of 2012. It bid up to $100,000.

A few months ago, RM Sotheby’s sold a similar RPO 687 Corvette for $220,000. Considering this rare package was the precursor to the 1963 Corvette Z06, $220,000 seems fair for one of the meanest Corvettes to race across the land.