Love it!:headbang:

Priceless!!!

Ryan

Awesome pic

So Cool !!!!

Very cool!

Just read all your stories, that is so cool. I was not born during the 70s but stories like that gave us a taste of what it was back then.

Grade A historic photo! It always amazes me when no photos come to light. It just goes to show everyone that EVERY historic Supercar probably has a pic of it somewhere.

----So you used to run "up the hill" at Quaker City. Love that track but haven't been there in years. Went several years in a row to the "Field of Dreams" nostalgia meet with Red Alert. Always a really great time......Bill S

I have spent a lot of time at Quaker City, running "up the hill" as you put it, LOL. In fact if you look at that last picture I posted (May 72), that Monte Carlo probably just came out of the water in the left lane, ready to finish running "up the hill" to the starting line. My Dad took me there back in the late 50's to watch some of his friends race (that track opened in 1957). For those that have never been there, the staging lanes are parallel to the track at a much lower elevation, so you make a left out of the lanes, and then make another left, go up the hill to the water box, do your burnout and as you come out of the water you are still cresting the hill, and then at that point you can see the track and the starting line. Since I started racing there probably around 1970, the hill never bothered me, but when NHRA started running points meets there sometime in the 80's, there were a lot of racers that were intimidated by the "hill". It is still a beautiful track today, the current owners the Fox family do a great job and have made tons of improvements over the years, in fact if you google "Quaker City Motorsports Park", they have a nice overhead video of the track, the staging lanes and pit parking.

Gary Merrick

That last picture is awesome in so many ways! The stance of that car is PERFECT!!!

Great story Gary, you could have written a book, its that good. Times with your Dad are memories to last forever. Growing up i learned cars and street racing from friends and guys on the street. my dad passed away at the age of 27, from a brain tumor Feb 28 1961. I was born Oct 28 1960, i was 4 months old. He served in the Army 1951-1955 i was USMC 79-83. Thank you for your service and i hope you find your YENKO.

Thanks Bugsy, I appreciate your kind words about my stories, they are wonderful memories to say the least. I would also like to thank you for your service in the Marines, and of course your DAD's service to our country. It really grinds me to see the crap that goes on today with people dis-respecting our flag and the national anthem, I just feel they are totally ignorant as to how they have their first amendment right and all the service men and women who gave their lives so they have that right to free speech. My DAD was in the Army as well, from 1942 to just after WWII ended, he was in the South Pacific as a Combat Engineer.

I found some more pictures, so I will be posting them soon, and along with those pictures, maybe a few more stories...

GM

Well I just spent a good portion of my afternoon reading through this thread. Great stories!

Towing Pictures
 

Quite a few stories earlier, I told everyone about the towing story about coming home from National Trails in Columbus, Ohio with the Monte Carlo (tow car) and the "bulldozer" trailer. Attached are a couple pictures that were taken at Quaker City of those two vehicles. Since the car is positioned very far rearward on the trailer, I would assume that these pictures were taken after the towing escapade. Every towing trip in those days was a learning experience.

I have a story about my brother driving the Yenko that I will post soon.

GM

PS I apologize about the poor quality of the photos, but evidently the camera I was using was focusing on the background rather than the cars.

So cool, thanks for the pics and stories, love 'em.

Back in the Day
 

Attached are a couple of pictures that I had to re-size a lot, so they really don't show everything, but you guys will get the idea. I apologize ahead of time for the second picture being so large.

The picture of me holding the gloves is a present my older brother gave me. As you will notice I am holding the gloves with both hands, cause I thought it was silly he wanted me to wear driving gloves, but what the heck I wore them to make him happy. The other picture showing me in the car also shows a wooden steering wheel that he also had bought for me and I will be telling a story about that wheel and why he thought I needed the "wood" over the plastic. I will give you a hint, the whole steering wheel thing really had to do with him trying to drive the YENKO and that escapade didn't go too well....

Back a little later.....

GM

When your brother drives your muscle car.
 

This story was probably in the summer of 1970, but definitely prior to the engine being redone and the Yenko turned in to a full time race car. As I mentioned previously, my brother and I enlisted in the US Army Reserves in August of 1968 and we both went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina during the summer of 1969 for basic training and then on to Fort Lee, Virginia for advanced individual training. After graduating from college, my brother began working for the Ford Motor Company and lived in northwestern Ohio, but would still come home for the monthly reserve meetings in northeastern Ohio. This particular weekend he suggested that we take the Yenko to the reserve meeting on Saturday and we would ride together. I think he had an alternative motive, because when we were leaving the meeting on Saturday afternoon, he asked if he could drive the Yenko home. I didn't have a problem with it, so I said "Sure". Since this was a summer meeting and it was really hot out, we opened the car doors and with the black interior, the Yenko was really steamy inside, so we put all the windows down and we took off. The reserve station was on the outskirts, of Warren, Ohio near Lordstown where I worked at General Motors, which was out in the middle of nowhere, basically farm country back then, not that it is a whole lot different now, but definitely more population. We had to take back roads to get there, but they were nice straight paved two lane roads with very little traffic, especially on a Saturday afternoon. When we came to a four way stop, (I have no idea why there was a four way stop, unless it was for the cows when they meandered by), my brother said, "Well, its warmed up, can I get on it?" I responded "Absolutely, let er rip!!!!" Well, rip, he did, revved it up, dropped the clutch and it immediately smoked the tires and the back end was coming around to the right trying to take over where the front end used to be, he is steering the hell out of it, turning the wheel to the right (like you are taught to drive on ice and snow), but the Yenko is having none of it and it gets to the point where the rear tires have left the pavement and are on the burm and he finally lets off the throttle and straightens it up. I think I mentioned how the interior was very hot and he said the stock steering wheel was slippery and that's why he lost control. So he says, "Can I try it again?" I said, "Sure, there's no traffic, try it again..." Well, he came to a stop, revved it up, dropped the clutch, unfortunately, we had the same result, only this time, it was a little more violent and he tried to drive it further and when the stones started hitting the right side quarter panel, he finally gave it up. I decided, that was enough, I told him, "Stop the car and let me show you how to do this". He stopped, we switched positions, and after buckling up, I told him "Hang On", revved my baby up, dropped the clutch and off we went straight down the road, like it was on a string, went through the gears, took it up to about 120 and backed off. I looked over at him and said "There are some things a little brother can do better than a big brother". He was sitting there shaking his head, still blaming the hot "slippery" steering wheel and that is how I got driving gloves for a birthday present and the wooden steering wheel for Christmas later that same year.

In all fairness, my brother started racing Formula Fords in SCCA a couple years later and he was quite good, he could really drive a road course and go around turns fast, in fact he could go down straightaways pretty good too, but then again that little four popper probably didn't have a quarter of the horsepower that the Yenko had. He had a lot of success with his first formula Ford and I was very proud of him. Not too long ago, I reminded him of this episode, but naturally he didn't remember it the same way I did, but this is my story and I'm sticking to it......

Great story!!

awesome story with great details!

Cool stuff Gary!

HAHAHA another case of the story changing to fit one memory or another ... I can smell the tires already

Yenko Pictures from back in the day....
 

Here a few more pictures that Bruce (XplantDad) resized for me. Thanks Bruce

GM

GREAT pic and stories. Would love to hear more. What a beautiful Camaro.

3gears.gif

Badass pics.. Love it.

You are welcome Gary. Sorry I couldn't get to them last night :)

'

Awesome thread bump...:headbang:
:beers:
~ Pete

.

Thanks
 

Thanks Pete for having brought this thread back to life last month.

I really enjoyed writing my little stories and I am glad so many people enjoyed them. Hard to believe all that stuff happened since it was a life time ago and having just turned 70 (hard for me to type), but the pictures don't lie.

I should have posted this yesterday to express my sincere THANKS to all the Veterans out there and especially to my Dad who was a Combat Engineer in the Army in WWII in the South Pacific.

Gary Merrick
aka GM 427 Racer

These have been really great stories to read, thank you for sharing. I'm assuming this did not end up being your old car?

http://www.usedcarsfsbo.com/asp/Item...y=9%2F3%2F2019

Lost Yenko Camaro
 

That is a really interesting ad, I didn't know anything about it till the link was posted. I guess there is always a possibility that could be my original Yenko, however, looking at the ad, there were several things that stood out to me; the description said the car was green, obviously, no one could tell based on the picture, maybe the trim tag is still on the car, and my car was LeMans blue, second, it said it was "ORIGINALLY a V8 automatic", my car was a 4 speed, lastly, the car has a 10 bolt, which over the last 50 years someone could have taken the BE rear end out and put the 10 bolt in. I guess anything is possible....

I have no idea if this is my old Yenko, but they did get the VIN correct, no title, I would be curious if the VIN tag is on the car and if the hidden VIN matches the dash VIN.

Maybe one of the Super Sleuth Members that live in New Jersey could check it out. I have already been on a couple wild goose chases, so I have no plans to head to the east coast.

GM

It says VIN and Cowl tag are on car. 3700.00

Thanks for pointing that out, I missed the word "present".

As I mentioned several years ago, I am not in the financial position to get involved in this project, if it even is my original Yenko. However, if anyone does find the car, I would be happy to help with the restoration in any way I could.

GM

Something doesn't seem right. Your original pictures of your car does not have the style trim, chrome roof gutter and side trim which would make the car a X44. The car for sale says its a X11 which would have the chrome trim.

Trim style;s
 

Just for the record. I have a O5B 69 copo camaro, X-44 car. Very orginal! There is No chrome trim on a X-44 car. Except for the chrome spears on the bottom of the car. BBBenny

is this the same car that had a yenko vin# and a bin price of $25,000 a few months ago on ebay?

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all the motorheads on this site a "Merry Christmas" and hopefully you get a lot of presents for that hot rod in your garage.....

Gary Merrick

You to !

Have a great Christmas Gary!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

Ryan W31

Merry Christmas Gary..