You are right Eric, there doesn't seem to be a ryhme or reason to the deuce combination of options. The hood scoop from that Jeep had me convinced it was the one, until I saw the pics of rebel machine scoop on Schoneyes hood - it too looks just like the brochure pic! So, I don't know which one it is - but will admit that I never even knew about that Jeep model until you posted that pic. You told me about the Jeep model several years ago, but I never saw a picture - it's pretty convincing, but the Rebel one is too, like you said, we just don't know
The shifter situation is a somewhat more clear, thanks to a conversation I had with G.Campbell several years ago - he was the VP of the shifter plant here in Warminster, PA. The combo of the Z28 box and the GTO arm came from their engineering dept, but Campbell did not have the doc's. It's possible that Dennis Kirban has them, and may not know it, but I have not been able to obtain them as Dennis is now involved with the GN's and GNX's. It appears that the 4177 arm is the standard 'bench seat 4speed arm' as it was used on several models. So, we believe that the only unique thing is the use of the Z28 box in order to have the arm come through the center of the tunnell. But WHY? We don't know why Yenko was so intent on getting Hurst shifters in the deuces - we believe it was to keep up with the 'Jones' - the SCCA cars like the Boss302's, the Challenger T/A's and AAR's. Campbell explained that factory installed shifters in the GM cars were always 'round stock' because it was cheaper to mfg'r than the flat stock version. He said it was weaker than the flat stock version, for obvious reasons. So, we surmise that Yenko decided to opt for the 'inexpensive' factory Hurst model for the 4speed cars instead of having to install OTC versions which would be more expensive. Basically the cost of the factory installed Hurst shifter would be less than Don buying the OTC version and paying his staff to install it - they already had to install approx. 53 a/t shifters. Time consuming to say the least!
The more I study the factory SCCA cars, the more I believe that Don had the Yenko Deuce destined for that series - but he may not have been able to sell enough, which is why he attempted to get it NHRA certified. BTW, Don didn't try to get the deuce cert'd for drag racing until quite late in '70, more effort was done in '71 than '70. But, we need more info to confirm his intentions.