Fencl Tufo and Brigance Chevrolet
 

These Chicago/area dealers sold many HI-PO chevys. I have seen Super Sports and L-78 cars. Anyone know of any COPO cars?

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Stefano;
Fencl Tufo sold at least 6 Yenko Deuce Novas, of which 4 are accounted for. Fencl sold at least one each of the three special colors; Huggar Orange, Sunflower Yellow, and Citrus Green cars. In addition to those three they sold a Gobi Beige, Forest Green and Cranberry Red Yenko Deuce's. The Citrus Green car can be seen on this board under the 'vintage photos' section, it has not been found.

I am not aware of any Supercars being sold at Berganse.
M

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

There was a Brigance Chevrolet. Is that the one refered to?

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Fencl-Tufo in Glendale Heights,Your Monster Dealer!
I remember those corny commercials in the late 70's.Using Monster puppets on TV.
I was constantly over their in High School where I bought my 1972 SS Chevelle.Those guys were nuts over there.They would do anything Hi-po that a customer wanted.Cash was king.
I have never heard of Berganse Chevrolet.Where were they?

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

That was Brigance Chevrolet.....were the heck were they ? Fencl also did an Elvis thing in their ads...Mancuso Chevrolet was also a pretty big dealer in the area and sold some hi-po stuff.A friend in High School had what I remember as a 1970 LT-1 Nova SS in Astro blue or whatever name they used for that color on Novas. I haven't seen him in years so I cant verify if it was a 70 or 71.

[Edited by Belair62 (10-30-2001 at 03:49 PM).]

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Brigance was in Oak Park. IL., I think.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Thanks sixties.I think you may have a year or 2 on me.You probably went down to Oak Park to look at cars AFTER you had a juicy Talian beef sangwich wit peppersh over der by Johnnies on Nort Avenue wit all dose guyz.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

I am not certain as to the spelling. We are discussing the same dealership. I believe it was within the Chicago City limits. The neighborhood definately had an Italian flair, to say the least.

Does any one remember the 'Mr. Ed' advs., for all your hi-po needs? Mr. Ed handled all the "special orders". These orders also included any COPO orders.

According to Mr. Ed he ordered more than a few COPO Camaros, Chevelles and Novas.

Mr. Ed is a very successful Chevrolet Dealer today.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

I was just at Johnnies last week. Make sure that you don't hold the door open while waiting in line or he'll yell at you !

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Which guy the skinny guy ? He is something else...try Frannies on River just north of Irving..I think they may even be better...Stefano...what dealer is Mr.Ed's now ? I dont remember the commercials but I remember seeing a lot of trunk stickers with Brigance on them.

[Edited by Belair62 (10-30-2001 at 08:34 PM).]

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

From paperwork I've seen in the last few years and having spent 30 years on the Nothwest side of Chicago, I know there was one Chevy dealer in Oak Park on Madison between Austin and Oak Park Ave, maybe the 500-600 block but I personally don't remember it or the name. There was also a dealer on North Ave. within the city limits around 5200-5600 West. There is a member of the NCRS who bought his '57 fuely (and still owns it) from this dealer but I believe he said it closed/moved sometime in the 60's. Could one of these be Brigance?

[Edited by ChrisS (11-03-2001 at 10:17 AM).]

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Yes,I'm pretty sure Sixtiesmuscle was correct that Brigance was in Oak Park but the North avenue address is sure as close as you can get to Oak Park so this may be a little tricky...

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

I know this is an old thread, but I've found some ads from 1968 that will clarify this.
Bergl Chevrolet was located at 5400 W. Cermak (I believe this would be Cicero, Ill.)
Dick Fencl Chevrolet (probably the predecessor to Fencl-Tufo in Elmhurst) was located at 137 Madison in Oak Park, Ill.
Still working on the dealership name that was located on North Ave.
Another dealer in the Chicago area that seems to have run ads for hi-perf and Corvettes in this time period was Clark-Maple Chevrolet 1038 N. Clark, Chicago.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

I know that this is a REALLY REALLY old post but my mechanic Gary Grasham Worked at Brigance Chevrolet in Oak Park, IL from 1969-1976. His late partner Frank Krummer also worked there from 1967-1979 untill they opened a shop together in Berwyn, IL in 1979. Mr. Ed of Chicago supercar dealer fame was head of teh Hi-Po dept at Brigance untill he moved on to Fencil-Tufo Chevrolet in Glendale Heights, IL where he marketed and sold many Yenko Deuce Novas. This sitcker has been on Frank's tool box since the muscle car days of the 60's. I took this picture yesterday. I know that some of you will like it.

BTW after reading the post by Chris he also has a Clark-Maple sticker right next to the Brigance Sticker on his tool box. I will get a pic of it as well this week.


http://216.136.200.194/auction/Jan/2...0138643817.jpg

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Great Picture Frank.
Mr.Ed says Hello and has to much to do lately.
Is that decal possible to remove and sell?
Rick

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

No. If it was I would have it already! [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Take some good pics and measurements and I'll bet you can have a sticker guy reproduce it.Maybe even a tracing for exact size..

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

My thoughts exactly Bob..
Do it Frank!

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Rick, believe it or not I know where their is another Brigance sticker. The guy that sold me my Chevelle restored a 1967 Chevelle SS for one of his customers and removed an original Brigance sticker and had it reproduced. He kept the original and I will ask him if I can have it reproduced. I am going back to Garys shop this week to take a pic of the Clark-Maple sticker as well. I will let you guys know if I get a copy of the Brigance sticker.

BTW I wish that I had my digital camera this summer. I saw a guy with I think an early 60's Impala at Sams Club of all places with an original Bergl Chevrolet still on the back of it. Remember they were located on Cermak Rd in Cicero. They closed in 1970 and sold the ticket to Jack Phelan Chevrolet where I started in the car business.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Cool Pic Frank, thanks for posting.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

For those interested here is the dealer decal from Clark-Maple Chevrolet in Chicago that I said I would post.

After talking to my mechanic Gary today he told me that his late partner Frank worked at Clark-Maple for a short time before returning to Brigance. It seems that he left Brigance Chevrolet to follow Joe Seputes the Corvette mechanic from Brigance who aquired an administrative position at Clark-Maples service dept. Joe S is still with us and owns a shop called Veteran Automotive in IL. I have known of him for years and never knew that he was a long time Brigance tech as well. Joe preforms many NCRS level Corvette restorations today.

http://216.136.200.194/auction/Jan/2...5652840061.jpg

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

I just love those dealer decals and emblems!...BKH

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Me too.....It would be nice if whoever has any type of dealer badge/decal/license frames to please share with us all.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

My LS-6 was sold new at Brigance,The address on the build sheet says charged to 15W chicago ave Oak Park and shipped to 6558 w Grand Ave Chicago Il. I grew up in Elmwood Park and still go back to Johnnies when the line isnt a block long.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

John,
I was digging through some old magazines circa 1982 and found a Brigance sold 1968 L89 Camaro featured. Not too many of those produced.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Frank M.
Any luck with getting that Brigance Decal repoduced?

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Stefano it seems like Brigance is one of those dealers that is not talked much about. I rember growing up this was definetly known as a high performance dealer. I am sure there are many cool cars sold out of there.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

With all the Hot Muscle cars that they did sell, I am surprised that they didn't find out about the COPO Super Car process.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Rick it is funny that you mentioned it. I talked to my friend Bill who has the sticker and I think that I might be able to get ahold of it this weekend. I know that I will have to get a copy for most of our Chi-town members [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] and ssl78 I will definately get you one to put on your LS-6.

The mechanic Frank that I mentioned in an above post that worked there told me that he bought a brand new 69 SS L78 Camaro in LeMans Blue brand new from there and traded it in on a brand new 1970 Chevelle LS5 454 black with white stripes that he used as a tow car for his boat!! Gary my mechanic that worked there told me that they sold many hi performance cars their and remembers that when he worked in the office in the late 60's swipeing all of those protecto-plates on the hi-po cars when they were in after they broke from being beat on! He told me that he remembers cars comming in on tow trucks that still had the white shoe polish on the windows from cars that came from the race track. Even though the cars were blown up or broken while racing he said that the service manager would say "Fix it, she's under warranty!" [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

Just found this quote:
"The very first thing we do is get the people into the car and have them drive it. We have a demonstrator ready to go......what people are looking for is performance. We put them out in the automobile and we tell them to floor it, pass somebody and the engine sells itself. The 305 has the performance that people are looking for. It's all the power they need," says Ed Conforti, FENCL-TUFO CHEVROLET.

From PRO (Chev. Dealer Productivity publication) on 'Selling Tips on 305 V8', January 1977.

Things had changed since 1969! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

One of my Fondest memories as a young boy/Teen,back then,was Fencl-Tufo's commercials.
They were known as"The Monster Dealer",and used very intrique Monster hand puppets in their Advertising..
Those damn Puppets were Scary and Hillarious at the same time.I can still see them in my Sleep! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

Didn't they also have an Elvis type song and called themselves Chevy City ??? Or was that a different dealer all together...

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

I could swear that I have heard that name Ed Conforti as still being active in the car biz. (Their are a lot of these old war horse car guys still around in the Chi-Town car market!) I went to high school with a guy that has the same name. (could be his son?) Fencil-Tufo must have been open for a while because when I was looking for a Monte Carlo SS I looked at an all original 1988 that had the window sticker and Fencil Tofo was the selling dealer. I think that they went out of business because of some sort of illegal activities or bad business practices?

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

I noticed that my posted pics disappeared of the Brigance decal, and Clark Maple decal since that crappy pic host site I used went out of business. I will re post them along with a couple of new ones for any site member or surfer that happens to have a car from one of these dealers and would like to see the dealer decal.

Brigance Chevrolet, Oak Park, IL dealer decal

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

Clark Maple Chevrolet, Chicago IL (North side)

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

Here is a dealer that I never heard of called Circle Chevrolet. They were on the South side of Chi-town on Racine and something or other. The car that this sticker was on was a 70 Nova 6 cyl that was kind of like a found in a barn story. The current owner bought the car from the original owners estate a couple of years ago. It is ALL original except for a repaint because of some body dents. The sticker was relocated to the back window after the repaint. Really neat car.

Re: Fencil Tuffo Chevrolet
 

This sticker was on a 74-75 Mailbu. The dealer is Jim Link Chevrolet which was located in La Grange IL. They went out of business in 1992. My all original Monte Carlo SS was sold new there in 1986. The dealer decal on my Monte looks similar to this one. (Still looking for plate frames though!!)

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Dick fencil was on madison Brigance on Chicago ave both in Oak Park. Fencil was also Fencil-Bogan at one time.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

I know this is an old post but i'm new to the site. I know Seputes and went to his house back in the early 70's to buy a big block cam. he uncovered the motor and pulled it out. At that time he was at brigance as vette mechanic. I remember his driver was a 70 Caprce shadow grey 454.

Re: Fencil Tuffo and Berganse Chevrolet
 

Hey John my uncle probably did the new car get ready he worked there from 60 until they closed. Tom Barkley E-mail me atPstoms@aol.