Re: 68 yenko
 

Thing is, if Les were to Zamboni over the skid mark patina, would the rig still be survivor eligible? Might not want to lose that rust, right ...?

Re: 68 yenko
 

This year I promise to show that Colin guy how to really drive a go cart...in the past I was letting him win https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/hmmm.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...s/rolleyes.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/no.gif

Re: 68 yenko
 

Mr. Comer,

I hereby except your challenge for SYC 12.

BTW do any of you know how many documented, real, no story 68 Yenko Camaro's are known to still exist? Just curious?

Re: 68 yenko
 

...and while you are checking the list...
..How many 1968 "unconverted" Yenko camaros exist? https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: 68 yenko
 

[ QUOTE ]
...and while you are checking the list...
..How many 1968 "unconverted" Yenko camaros exist? https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...s/rolleyes.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's one..

http://www.dupontregistry.com/autos/...?itemid=498103

What carb # did these cars have?.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif
~ Pete

Re: 68 yenko
 

That's the late Tom Billigen's COPO https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/frown.gif

Re: 68 yenko
 

[ QUOTE ]
That's the late Tom Billigen's COPO https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Didn't it bid to $325,000 or so at R&M last Jan?

Re: 68 yenko
 

I wouldn't call what they did "bidding" more like blatant shilling. Had a customer who told me to go to $200k on the Billigen car, I thought far less than that should have got it done and was told the reserve was in the $140k range - car hits the block and Tom from TnT Go Cars apparently convinced Robin Billigen the car was worth $500k and told R&S to run it well past $300k. They opened the car at $200k as I recall and put it right to the moon, not a live bid in sight. Something transpired between Tom, Robin, and R&S to change the reserve or somehow protect the car.

I stood there with Mockingbird and Ed Montini and we all just https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/no.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...s/confused.gif went into a state of shock.

Great car, glad to see Robin has taken back control of the sale of her car. My customer ended up buying the 5k mile, 100% untouched original L89 Vette I bought at the same sale for less money, same color even https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif

Colin

Re: 68 yenko
 

That is some story...I remember being surprised to see the 'no sale' bid on the Billigen car.

Re: 68 yenko
 

If I may add a nickels worth to the 67 Yenko Camaro discussion... just over 100 bellhousings and sets of headers were billed to Yenko for the 67's, about half sent to Canonsburg and half to Dick Harrell at his shop. I know because I have the invoices and they are reproduced in my book

Re: 68 yenko
 

One thing that csx left out was this..... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/shocked.gif


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...2/P1060517.jpg

Re: 68 yenko
 

Tangled web aside, what was Tom B's Unconverted 9737 like before the resto?.
Was there a major reason to not leave it as a 5800 mile survivor?.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif
~ Pete

Re: 68 yenko
 

Wasn't it a race car for a bunch of years? I seem to remember talking to him about it...way back

Re: 68 yenko
 

Boy the pound exchange rate is way off from that... it'd cost you damn near 300,000# GBR now... LOL

Re: 68 yenko
 

[ QUOTE ]
Tangled web aside, what was Tom B's Unconverted 9737 like before the resto?.
Was there a major reason to not leave it as a 5800 mile survivor?.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif
~ Pete

[/ QUOTE ]

I heard it was pretty solid, with most of its original parts still intact. But unfortuantly when restored, these parts were replaced, which was noted when the car was judged at Chevy Vettefest, thus did not score well.

Also, seems at the time of restoration there was some drama surronding the engine(s) for the car.

Of note, the ad says a dealer trade from Yenko To Kenny Ross. There is no disputing the car was bought new from Kenny Ross Chevrolet, but as far as I know, no records backing up the claim of a dealer trade. Possible, as most folks believe that Yenko was the only dealer to get COPOs in '68, but the car may have never been at Yenko. .

Re: 68 yenko
 

What book? https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif

Re: 68 yenko
 

Tom, what was the drama surrounding the engine ? It´s supposed to have its born-with engine-block doesn´t it ?

Re: 68 yenko
 

John, The book is titled " The Yenko Era " and is available thru Amazon.com I am a former employee and " gofer " from that time ,66-71.My friendship with Donna Mae Mims and Warren Dernoshek,( co-authors )is more than 40 years. I still have YS037 from 1966.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Seems at the time Tom bought it back it had an L-88 engine in it, maybe Yenko, sold that to go into a Motion car, then some how the original engine surfaced.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Thank´s for the clarification Tom. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif

Tom B. sent me some pictures years ago of the car, and the block looks ok to me. But on the other hand, I´m no expert.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Mark G,

Glad to see you are lurking over here. I hope all is well.

Everyone should have his book. Lots of good stuff. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif

Re: 68 yenko
 

Whttps://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...emlins/eek.gifW...welcome Mark!.

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif
~ Pete

Re: 68 yenko
 

Speaking of books about Yenko, spoke with Bob McClurg this morning. He is to meet with members of the Yenko family this evening to do some proof work for his upcoming book on Yenko. They have been able to provide several unpublished pictures, as well as quite a bit of information.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Mark is a wealth of walking Yenko information. But then again, he lived it. Lucky devil. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/worship.gif

Re: 68 yenko
 

it's been awhile but I thought I read where Tom sold the car awhile after it was new and had kept the original motor under his bench until he bought it back...dont recall what was in it when he found it if anything. sound right??


[ QUOTE ]
Seems at the time Tom bought it back it had an L-88 engine in it, maybe Yenko, sold that to go into a Motion car, then some how the original engine surfaced.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: 68 yenko
 

I would recommend not conjecturing on this car as it does not sound like anyone has definitive information and I am sure noone here wants to unnecessarily tarnish the reputation of Robin's Yenko. Ed (enio45) is on the road and I have a call into him. I am not saying that he knows definitively the details of this car, but if anyone knows it would be the guy that owns the only other non-converted '68.

Thanks!

Re: 68 yenko
 

Sam I am bad at finding old threads here, pull it up if you can?, Tom shared openly all about the car, he bought new and was so happy to buy it again.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Here's that thread bud..
The late Tom Billigen was selling his 69 Yenko at that time to buy his 68 camaro back.The last reply on page 1 and there after is where he begins about finding it again.
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show...0/fpart/1/vc/1

Re: 68 yenko
 

This thread keeps getting better & better!.

So it looks like Tom must've made a deal to get his original engine back and swapped the heads back on..
Wonder what happened to the L88?.
Interesting how he wasn't aware it was a 9737 until he got the car back!.

Futher to the '68 Yenko converted cars, is it know how many were RS cars?.
How many known existing '68 Yenko cars are RS cars?.
And is it know if any of the nonconverted '68 9737's were RS cars?.

Interesting stuff!

https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/grin.gif
~ Pete

Re: 68 yenko
 

I think the link above tells the story on Toms car, engine and discovery of its origan. Being from Aliquippa, PA myself, althought a bit younger than Tom, Bobby Williams was the person who bought the L78 motor out of Toms car. All of us that know Bobby, he has virtually every motor he ever got his hands on still today. He had a performance shop near J&L Steel downtown Aliquippa. Bobby is still around if someone needs to verify the info.

Tom had Ed Cunneen do some background leg work for the then "COPO Certification" on his Bronze car and my Ralley Green car and found that Toms was dealer transferred from Yenko to Kenny Ross. My car was sold at Yenko Chev and documented thru the original owner (still alive) and also verified with the subsequent owners (all from Coraopolis, PA)as well and as stated in the MCR article March 07.

Related to one of the above questions - "im told" that there are possible 6 non coverted cars - due to the fact that a quality of 70, 68 yenko camaros were to be produced for the year. However 64 were converted and the remaining were sold as L78 cars. Joe Barr has some info that refers to these non-converted cars in an ad back in the late 68 season.

My car body number is 3 digits away from the recent ebay bronze yenko from Tenn and as you would expect, same build week of 07E. Kind of supports that these cars were made in certain batches.

I was told that of the remaining 6 non-converted cars, there were 1 ralley green and 5 corvette bronze. Dont know if any were RS and if the above is true?? Of the 6, two are known to exist, both non RS cars.

As you can expect, i look everyday for the other 4 - not knowing where they can show up, if at all.

Hope this helps some understanding.

Re: 68 yenko
 

[ QUOTE ]


Tom had Ed Cunneen do some background leg work for the then "COPO Certification" on his Bronze car and my Ralley Green car and found that Toms was dealer transferred from Yenko to Kenny Ross.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to put Ed and his certification process down, but unless something has changed since TB and I visited about adding his car to the '68 list, no actual docuemntation existed about being from Yenko, Ed (as he did on numerous occasions on various cars) was just going on what was told to him. If documentation exists, I would love to see it.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Tom, i understand your POV... makes sense. I have not talked to Robin about the documentation - probably an NICB (or is it the NCIB) report would be a excellent piece of documentation to have.

Re: 68 yenko
 

[ QUOTE ]
Tom, i understand your POV... makes sense. I have not talked to Robin about the documentation - probably an NICB (or is it the NCIB) report would be a excellent piece of documentation to have.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yep... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif

Re: 68 yenko
 

Tom,

Thinking thru this again - if Yenko was the only dealer doing the 1968 camaro - 9737 conversions to a yenko car, then by default he had to order and accept delivery of the car.

Is there speculation that other dealers could get this 9737 copo car?

I think Joe Barr's doc's seem to indicated that Yenko had these 9737's as leftover (or non converted cars) . I have not seen his docs etc...so i cannot say for sure. I would like to try to nail down the definitive story to this.

Would be helpful to the hobby.

Any thoughts on this theory?

Re: 68 yenko
 

[ QUOTE ]
Is there speculation that other dealers could get this 9737 copo car?

[/ QUOTE ]
It's possible, I suppose...we were under the assumption Gibb was the only dealer that recieved any '68 COPO Novas, until Mr. Berger himself told us they got *at least* 1...!

BTW, I believe the L88 from Tom's Camaro went into a '68/9 "Motion" Corvette...

Re: 68 yenko
 

Who knows?

For many years it was thought that Gibb was the only one to get '68 COPO Novas, but Dale Berger told a group of us that they got one. I have no reason to doubt Dale, as the same thing happened with the ZL-1s, where it was thought that Gibb was the only one to get them, but records appeared later showing that Berger got the #3 car.


As I told TB when we had this discussion, as with all cars, we need to stick to the facts.

1. the car appears to be a legit '68 COPO 9737 Camaro, L-78
2. was sold new at Kenny Ross Chevrolet

So, IMO, as it stands now, the car is a Kenny Ross COPO Camaro, which is not a bad thing, as that makes it one of one.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Tom B was trying to get the NICB report.

There are a few more items that led us to believe it is from Yenko but the NICB report is needed to prove it out.

Ed C has paperwork from GM that shows that the COPO 9737 option was first called the “Sports Car Conversion/Yenko/” in 1968, then in 1969 it was noted that COPO 9737 was made available to other dealers and not just “Yenko Sports Car Inc.” The Yenko name was used twice in the document.
It appears that COPO 9737 was only for Yenko in 68 but maybe some did slip out. I still have not heard of any other non-Yenko 1968 Camaros with the COPO 9737 option but still this is not proof that Tom’s was delivered to Yenko.

The Yenko ad shows 6 special SS396 Camaros and was late in the year. Five were Corvette Bronze. We thought having 5 of the same color cars for sale when the new model was coming soon, made a trade or discount sale to Ross seem possible but still this is not proof that Tom’s was delivered to Yenko.

Jim M from the F&SO dept. said he remembered working with Yenko on this 1968 COPO order with the special engine code. Jim thought the order was for 427 Camaros and that Yenko ordered over 70 of these. He posted this info on here or on TC - maybe that thread still around.

It is not correct to say that there were 70 1968 COPO 9737 ordered and 6 were sold as unconverted. Some of the 1968 427 Yenko Super Camaros were built from non- COPO 9737 Camaros (4 according to the list here) so the 70-6=64 is not correct.
The ad just says that 6 cars were for sale at the time of the ad.
I have not seen any info that shows how many SS396 COPO 9737 Camaros Yenko received or how many were sold as unconverted cars.

Some one still needs to get the NICB for Tom B's car.

Re: 68 yenko
 

Joe, any idea how or where the 70 number come from? Was it assumed that 64 were converted and the "6 cars" from the ad just gives an assumed 70?

Re: 68 yenko
 

Several '69 Yenko's have been run on NICB with no results found, including 615076, which had bulletproof Yenko documentation. Even if someone were to run TB's COPO/Yenko it may come back inconclusive. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif