1969 Yenko Nova

[William Dyer]

Hi All,

First of all, I owned the car back in the early 90's

This is how it happened.

We bought the car from Price & Moore. It was one of the 37 on the Yenko list.

We talked to Vince Emme who told us it was on the list, but it might be a 396. I asked Vince what led him to believe that. He said it was because the SELLING PRICE of the last 7 Novas was below what the other cars were sold for.

I asked him, does it say anywhere in the paperwork that it was not coverted to a 427? Answer was no.

My contention is that, as they do today, dealers sell distressed cars at discounts. The 427 Nova was impossible to insure, so Yenko probably sold them at 396 prices to move them out the door. It was also the end of the model year and the duece Novas were on their way.

But since Vince was set against this car being a 427 at the time, we sold it for about what we paid for it. We never touted the car as being a true 427 car, only as being a 69 Yenko Nova that is on the SYC list.

My questions

Why is it on the SYC list if it's not converted?

Why would Yenko assume the warranty liability on a standard 396 Nova?

Why didn't the car sell through Yenko Chevrolet if it was a plain Jane 396?

Did Yenko sell any factory 427 Camaros or 427 Chevelles in 1969 at a discount? Does that make them unconverted?


Just my opinions.

William Dyer

[Charley Lillard]

"Why didn't the car sell through Yenko Chevrolet if it was a plain Jane 396?"

I think Dorsey is saying it did sell thru Yenko Chevrolet as a 396 Nova.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

The discount appears on several, if not all, of the '69 Yenko Nova paperwork files from Warren. We initially felt that it represented a credit for the original L78 powerplant, but could never be sure because the original paperwork never mentions the 427 swap. There does not appear to be a reason for the discount on these cars other than to sell them.

We know of another original owner of a '69 Yenko Nova, we are trying to track him down to see how his car was optioned - or was it a 396 car as well. Apparently it was stolen in '73'ish while he was at a football game.

[William Dyer]

Ok, so you guys are saying that Yenko Chevrolet received a 396 Nova, transferred it to Yenko Sports Car Conversions, then transferred it back to Yenko Chevrolet to sell?

If it wasn't touched, it wouldn't have been transferred or put on the list.

The reason it was put on the list was that it was converted.

Maybe Don Yenko made deals on those last cars so that the locals didn't get dinged on the insurance. Left off the stripes and badges so no one around there would know it was a 427.

As I said before, there is nothing in Yenko's paperwork from SYC that says the 7 Novas were NOT converted. If so, they wouldn't be on the list.

William Dyer

[Kim_Howie]

Hi, Bill I tolded you it was interesting.

[Mr70]

"He said it was because the SELLING PRICE of the last 7 Novas was below what the other cars were sold for".

Is it possible today to find these other 6 Novas and determine if they too were all sold new with 396 engines?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

[ QUOTE ]
"He said it was because the SELLING PRICE of the last 7 Novas was below what the other cars were sold for".

Is it possible today to find these other 6 Novas and determine if they too were all 396 engines?

[/ QUOTE ]

We don't know which ones are 'the last 7'

Perry, we have 22 of the 37 numbers, so that is what we published and that is why this car is on the 'list'. Just because it's a non-converted car does not mean that it's not an sYc car - there were several '68 Yenko Camaro's that were not converted either. There are several '68 Gibb Novas that were 'tuned' by Harrell but not converted, they are still Harrell cars.

[Chevy454]

[ QUOTE ]
Info from the orig owner family early in this thread states paperwork showing it DID sell thru Yenko Chevy, not Yenko Sportscars...

[/ QUOTE ]
That's not necessarily indicative of anything...I believe a vast majority of the Yenko cars all show Yenko Chevrolet not YSC, Inc, on their paperwork, when we know they did in fact come through YSC, Inc...in fact [BKH or Marlin correct me if I'm wrong or fill in the blanks] but I seem to recall a '67 Harrell converted Yenko Camaro that was a Span car that has heavy paperwork but doesn't show YSC, Inc on the paper...and neither did the heavily modded @ YSC '69 Yenko Camaro that we know of. Donna Mae has mentioned "sloppy paperwork" on occasion, which goes along with what we found in our original paperwork from the estate...

[William Dyer]

The reason they are on the sYc list in the first place is that "special things" were done to them that made them come off the factory warranty list.

They had to transfer them to SYC in order to take Yenko Chevrolet off the hook in case someone went to the district manager saying "hey I bought this 69 Nova from Yenko Chevrolet and when it pitched a rod after 1 month, I took it to Joe Blow Chevrolet in Pittsburgh and it has a 427 engine in it. I want another 427 engine put in it."

Yenko Chevrolet would be breaking federal law and their GM agreement by swapping out engines.

So they made Yenko Sportcar Conversions to swap engines that they couldn't do at Yenko Chevrolet.

When the 69 COPOs came around, Yenko kept up the notion that they converted them to keep the COPO ordering a secret (though it came out anyways).

William Dyer

[A468BU]

There was nothing on the paper work from Yenko that said it WAS either.