Re: Cedar Rapids COPO ?
Carl, Do you still own this car? My dad worked at a machine shop on the south side of Cedar Rapids in the early 70's and use to tell me a story about a Yenko that I never got tired of hearing. I'm assuming it was about this car, but, who knows? This is how I remember it anyway: Dad worked with a guy who was always bragging how fast his 68 4 speed SS 396 Camaro was. Dad drove a 68 Highland Green Mustang GT with a 390 in it and the Camaro could usually outrun him by a car length or so in a stop light to stop light race. One of the guys in the machine shop knew the guy with the Yenko(Kenny?) through a friend of a friend so they asked the 68 owner if he ever raced the Yenko. Everybody knew the Yenko was the fastest car in town so they got a good laugh when the 68 owner said that they had indeed raced several times and it was usually a toss-up who won, depending who got off the line first. Since everybody figured it was a lie, they decided to call his bluff and see what the Camaro was made of. The guy who knew Kenny got word to him about the stories the 68 owner was spreading to see if he wanted to put him in his place. A night was picked for the shootout and everybody knew about it except the 68 owner. Dad conveniently asked him for a ride to work that afternoon so he could get word back to the rest of the guys in the shop about the outcome that night. On the way home as they pulled up to the light the Yenko pulled up beside them and revved up the engine offering a challenge. The 68 owner revved his engine to answer the challenge, dad said the poor guy actually thought he had a chance. I'm sure most of you know exactly what happened next. When the light turned green the Yenko blew out of the hole and destroyed the poor 68 by several car lengths in a matter of seconds. Dad said the guy didn't even get out of first gear before he gave up, let off and took dad home without saying a word! That ended the stories about how fast the 68 was made enough of an impression on my father that he shared the story with me several times over the next 20 years. I always wondered if the story true or not, but, after reading this thread I think it actually might be? I hope so because I still have as much fascination with muscle cars today as I did 30 years ago the first time I heard it.
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