New Yenko book, HELP!!!

[hvychev]

Les,

No disrespect to automotive authors intended. I just feel that in this particuliar case special care needs to be taken to insure that the historical facts presented in this book should be just that. Facts. Les, I will PM you more. No need to drag this out as a negative thing in public, as I did not intend for that to happen.

Just for the hell of it I feel I should say this. I urged Joey Barr a long time ago that if there were someone that should "write the book" so to speak on Don Yenko and Yenko Sportscars, it should be him. First off, he has the educational background and creative writing ability to actually write it, as well as an unmatched treasure trove of mostly never before seen original Yenko related photographs and material. Not to mention the historical and other knowledge required for such an undertaking. With contributions by people such as Brian Henderson and Marlin Spotts I would imagine that a book like that could be the ultimate Yenko story.

[Les Quam]

No disrepect taken Frank and I too know how careless automotive journalism can be catastrophic to a cars history and subsequent value. I was simply trying to say we should take each writer on a case by case basis or person by person basis as opposed to a general statement to all the automotive writers who write books and articles.

Clearly we should hold automotive writers accountable for their "facts" because with the value of these cars today inaccurate facts can be an enormous problem. People seem to think if they see it in print it has to be true and more often then not muscle magazine articles and books are laced with inaccuracies. I collect old muscle car mags as a hobby and some of the articles are just hilarious in regard to their inaccurate information. I think we are on the same page in that we both strongly agree automotive writers have a responsibilty to their readers to check and double check their facts.

Unfortunately rarely do the expert restorers like Brian write books or give away the secrets of their trade. I have never met Bob and can't remember any of his work but just wanted to clarify that many automotive writers do work very very hard to do a good job and research their work as much as writers in other fields, perhaps better?

[SS427]

Les, I do not think Frank was being judgemental just stating the facts. I don't care who the writer is, I think it would always be a positive thing to have someone proof their articles before they are submitted for accuracy ESPECIALLY when it pertains to a particular car or in this case a time in history. Then at the very least, that owner should at least read the rough draft before it goes to ink. As far as the Yenko history goes, I seriously doubt any one person knows everything about Don, his life and his cars and therefore it should be a group effort by some of the Yenko historians. Many so called facts about the assembly of these cars have been proven inaccurate over the years due to all the research and restorations that have been done thereby making a lot of the original information inaccurate.

Both Frank and I have had articles written or photos taken of cars we were involved with and both have had inaccuracies printed about them. In Franks case, I think the wrong name was applied to the car. I think that is all Frank was suggesting. Easier to fix beforehand than later. Bob is a great writer but he is not perfect. No one is.