1969 Yenko Nova

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I don't believe there is any question that the car is an SYC car as opposed to an 'ole BB Nova' - no offense to Brian Dorsey - because the car has a file of original SYC paperwork from Warren.

There can always be doubts about whether a '69 Yenko Nova was a 396 tuned car vs. a 427 converted car. I don't believe that there is a formal list of which cars were tuned vs. converted.

I do know that this car was verified by Vince, and it has Ed C's cert as well. So, it would be helpful to know some more of the background of the original purchase.

[Jeff H]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe there is any question that the car is an SYC car as opposed to an 'ole BB Nova' - no offense to Brian Dorsey - because the car has a file of original SYC paperwork from Warren.

There can always be doubts about whether a '69 Yenko Nova was a 396 tuned car vs. a 427 converted car. I don't believe that there is a formal list of which cars were tuned vs. converted.

I do know that this car was verified by Vince, and it has Ed C's cert as well. So, it would be helpful to know some more of the background of the original purchase.

[/ QUOTE ]

Marlin, does this mean the car was ordered by Clyde Dorsey as a 427 SYC Nova? Does Warren's paperwork show that? Or did Yenko do the 427 conversion and put the car for sale on the showroom floor where Dorsey then bought it? I've never followed the Nova's very close so I don't know how most of those cars were ordered/built.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

To my knowledge, none of the Warren paperwork indicates that a given '69 Yenko Nova is a 396 tuned or a 427 converted car. One of the paperwork clues however that would support a conversion is that there is usually a dollar discount for the original 396 engine - generally $500. Also, the exact process for selling a '69 Yenko Nova is not completely known. We speculate that Don would not go through the expense of a 427 conversion unless there was a legitimate buyer - either locally or another dealer. We also believe that Don bought the SSL78 Novas in batches, and would either sell them through Yenko Chevrolet or Yenko SportsCars - whichever sold them first. This is supported by the trim tag info on several of these cars where the build dates are the same, and body numbers are only a few digits apart.

So, the short answer is that we really don't know how this car was ordered/delivered until Brian Dorsey can obtain some additional information.

[Jeff H]

I guess I was thinking of Baldwin/Motion regarding specific orders to build cars and thought Yenko might do the same thing with the Novas.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I understand your perspective. Yenko was similar to BM for those cars sold from his own dealership, but unlike BM for cars that were transferred to other dealerships. What we have found is that cars sold from Yenko SportsCars to locals have a very high probability of being unique in some way - for eg; think of BKH's 7k mile yellow '69 yenko camaro with the '68 vinyl top added before being sold new by Regency down the street. We know of another '69 Yenko Nova that apparently had a tri-power installed on the original 396. We know of a Canonsburg sold '67 Yenko Camaro with 4 pages of options installed, and a '68 Yenko Camaro with a proto-type f-glass deck lid. So, Yenko would customize cars that he was prepared to deal with the warranty issues. However, it appears that Yenko traditionally would not customize cars that he was selling into his dealer network - and wisely so. Otherwise, he would have to deal with complaints that were not covered under the standard GM warranty.

The car in question is a Canonsburg sold car, so it is even more important to get additional information on how it was optioned new. The fact that there might not have been stripes or emblems is trivial - and not surprising if true - since we have original owner deuces that had to demand Don to put the Magnum wheels on their car, and even then he just threw the 'Y' decals on the front seat! So, if Don could get out of doing something in order to save a few bucks - he would.

[A468BU]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't believe there is any question that the car is an SYC car as opposed to an 'ole BB Nova' - no offense to Brian Dorsey - because the car has a file of original SYC paperwork from Warren.

There can always be doubts about whether a '69 Yenko Nova was a 396 tuned car vs. a 427 converted car. I don't believe that there is a formal list of which cars were tuned vs. converted.

I do know that this car was verified by Vince, and it has Ed C's cert as well. So, it would be helpful to know some more of the background of the original purchase.

[/ QUOTE ]

Marlin, does this mean the car was ordered by Clyde Dorsey as a 427 SYC Nova? Does Warren's paperwork show that? Or did Yenko do the 427 conversion and put the car for sale on the showroom floor where Dorsey then bought it? I've never followed the Nova's very close so I don't know how most of those cars were ordered/built.

[/ QUOTE ]

Car had a 396/375hp engine when purchased. My uncle really wanted a 440 six pack car which he had ordered, but never came. So he and my father went to yenko chevrolet looking for another car and found this one.

[A468BU]

Well this is a picture that I got today from my aunt. It is not very good. It is sitting their garage after it was blown up with the slicks on it. My father did towing for yenko and knew the service manger pretty well. He told him to remove the slicks and bring it in.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Excellent info! Warren sold the paperwork to a prior owner several years ago, so that is why Warren no longer has the paperwork. You might be surprised to find that the original bill of sale is through Yenko SportsCars, not Yenko Chevrolet, which is one reason why it's considered an sYc product.

The lack of stripes and emblems is inconclusive as to whether the engine was originally a 396. Do you have a pic of the front fender area, possibly where we can see the marker light bezel?

[A468BU]

Warren has copy's of that paper work and still has them today. What other kind of info do you want? My father was there in 69. He knows what the car was, he owned an auto business and knew then and knows now what a YSC is. Which this was not. Any one from this area knew this car. In fact over talking today at the garage there were several people around that remember the car.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Warren received copies of the paperwork today from the current owner, but the originals were sent to a prior owner in Iowa several years ago.

I'm not sure what to tell ya, but the original paperwork is from Yenko SportsCars, not Yenko Chevrolet, which indicates that the car was/is an sYc product. A buyer would not know/care which entity the car was sold through, it does make a difference today however.

Just some trivia, the last owner in PA was in Mariana - any info on how it got down to that neck of the woods?