'69 Original Yenko Nova

[bbdon]

I have tried to fool with the photos a bit to bring out any hidden detail. I did not have much luck, but see what the rest of you think anyway. The original files are very small. The wheels do look like they have the dog dish caps on them. This doesnt look as bad as you might think, I have seen some like that in person before, and as long as they are the wider 7 inch wheels and the right trim rings, it looks pretty good.

[SuperCars]

Marlin, I haven't talked to Sue directly. But Vince had pictures of my car as it was when he found it. It had SS emblem on the grill and the big hood scoop as seen in the dragstip photo had been replaced with a smaller stinger-like scoop. On the Yenko list of the Novas there is a box with the options. On my car in the box under options it said "none", it came with nothing; no radio, therefore no antennae.

How many of you out there know that the first Yenko Nova conversion would have been an automatic? The first Yenko Nova (with a VIN number and Yenko stock number) on the list was an automatic, but in the last box for this car on the Yenko list it states "Delete-didn't work".

I am still trying to get email address from Jerry Heasley for the person claiming to be the original owner of my Nova. Jerry works for Speedvision and travels a lot.I finally caught him at home for one day and said he would get it to me. The next day he was gone to Italy to photo some race over there. So I am still after him to get it for me. Jerry says the guy claimed to be the original owner and thought he had the window sticker for my car. I hope it is not a hoax.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I will attempt to find out more by trying a full title search, sometimes prior owners show up. It would be nice to find some earlier photos of your car, and Scranton is close by.

I wonder why the '69 Yenko Nova - automatic cars 'didn't work'? The mechanics are the same for an L78/TH400, so it must have been the suspension, (?). Interesting...
M

[JoeC]

I canÃt think of a reason why a 427 TH400 Nova would not work but it is difficult to know exactly what the comment is referring to.
Kevin, That is interesting that the first Yenko Nova was going to have a Auto trans. Did Vince say if that Nova was sold with the 396 and Yenko stripes or just sold as a stock 396 Nova? I have read that there were 37 Yenko NovaÃs but only 30 were converted with the 427 but I do not know if that is a true statement. Did Vince give you any numbers on the 69 Nova production?

[Rowdy Rat]

Marlin,

Thanks for the recognition on the photos; I'm glad that you could scan and post them so we could get some feedback on the car.

You mentioned the SS emblem on the trunk with no Yenko medalion. I'm not sure if we discussed this or not, but the SS emblem is located higher and to the driver's side of center from where it would normally be located. I wouldn't be surprised to find that Yenko medallion located where the SS would normally be found; unfortunately, the glare from the bumper prevents that. Still, why move the emblem in the first place unless to put something else there...

I've been fortunate to speak with five original owners of 1969 Yenko Novas. Without exception, they all said that their cars were delivered with steel wheels and small hub caps. I hadn't thought about trim rings on the standard steel wheels until Joe and bbdon mentioned it, but it certainly makes sense now that I think about it... Quick and easy way to dress up a set of stock wheels.

As far as the non-converted cars, I traced the ownership history of one of these cars and had a chance to speak with the original owner. He confirmed that the Lemans blue 1969 Yenko Nova that he bought was sitting on the showroom floor at Yenko Chevrolet with an L-78, Corvette tripower, and a set of Atlas wheels. Brian has seen the car in person and tells me that it was never striped, but carried the Yenko medallions.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Stan Falenski

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Stan;
I agree that the 'SS' tailpanel emblem on this car was relocated a little to the upper left, but I hadn't thought about the Yenko emblem being installed to the lower right. I had assumed that the '427' emblem was installed to the lower right. I then figured that since the 'SS' was still there they would have put the Yenko emblem where the 'Nova by Chevrolet' emblem is on the trunk lid - I guess I thought that because the '70 Yenko Novas have it there.

It is a shame that the photo has that 'hotspot' on it, because it really creates some questions!!
Marlin

[sYc]

I recently spoke with Randy Miller about the so called "unconverted" '69 Novas, including his car, which may be the one pictured above. He has owned several Yenkos, including at least 2 '69 Novas. He disagrees with Vince's theory, that just because some of the cars sold for a couple of hundred dollars less, that they were unconverted cars. He feels that the price difference could have been caused by poor sales, which indeed did happened in late '69. He would like to see more proof before making a determination about the cars, but Vince has been unwilling or unable to come up with anything. At this point, Randy feels that his car is a 427 "converted" car. Tom

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Tom;
I agree with you and Randy about the 'unconverted' cars, it is hard to be sure what was done at Yenko Chev. towards the end of '69. I had spoken with Randy and Dante', (he bought Randy's Fathom Green '69 Yenko Nova), about this topic a few years ago at the Pure Stock Drag Race in Michigan. We had agreed that the only way to know for sure would be to speak with some original owners of the proposed 'unconverted' cars. It is hard to know which ones Vince believes are in this category. I believe the tri-power L78 car that RowdyRat researched is not on Vinces list of the 37. It is unclear if that car is one of the 'unconverted' ones, or if it was just another L78 that was dressed up with the tri-power - maybe a demo, return, warranty situation, ect... (something like the '67 YS-060??)

RowdyRat; Do we know what color the emblems are on that car? If it was one of the YENKO SportsCars Inc. products I would think it would have white YENKO emblems. If it was a YENKO Chev. product I would think it would have the black and chrome emblems.
M

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Tom;
Does Randy Miller have email? I would like to confirm his '69 Yenko VIN # to see if it is the same as the car in the photos above. Or if you have his VIN, let me know.
Thx,
M

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Here is Randy Miller's previous '69 Yenko Nova, it is now in Canada. I do not know the VIN number of this one either, so I don't know what dealership it was originally sold out of. Some people have suggested that this one may have been one of the 'unconverted' cars. If it sold new here in PA, I would like to do some research to find the original owner to determine the engine, stripes, emblem placement, options ect...
M