Yenko paperwork for creating the COPO option?

[Jeff H]

Does anybody have any Yenko documents that show when Don contacted Chevrolet about creating the COPO 9561 option for the 69 Camaros? I thought I remembered seeing a post showing some of the information and I wanted to try and start a meaningful thread over at Camaros.net to help inform people who don't know the details. This made me wonder if Don had tried to set this up with Chevrolet before they created the 9560 option for the Gibb ZL1 cars.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I'm not sure when he first contacted GM, but he placed the first order for 9561's in November/December of '68. I would imagine he was discussing the 9561 option substantially before 11/68, as the labor intensive conversions were not especially cost effective for the '68's - Harrell had performed about 1/2 of the conversions in '67, but not sure he performed any of the '68's.

[Jeff H]

Yeah, the 68 COPO made me wonder about how soon he was talking to GM about the 69 427 COPO. Does anyone know the actual dates the 68 COPO option first showed up on the Camaro vs the 68 COPO Nova that Gibb talked GM into? They both seem to be very late in the 68 model run but it shows that the dealers had GM's attention and were able to get things done.

[Stefano]

The first COPO purpose built Super Car/Race Car was the Corvair Stinger in 1966. It is my opinion that Don was the Pioneer in getting GM to build special cars for racing purposes,in any volume.

Dickie started with Nickey in Early '66 and then teamed up with Don Yenko sometime in 1967. Since Don had an established open door to the factory ,it wouldn't be a stretch to think that he could have started to lobby for a factory COPO built Camaro as soon as he was aware that GM was making the big block available?

While it is not confirmed with any docs. It is possible that Don Yenko established a relationship with Dickie while he was still working with Nickey, through Span Inc.

Tom Stephani has said that his father Jack, confirmed that Don Yenko did come to the dealership to check out the Nickey operation.

Fred Gibb also obviously had the relationship to get things done with GM. There were very few dealerships across the country, which had the business and personal relationships to get these special projects done.

[sYc]

I don't think there is any doubt DY was the first to get GM to build a purpose built race car, the Stinger. But, as you try and piece the story together from there, I think you need to remember one thing, DY was into road racing, thus a BB Camaro would not be his top priority. His plan was do with GM what Carroll Shelby did with Ford. SYC=Yenko Sports Cars (Inc.)

In 1967 he still had big plans for the Stinger, but Nader killed any chance of that program succeeding. So on to the Camaro,. but even then I think he was still focused on road racing. IMO, Yenko was doing the BB conversions simply because others were doing it. And he offered the Stormer, a special equipped Z. If DY had been a drag racer, we may have seen a factory BB in '68, but the COPO for '68 was a handling package.

I think DY finally realized that he would never be able to sell a road race Camaro in the same quantities as he did the Corvair, while at the same time saw the potential sales of hi-po drag cars.

So in part, we need to thank Ralph Nader for killing the Stinger, or other wise DY might have stuck with Corvairs. It is well documented the success Yenko Stingers had on the track, and that Don had big plans for the Stinger program. Until Nader's book, the Stinger program was very successful.


BTW, to hear about the COPO program at Chevrolet from the "horse's mouth", do not miss SCR9. One of our guests will be Jim Mattison, who not only worked in the COPO department at GM, but was a good friend of Don Yenkos.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Ditto that! I know we've kicked this around before, but I firmly believe that the Yenko deuce was a Boss302 knockoff - Don loved road racing, and if he could sell enough of the deuces as insurance beaters, drag cars, streat cars, whatever.... to get them qualified for SCCA, then he would have been happy. Don wanted to run with the big boys in '70, and the SCCA guys all had 'their' own car - Shelby, Gurney, Donahue, etc... the deuce would have been the Yenko of the SCCA muscle car class!

That pic that Howie found of the deuce with the stripes installed BOSS 302 style was the clincher

I think the turbo Z was another attempt at getting his name back into SCCA racing - albeit half heartedly, as Kim Mason appears to be the main driver behind that effort.

[firstgenaddict]

Jeff,
Doesn't Kevin S have a letter pertaining to the White 68 Yenko that he has? The one that has the 67 style Vin tag inside the door jamb that is stamped "Special Drag Car" or something to that effect.

Kevin S's 68 Yenko

[Jeff H]

Yeah, that might be the paperwork I was thinking of. Didn't it show the emission's certification that GM had to get to release it as an option package? I was also under the impression that Don's reasoning for asking for that engine option was to make swapping the 427 even easier since the carb was really set up for the 427 and not the 396. It's hard to remember what you're read in the past regarding these things Don was doing with GM.

[firstgenaddict]

Yes I believe that is the paperwork with the emissions test on it, it was the 375 horse 396 (with a different suffix code...MV or ??? dont' remember) that some claimed designated it as a 427. I read somewhere else that an original owner of an unconverted 68 car with the suffix code said that with out a doubt his engine was a 396 not a 427.

[COPO_Anders]

I replied in another thread mabye a year ago, because I had read in a magazine about the -68 Yenko´s being factory built with 427 engines. I got a private message from a member saying that he had one of the six unconverted Camaros with the original 396 in it. And it had the MV code on the block.