Meet the Mean Ones!

[Supercar_Kid]

I was just looking over one of the repro "MEET THE MEAN ONES!" ad fliers that were given out at the SCR7, and a few things caught my eye that I hadn't given much notice to before. it's interesting to note that the Chevelle doesn't show the SS hood, which makes me think Don may have had no idea that the COPO cars would receive it as part of the package. He may have assumed they'd arrive looking just like 6 cyl Malibus. I know he did charge an extra $150 on his own hand typed window stickers for the "Super Sport Hood, Grille, Rear Panel, and Special Rear Sway Bars" that GM included already in the COPO package.

The Nova also shows no SS hood louvers, perhaps Don was expecting GM to honor a COPO for the L-72 Nova as well, and expected it to be in base trim. It makes me wonder what Don looked at when he did these sketches, or when they were created, before or after he started receiving the actual COPO ordered cars. By the level of detail depicted, 3 screws holding in the parking lights in the Camaro, and the headlights reflecting in the front bumper of the Chevelle, it makes me belive he was at least looking at photos of real 69 models when he sketched it, whether they were COPOs or not isn't very clear.

Also interesting to note, no grille emblems in any of the cars, bowties or otherwise, which would lead me to belive it was always his intention to remove any factory front end identification, whatever it may be. The Camaro shows Yenko crests on the fender above the Camaro script, and numerals within the rear bowtie, the configuration that was used on the gold demo car. The 427s appear on the hood though, not on the fenders like the demo car. The Chevelle and Nova show no emblem placement whatsoever, crests or numerals.

The Nova also has the curved rear portion of the stripe removed, and the stripe runs horizontally right to the end of the quarter, although I've never seen an actual car striped in this manner, it would look ok aesthetically considering the Nova's body lines and lack of any available rear spoiler. You can't see the end of the stripe on the Chevelle by the way it's been cropped, but I'd suspect it was originally drawn lacking the ducktail on the end as well.

What's also interesting is that some Specifications and Standard Appearance Features are noted with an (*) indicating they're features unique to the 427 Camaro only, but the front under-grille spolier lacks the (*) but the Chevelle and Nova lack any front spolier in the drawings. I'm assuming just an oversight or typo in using the (*) on this particular Camaro only feature, as I doubt Don intended to fab front spoliers for the Nova or Chevelle. Wonder if any customers complained?

Another question it raises though is the use of the 9737 included 140 mph speedometer. Why did Yenko think it was necessary in the Camaro but not the other specially ordered Chevelles and Novas? Why did GM agree to manufacture it specially for Yenko when he'd only agreed to purchase perhaps 500 Camaros at best. Will a 4.10 geared L-72 even do 140 mph on an E-70 15" tire? All of these questions arise from this simple hand drawn ad flier.

Does anyone know when these were originally printed and distributed? Tom, have the original sketches used in these ads ever surfaced amoung the estate items, and if so do you know if they were dated or signed by Don anywhere?

Anyone else notice this kind of stuff when looking at these things?