Twice now I've come back to this old thread. I guess I should be more responsive.
I remember the Copper ZR-1 was a non-saleable development vehicle. I'm pretty sure it was at the long-lead press event for the 94 model year in the summer of 1993. At this point in time 20 years later, I can't remember why it was crushed other than it being a development car--could have been it was a 93 painted Copper and, thus, could not have been sold as a 94. Until he left GM, John Heinricy had the rear fascia from that car on the wall in his office at the Proving Ground.
Also, 20 years gone by makes for a lot of legend. The Copper for MY94 was GM second try at the color. Four Coupes were built in MY86 with the 66 paint code. I don't know why only four, but perhaps it may have been the same reason the color was killed a second time, eight years later. Also, I don't remember the paint as "translucent." I'm pretty sure it was a base-coat, clear-coat system, same as used on all the other cars. The copper cars were not painted by hand in fact, one reason the paint was killed a few days after SOP was that the robots in the paint shop could not apply it consistently enough. That along with the fact that the nature of the metallic used in the Copper was such that the slightest inconsistency in application resulted in a visual flaw. Worse was it was nearly impossible to fix the problem with repainting by hand after the car was built. Any car painter will tell you that certain kinds of metallic paints are hard to match.
I was at the plant on assignment for "Vette Magazine" in the Fall of 94 after they killed the color. The assignment was on BG Assembly's quality audit system and I drove a number of 94s including the only Copper Convertible with Z49 Canadian Content. I was told during the visit that all the Copper cars built to date were purchased by GM then later auctioned as used vehicles. I suspect that was all of them but not all were auctioned at the same time. As later that summer I drove the only Copper Z07 to the Black Hills Classic and back. After that, GM auctioned the car and it eventually ended up in the hands of a pal of mine who lives near Phoenix. Over the years, I've run across some of the Copper 94s and only twice, the first time was the car I road tested in the Summer of 94 and at the NCM about 10 years ago, have I seen a Copper car with all the panels matching.
In the Spring of 12 I was over to visit my friend in PHX who owns the Copper Z07. I can't remember how many miles he has on the car but it's a lot. It still looks pretty good. That was a great color.
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!!
Jane Ann
