69 Yenko 427 Nova Question

[ed427vette]

Does anyone know why that particular car has the flat hood instead of the hood with the grills? Nonetheless it is a real beauty. Thanks for the replies guys.

[COPO]

I believe Roger Gibson restored the car and was convinced it was not an SS car hence no SS hood. I think this is still somewhat controversial as to whether or not the Yenko Nova's were SS models.

[REDZ]

You're right about the controversy concerning this being a non-SS car. If my feeble memory is correct, several years ago, when this car was featured in a few magazines, Gibson and Chandler were touting it to be a non-SS and possibly a COPO car based on something Gibson found on the build sheet. I had a lot of interest at the time in this car because we were in the middle of a partial restoration on the Rallye Green car that I had purchased from Carl Dwiggins which I eventually sold to Reggie Jackson. So I called Jim Mattison, who as you know, worked in the COPO office in the late sixties, to see what he thought about the COPO claims for Chandler's car. Jim said he was certain that there weren't any factory-built 427 Nova's and he also felt that all of the Yenko conversion Nova's were definitely SS cars. I never heard of anyone actually seeing the paperwork that would backup Gibson's COPO claim, so the mystery of the flat hood and no SS emblems is, to my knowledge, still unresolved

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

In speaking with Greg Joseph a few weeks ago regarding this particular car, he apparently was misquoted by the magazine when they claimed that he thought the car to be a COPO 427. The Otis 'crew' felt that the car was a COPO 396/375hp non-SS car. They felt that the broadcast sheet should have had a designator for the SS package, (RPOZ26 or Z27 I believe). This broadcast sheet did not have such a code, and when the car was found it did not have it's entire SS ornaments. The final result is that they felt the car was a non-SS L78 car, which could only be explained by being a COPO. They did not feel that it was a COPO 427 car, the magazines were much more eager to make that claim and print it under someone elses name!

It is one of the few cars remaining out of approximately 30-37 produced by Yenko in '69.

Wish I coud find one!!
Marlin

[Edited by YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY (09-20-2000 at 09:56 AM).]

[bbdon]

I have seen Broadcast sheets for a few 1969 SS Novas, and none of them list an SS option. Looking at the assembly manual, the instructions for L34 and L78 point to the assembly instructions for L48, which call for the SS trim to be added. Note that I am not trying to say anything specific about the Yenko in question, since I have never seen it in person, and there is always the possibility that it was not built per the usual rules. But per the normal process used at the time, any L78 car would get the SS trim, and no Z26 code would have appeared on the broadcast sheet. But I have seen a 1970 Nova broadcast sheet with a Z26 code, so go figure. The broadcast sheets that I have seen are all from the Willow Run plant. These sheets were small, and did not have many spaces to list option codes, so I will conjecture that they were not listing some redundant codes to leave more open spaces on the form.

[JoeC]

You can see pics and read some history on the car at Kevin's site. They claim it was the first 427 Yenko Nova so maybe Yenko just pulled a non SS car off the lot and converted it although they do say it was a 396/375 car. If it was built as a COPO 396/375 you would think it would still have the SS trim like the COPO Chevelles did. It would be interesting to see what the rear end code is - if the original one is still in the car. He has a fantastic collection of cars. Does he have an e-mail address or someone who will answer some questions on the cars?
http://www.corvettes-musclecars.com/1-GM.htm


[Edited by JoeC (09-16-2000 at 08:57 AM).]

[Charley Lillard]

You can Email to that site and Kevin will recieve it. Go to the home page and email the web page designer Dennis Gilbert. I believe the mail gets forwarded to Kevin. Or if you look at the cars for sale page his # is listed.