Gold Yenko at Mecum sets record

[turbojet427]

Joe Barr and I are on the same page. May not be the earliest VIN or Body #, but because of the uniqueness of emblem locations and bolt on items.

[turbojet427]

The cars were most likely sitting in a holding lot and they grabbed one to do start. Highly unlikely they were worried about VIN sequence as a determining factor.

[JoeC]

Hard to say what happened but the rear bow tie 427 emblem is a bit odd.

The 1968 Yenko used a Yenko 427 emblem and Yenko crest so seems logical to do the same on the 1969s as shown in many original photos

What is interesting is the DY Ed Hedrick Yenko had the rear bow tie 427 emblem same as the OG drag special.

Ed's car was built with the standard 1969 emblems as shown in early photos of Ed's car.
Ed changed it after the car was hit in the back

Same thing may have happened to the OG drag special
The OG drag special was a demo on the road a few months and thousands of miles before the drag test.

Again , hard to say what happened especially with a demo car.

[JoeC]

A LB Yenko Camaro is said to be the earliest vin

here is a page from American Muscle Car Museum in Melbourne

They posted the info from Mecum where it was was said to be the "development mule and test car "

The OG drag special is about 17th 1969 Yenko Camaro by vin number?

Would Yenko Chev have recieved 17 COPO 427 Camaros on the same day?

[turbojet427]

Who knows for sure. Who knows how many were delivered over how many days. How long did they sit before they started to dealer prep and convert? I know my vinyl guy isnt always on schedule. It makes logical sense that Cliffs gold car was the first one simply because of the uniqueness of the bolt on items.

I couldn't imagine these new dealer installed L72 copo cars getting delivered and a few didn't get driven as test mules, especially being a brand new idea AND how simple it is to "keep the miles off." Haha.

[lycan]

Originally Posted by JoeC

I don't know where the "prototype" name came from but when Cliff bought the car in 1987 , there was not a lot of information about the Yenko cars.

There were a few articles in MCR and Super Chevy from about 1982.

I remember some people thought that Cliff's car was the first 1969 to get the Yenko stripes and emblems because the fender emblems were installed like a 1968 Yenko Camaro.
(1968 Yenko Camaro had 427 emblems on the fenders , 1969 Yenko Camaro had the 427 emblems on the hood)

The theory didn't make sense when it was shown how many cars were before Cliff's gold car.

Don called the car the "Yenko 427 Drag Special" in an ad and called it a "demonstrator" in the Yenko press release.

Originally Posted by bergy

Remember that “conversion” didn’t involve a 396 to 427 swap like in 67 and 68. Just bolt on stuff and decals.

for context ... i think this is right?

The discussion/debate is not over which '69 Camaro received a "full" motor swap conversion, because by 1969 Yenko was using the COPO channel for factory-installed L72s (unlike '67 and '68).

So the debate is over which '69 car was the "first" to receive Yenko emblems and decals? (and bolt-on headers)

If that's accurate, seems to me that the Yenko dealership could have added emblems and decals to several cars on the very same day, no matter the actual delivery order. Maybe using some emblems left-over from '68, on one of the cars but not necessarily the "first". Several mechanics adding several emblems on the same day ... who knows the "order"?


fwiw

[mprice]

I doubt it will ever be settled which car was the first converted from a copo to a Yenko but in my book this car warrants the top spot just because of it being the test car for the Super Stock article. All the gold cars were ordered in that first batch produced January 2nd week. Also along with that order was the other groups of 10 produced in the other colors as was one of my orange cars. Not that it matters but I personally never placed any higher value on any car being the first or the last.

[JoeC]

In the 1987 MCR interview with Don Yenko, they have some nice original photos.

The caption says the early cars had different Yenko crest emblem locations.

The caption also says some cars had embossed head rests.

It is a great interview but here are inaccuracies in that article

[Pro Stock John]

Definitely a special one given the magazine coverage and I'm sure some extra tuning and whatnot.

Tenney's GTO for example, test car, it was amazing to see it in person at MCACN.

[Xplantdad]

Originally Posted by TarheelRyan

I have a good friend that works at a tech company most of us use on a daily basis. He told me last night that search traffic for “Yenko Camaro” in the past 5 days was greater than the preceding 15 years. Regardless of what anyone thinks about the car or the price paid, it has definitely garnered a lot of attention to the brand.

Amen...and we have a young ambassador carrying the torch forward (so to speak )