I have seen a lot of mention of options being "ordered from the factory" such as "...and could also be ordered with t-tops from the factory". I'm just throwing that out there as an example. My question is: who exactly orders these cars? Could I have gone into a dealership and gotten a "Camaro Order Sheet", and check off all the options I wanted (like power mirrors, for instance), and then the dealer would order this car for me, or what? I'm a little confused about how it works.
Any help would be appreciated!

 

Yes. As a prospective customer, you do not have to "settle" for what's on the dealership lot or what he can "buy" from another dealership. You can sit with the salesperson while he asks you questions on how you want your car equipped. As a general rule of thumb, it used to take six to eight weeks once your order is submitted to GM from the dealership. Your new car will be assembled, transported to the dealership, and prepped at which time they contact you and you take delivery. RPO codes that identify a dealership stock car or if it was built for a specific customer:

1AY = Dealership Stock
1AZ = Customer Ordered

 

When I worked for Pontiac, I went to order a brand new 2000 Firebird the way I wanted fpr a daily driver. Me and the new car manager sat down with a order sheet and checked boxes for what I wanted, options, colors, wheel style, etc.... anyway at that time St. Terese was only running one 8 hour shift, so It was going to take 5-6 months to get my car. So I ended buying something else that came in on trade in.
Point being, Yes all you had to do ( and still can I would assume ) was sit down and check off the options you wanted or didn't want and wait for the car to come in. I know my experience was with a 4th gen, but I feel it pertained to this question.

 

When I ordered my 1994 Trans Am, I had my pick of all sorts of things. Including extras that weren't done in the factory. Alarm, silver paint/inlay in the Trans Am indentations on the doors, etc. I do know since I wanted mine custom, I had to wait about 6 months or so before it got out of the factory. I picked it up on the 4th of July, 1994. But yeah, you can pick and choose just about anything. I've never gone so far as say, ordering Trans Am ground effects for a Formula, or a different hood, different wheels, etc, but I'm sure the dealer will bend over backwards to sell you a custom car.

 

Actually there are limits on what a dealer can do for you. The T-top 350 cars ar a prime example, For the most part people were told that they could not get the combination, and were asked if they wanted a 305 or without T-tops. Some years it was not a problem, like 1989 there are several 350 T-top cars out there.

If you wanted a special color, for the most part you were told that you cant get it no way no how. But I do know that if you twisted their arm enough you could get special colors. I know of yellow 87 Buick Regal T-types. Yellow was not an option for the car, however the dealer ordered them, and the only way they could do it was to order more than just one. Kind of like Mary Kay, I do not know if they paint their cars Pink or if they buy a batch of them in their special color.

Some things were not really available. For example you could not get Trans Am ground effects on a Formula, no way no how, don't even say you have one because you do not. Matter of fact when looking at ta dealer order form there are things that have NA where you cant check even if you wanted to. For example you could not order the WS6 package on a base Firebird. Or you could not order a TPI engine for a base firebird. So obviously there are limits to what you can and could not do.

John