'68 Yenko, Transplant vs. COPO

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Kevin;
That is very interesting regarding Florida receiving so many '68 Yenkos. I was originally surprised that Florida received any Yenkos, and while talking with Tim Lapatta a while ago he said that racing was, and still is, a year-round activity down there. This might explain the volume in '68, and maybe that volume saturated the market by '69. I know some ZL1's went to Florida as well, but it I don't know of any '69 or '70 Yenko cars, (?). Additionally, I know that one of the '81 Turbo Z's was originally sold out of Tampa, but it was transferred to them because they had a buyer, not on speculation.
M

[Jim Mattison]

Guys, I don't profess to have all of the answers to the questions of the universe and I cannot explain why there is a '68 396 block with a "MV" code floating around. However, I do know that we (Chevrolet) built some 427 Camaros for Yenko Sportscars in 1968 with a "MV" engine code. I wish that I had saved more of my old factory paperwork. Then I could answer more of your questions. If I had only known......!!!

I can't help but think that what makes many of these COPO cars collectible today is the fact that we were busy building cars to satisfy what the market was asking for. These COPO cars were actually driven! Not like today, where folks buy a "new" special performance model and put it away, or trailer it everywhere!

I sincerely doubt if many of these newer models will ever be as collectible. No one ever gets to see or hear them on the street. Just my two cents worth!

Jim Mattison

[JoeC]

The Yenko name must have been pretty well known in Florida in 1968. If my records are correct,Yenko racing had a big year in Florida in 1967 winning 1st in GT at the 12 Hours of Sebring race in a 1967 L88 Corvette then Jerry Thompson won the SCCA D-Production national championship in the Yenko Stinger at Daytona on Nov. 26, 1967. Yenko raced the 1968 DX Oil L88 Corvette at Daytona and Sebring in early 68 and had been racing at Daytona and Sebring since the early sixties. Maybe "Win on Sunday Sell on Monday" worked well for Yenko in Florida in 68.

[bkhpah]

The 68' Yenko Camaro the we restored at Super Car Workshop was a 07E build date. This is a very late build date and most likley the last week of production. I interviewed the original owner at lenght. He said that he and his brother bought the car as partners. Age 18 and 20. They lived in Bentlyville at the time ( home of the original Yenko Chevrolet). They bought the car right from existing stock. It was an SS 396 car. They sat down and ordered the 427 engine ,headers, mags, and a few other items. Being young and living close they went and checked on the progress of their car daily. They were there when the engine was pulled, the day the 427 was installed etc. This is surely not the standard practice on a car that is factory fitted with a 427. These guys are not old or senile at this stage in life and I believe them 100%. Since POP's were with these cars the MV code would appear on the plate. This tells you nothing about engine size. My bet is that some surving 68 Yenko's with POP's that did not have the original CE block may have been "hit" to become MV 427's. Thus the large amout of MV 427 Yenko's that appeared a few years ago. I feel that Kevins car is the lone exception in this mystery. It is unusual in my opinion that a test car would be later sold to the general public. I have talked to Yenko employees an the story is always the same, transplants. And does anyone understand why the use of the Pontiac 14X6 rallye II's. Again I cannot understand why Yenko would use a wheel like that. Again no one at Yenko can remember this item. The guess I would make on the most sold state would have been Florida as well. A good many cars trace back there. The one famous picture that most everyone has seen is the 68 Yenko with the palm trees in the background. This is not PA for sure. This is a very interesting topic. Would anyone be interested in seeing the MV 396 block at the reunion this year? This alone may bring a few left coasters to the event..BKH

[SuperCars]

Well, Florida always was one of my favorite vacation spots. Now I will probably be staring at every 68 Camaro and wrecking yards, etc, when traveling there next. Marlin, maybe you can talk your wife into going there for your next vacation. I would like to hear more stories of you being chased out of someones backyard from checking VIN's on abandoned 68 Camaro's in their yard.

[Jeff H]

Jim, it's great to have you join in on this dicussion. I will agree with you on your statement about these modern performance cars being bought and stored away. I have one of the 93 Indy Pace Cars and I know it's not really a high performance model but it is a limited production model. I put a supercharger on it and I drive it to work every day. I can't see how someone would buy such a great car and not enjoy it as much as possible. This is a little off topic on this post, but do you have any information regarding the JL8 4 wheel disc brake option? We all see that the number Chevrolet claims made were 206, but a lot of people feel that number was an arbitrary number made up to satisfy the SCCA. It appears that it might actually be closer to 100 units sold. Do you have any insight on this?

[BUIZILLA]

Hi all, I have been following this BB lately and enjoy the camraderie. Since I have lived in South Fla most all my life and attended college in Tampa, Fla. I know all the roads. Further to that, I have drag raced Chevy's for 30 years now. Also, I was the new car get ready manager for a large Chevy store and remember well the good 'ol days, since I was in charge of all the HP cars...
Yes, there were a few sYc cars down here then. And, two or three 69 Camaro's right in my neighborhood now. I specifically remember a bronze color 427 68 car that raced at Miami-Hollywood track in the late 60's to early 70's. There was also a red 69 427 Chevelle. I guess why I remember the bronze 68, was that I never saw that color on another Camaro, ever. There was also a green car that raced at Desoto Dragway in Bradenton and Oldsmar Dragway in Tampa, and this was in 70-72 time frame.
I would be *VERY* curious what dealers sold the sYc cars in this era. Anybody have that info?

I was very familiar with the following dealerships in Miami>
Luby, Don Allen, Anthony Abraham, Sark, Tropical, Costley, Sun, Potamkin, Leiphart.

Jim Haas

[Chevy454]

Jim:

Good to have you here! I guess since the Buick board has been down, people have kind of "migrated" to other boards! Casey was in here yesterday, and now YOU! Who knows...maybe Mike W. will show up next !

Also, maybe some of the people here know the whereabouts of the cars you remember from "back in the day", and you can check them out in person some day!

[JoeC]

The pictures of the 68 Yenko with the palm tress is in the article with the Don Y interview. The car has 4 miles showing and does have the Pontiac wheels. I thought the palm tress may be in California where Dana Chevrolet was. There appears to have been some type of arrangement with Dana and Yenko. One question in the interview was "Were any SYC conversions done on customer cars"? Don's reply was that he did a dozen or so in 67 and 68 but Dana Chevrolet did a lot of them. I have an add for the Dana Camaro that lists many of the same components Yenko used and states on the bottom line "All prices are f.o.b. South Gate, CA. and Canonsburg, PA." Also the 68 Yenko and Dana both used the same glass hood. So does this mean that Dana was doing Yenko conversions in 68? Why is that 68 Yenko there posing with palm trees with a PA dealer plate and 4 miles on the odometer?

[Kurt S]

I have data on a 68 Yenko, April car, with the POP (MV) and the original engine it left Yenko with, which is a CE block.
Also, Fran Preve has dug into the Tonawanda records and determined MV's were 396's.
Now, there could have been a running change during the year, but re-using an existing engine code would be unusual.

One other thing: if Chevy was installing 427's into cars in 68, then what held up the 69 COPO's until January of 69?

Just more fodder for discussion.

Kurt S
CRG - www.camaros.org