[Jim Mattison]

Guys, I see that there is quite the debate on if the '68 Yenko Camaro COPO 9737 actually came with the L72 engine. Hopefully, I can help to set the record straight on this issue!

In 1968, I worked in the Chevrolet Fleet & Special Order Department that processed all COPO orders. We were the sales and marketing arm of Chevy Special Vehicles. It was also in 1968 that I first met Don Yenko. At that innitial meeting, Don wanted to get close to the person at Chevy who was handling the orders and paperwork for Yenko Sportscars, a division of Yenko Chevrolet. I was that person.

What started as a business relationship, became a real friendship between Don and I, although he was conciderably older than I was. He loved life and people and it was very easy to like him.........as he loved to party and have a good time!!! As we became friends, he confided to me many of the behind the scenes things that effected the Yenko programs.

The authorization for the 1968 Yenko Camaro (COPO 9737) came about in quite an unorthodox way, as passed-down from Ed Cole, who was the President of GM at the time, to E.M. "Pete" Estes, Chevrolet General Manager. Having those two names on anything at Chevrolet gave a project the highest priority. I later found out that the Yenko family, through Don's dad, Frank, were very close with Ed Cole.

Don told me that in a meeting that he had with Ed Cole, he proposed his idea for a "factory warranted" 427 Camaro. The conversions that his people were doing at the dealership were costing him a fortune in conversion time and warrantee expense. I don't know all of the details of the meeting, but in the end Cole told him that if he could sell half of the cars he claimed to be able to sell, Chevrolet would help him out..........however, he could not publish, nor tell anyone that the cars were actually factory produced.

Cole and Estes also wanted to be able to track these vehicles for ownership, as well as warrantee expense. They had the Chevrolet Product Planning Department issue a special engine code for the "427" engine that went into the 1968 Yenko Camaro COPO 9737. That code was "MV".

Tonawanda records show that a total of 79 engines were built in 1968 with the "MV" engine code. I don't know if all of these engines went into vehicles (some were held for warrantee), but I do know that they were (L72) 427's.

The success of the 1968 Yenko Camaro opened the door for the 1969 COPO program......... and as they say "the rest is history".

I apologize for the lengthy post.

Jim Mattison