[Keith Seymore]

You could think of it that way, but they were called "options" (ie, RPOs) nonetheless.

In some cases if you didn't choose there was a default option. For example, if you didn't choose a color then you got the tan exterior picked for you.

Maybe powertrain is a better example. There was a base engine, a base transmission, and a base rear axle. If you didn't choose anything then you got the base powertrain combination, but each of those was still defined by an RPO.

Additionally - everything had to balance out when the Engineering Specifications group ran their "cross balance" report to make sure all the combinations were covered.

So for every option there had to be a contrasting "negative option" to balance it out, enabling Specs to run their computer generated report and ensure there was a part number created to cover all the proliferation of option combinations.

K