V.V. Cooke Yenko engine
 

I am sorry to report that after a brief conversation with the owner of the original engine for the V.V. Cooke Lemans Blue Yenko we have been unable to make a deal. The Dean Davis restored Yenko currently has a restoration motor in it and I would have loved to reunite the car with its original engine.

I feel that we made a good offer for the engine ($20,000) but we are miles apart from the asking price of $50,000. As an employee of the Albaugh Collection I cant recomend to Dennis to part with that kind of jack. I feel that would be a bad business decision. I wish good luck to the seller and maybe someone is out there needs an original MN coded COPO alot more than we do .

Sigh.

Sad

I guess the greed got the best of him. It’s not worth 20k to anyone else. I hope he can use it as an expensive coffee table. Trust me....I have sold original MN engines to guys on this site for 10k ....that offer of 20k was very fair. Not that it matters but finding it on Market Place...he knew exactly what he was doing and most likely paid 5K or less. Enjoy your new furniture. We don’t need guys like him on this site.

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Bummer news as the seller seemed Ok when posting here, 20K is more than fair also price he's asking a stick-up #.
Hopefully he's a real car guy and makes it happen also realizes the offer in front of him is already more than generous.
Best of luck to all involved!
:beers:
~ Pete

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What a shame, and the looser in all this is the car. Your offer was fair.

A member of this site found my friends 1969 L88 motor three years ago and the car owner and engine seller came to an agreement and that L88 now has its original engine back in the car. The seller was a true gentleman.

It happens, and people often come around in time.

Fingers crossed

Sad story - hope you can work it out, shame there are the occasional jerks that show up with someone else's drivetrain.

Take heart - there's always hope. I own a matching-numbered L78 with a damaged engine block - came with a spare L78 block, surprised to find that the car it was from still existed. I offered the engine (bare block) to the owner for $1500 first, he said too much, so I asked him to find a 272 block close to my date and we would swap even (plenty around), he wouldn't agree to that either. I eventually gave up -

Regards,
Steve

Bummer. I'm sure he will come around eventually. Holding an engine hostage is not a cool move. As stated earlier, your offer was twice market value which should be fair for everyone. I appreciate you posting this info here for all to see. Transparency can only help in this situation.

Out of curiosity, was there a conversation about a trade in with the take out restoration engine?

Jason

Trade
 

I offered trade with no respose.

It’s like holding a winning lottery ticket but you cannot turn it in...in his case a grenade

It felt like a kidnap for ransom right from the start. He was trying to fund his retirement off the engine. And I agree, he knew what he had all along, just needed the people on here to verify/find the car so he could make his ridiculous price.

How much difference in the price/value of the car when comparing non-born-with engine as compared to born-with engine? In a rate high performance car like a 427 Yenko, I think it would be quite a bit.

The way I see it, IF the value of the car differs by X amount, a reasonable price is around 65% of X. Were not talking peanuts here, were not talking run of the mill engines and cars. So if the "value" of the car goes up 100,000, why should the guy with the engine not be allowed to get his share of the value either? Now IF the Yenko value is only increasing say $40K, then YES $20K is a strong offer.

Is the engine worth 20K to anyone else, no. But the car owner should be the only one making huge profit IF and when he sells. IF I was the owner of the car, I would find out the how much MORE the car is worth with the born-with engine. I would start at 50% of that value. BOTH should profit almost equally in the reuniting of the born-with engine.

BUT now that the engine is out there and known, will probably be reunited down the road once reality sets in on both side. Might take time or a few years, but should happen some day.

Must have never heard of the situation with the two Daytona Yellow ZL-1 Camaros.

For 30+ years, the #3 ZL-1 had the engine from ZL-1 #26. That car has the engine from #3. Why not just swap? As #3 moved on, each owner tried to get it done, no go.

The engine from #57 has been known for years. Not in use, just sitting. Won't sell.

Value
 

I did quite a bit of thinking about this before I made the offer. I feel that 25 to 30000 tops would catch the difference between an original engine Yenko Camaro versus a restoration motor. Original trans and rear push that number higher. Even though reportably rebuilt this motor would need to be diassembled to determine pistons and camshaft used. Aftermarket rocker arms indicate a custom build probably not correct for stock application. Then theres the actual remove and replace. Not for the faint of heart. Dont forget transportation 1000 miles. Could even be an issue like a cracked cylinder bore or out of round bores or line bore issues. Reported to be blueprinted but obviously not decked. Easy to spend another 5000 on top of the 20000. If your number was 65 percent using 25000 invested then that would yield a car value increase of around 35000. I think thats at the very top of added value. Of course theres a restoration motor to sell. It would need to be decked as well.

All this adds up to my offer of 20000 which I feel is fair. How much the seller has invested or to gain or lose is irrelevant.

Even if he pays 20k ...he has to build the damn thing and then swap them out of a restored car....that’s not fun. Plus who takes responsibility if it turns out to be a boat anchor . 20k is more than fair. 512 MN motors do 10k. And no it won’t raise the value 100k. Just get to the chase ....the seller is an IDIOT and a greedy SOB.

I agree with your math Andy and as you said on top of the purchase and motor rebuild you have a perfectly restored engine bay that then has to be torn apart and we all know no matter how careful you are, something always happens. As the motor sits to anyone without the car its worth less than 10K. Your offer was generous. As far as the questions as to what is the car worth it doesn't matter because it is unlikely Dennis will ever sell it anyway. But after all this frustration, I guess it's his motor and if he wants to die with it that his decision to make.

Hey Tim, What were the odds of me contacting you to see if you know anyone with a red L88 missing its original block. I also reunited the original engine for the Black/white gut low mile COPO that Gary H use to own, I sold the engine in 2019 to Rick Hendrick the current owner for $10k. While I was at Hendrick's shop, I got a tour of his collection & did see the car with its restoration engine in it. A personal friend of mine bought both of these engines off of Ebay over 20 yrs ago.

This is really proof that this is a "dog-eat-dog" hobby. Sucks.

V V Cooke engine
 

Maybe the solution would be to sell the car to the fellow with engine for $500,000 to $600,000 or a price in line with what he feels engine is worth .

Exactly what I was thinking. Then the engine owner could have all the profit when he sold the car for 1 million...:rolleyes2:

Nobodys eating my dog...
 

Lol

This is exactly what I thought but as a member that doesn’t post much didn’t think I should be the first to chime in. Hope it works out. At least it still exists!

Well that is exactly what Andy described in detail in establishing their offer/value. Remember the seller can ask the moon, but the value is really established by what owner of the car is willing to pay. The engine was born with that car only, and owner of the car would have the most value/incentive to purchase.

Andy(61 vert) represents the car owner and described how they established their offer/value which seems reasonable.

Thank my parents that I was raised with different morals and values. Enough said....

Amen.

I've never let this be known, but I sold the 1967 Dana Z28 short block for 3k. It had super low miles, with every sq inch massaged by Traco. At the time, I had a couple Camaro's that I could have thrown the engine in and had some fun. Tomy would have paid 5x to reunite the original Traco 302. Right is right

come on guys....if the person that has the car now & he decides to sell it..is there a cap on the sale price? no! so if the seller with the car has a all they can get sale price...why can't the engine seller name his price & if no one wants to pay that price that's up potential buyers..so it depends on the person that needs that particular part to make the value of their investment go up.. you all are being pretty hard on this guy...this may be his only diamond in the rough that he has/his once in a lifetime sale...so cut the guy some slack...i have seen some pretty crazy prices on some parts on this website...5000.00 rear ends,100,000 basket case cars...etc...

Amen!:headbang:

I get what you are saying...I just don't operate that way.

Inappropriate post-deleted

He must be in witness protection....because that brother went into hiding.

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For all we know, someone gave him bad info on what # to ask when he was seeking value on other sites so best we all chill a bit as it really has nothing to do w/ any of us also foolish comments could alter the outcome in a negative way.:dunno:
Again, let's hope he's a real car guy at heart also comes around when all facts considered.
:beers:
~ Pete

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I think cooler heads would’ve prevailed after just a little bit of time but the name calling has now probably separated car & motor by nothing short of a galaxy. If that motor was in my possession I’d sink it in a lake after reading this thread.

and this was my second thought on the matter…

I really think it adds appeal to this car in general knowing the motor still exists. That’s luck and good news in it’s own right. There is a big difference between it being known it’s out there vs the mystery of DOES it still exist.

There is just no place on this site for GREED...slice it anyway you want to...but 50K is WRONG. Chaulk it up to bad advice...but in the end it’s still up to him to make it right. After paying 20k....and all the work after the purchase you have 30k wrapped up easily. Time will calm the mind ..we all hope.

Is it just the shortblock or include heads?

Motor
 

Basically a "rebuilt" never fired longblock .030 over with incorrect sheet metal and unknown cam and pistons. Aftermarket rockers. Correct intake.

Gentlemen, there is no place for personal attacks and name calling. Lets keep your opinions and passions in check. I may edit posts that have crossed the line.