68 yenko camaro

[Keith Tedford]

Joe C. is right about the build sheets. The engine codes were there in boxes 5 and 27 and the COPO code was at the bottom of the sheet. Without knowi8ng what these codes meant, you would just assume that the car had an L78 motor as listed with the rest of the options.
In our area at least the 427 Camaros and Chevelles were no secret. We found out about the COPO options in early Calendar year '69. Several dealers in the Toronto, Oshawa area sold COPO Chevelles and Camaros as did several others. Not too many could afford the cost of the car and the insurance so they didn't exactly jump off the lots. Even the L78 was not shown in the normal option lists but the hard core people knew they were available. Same with the COPO cars. GM had a lot of government agencies hounding them in those days so low key worked best in these situations. GM sure didn't seem to be hiding anything from us. GM sent him all the COPO information for ordering the cars right away.
The 4 speed cars came to the assembly plants with the clutch assembly, pilot bearing, bell housing and exhaust manifolds. The automatics came with the flex plate. Each engine had its own code. The big cars had different exhaust manifolds attached which would not fit a Chevelle chassis. Different engine code again. If everything was identical, as in the '68 Chevy II and Camaro 4 speed cars, then you got the same MQ engine in both. The 50 COPO automatic Chevy II cars in '68 were coded differently again. Then again just when everything starts to make sense GM changes the rules.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Bill;
Any update on the '68 Yenko Camaro purchase??
M

[BEAUMONTBILL]

thank you very much to all the people that e-mailed to offer there help with my 68 yenko
purchase. i have to admit that i was overmelmed by almost everyones willingness to offer advice. i am relatively new to the yenko owners family and have not met most of you yet. i have had the positive experience to meet brian henderson who was nice enough to travel hundreds of miles to help me purchase my yenko chevelle.his seemingly endless enthusiasm towards the yenko/supercar hobby is incredible. i'd also like to thank marlin spotts who i met when i purchased my first yenko, a red deuce. marlin was genuine in his efforts to help me every step of the way. his feedback and experiences haved helped more then he could imagine. chuck huber spent several e-mails with me and several phone calls talking about the 68 camaro's. omar in california talked with me at length about his experiences restoring his 68 yenko and has even offered detailed photo's of his car.there are others that e-mailed and offered there help and to everyone a heartfelt thanks. now the rest of the story....... my 68 yenko camaro is the real deal. unfortunetly when i picked up the car the owner told me the 140 mph speedometer was "stolen the night before". if anyone knows where i can get another one from please e-mail me. oh yea one more thing to get off my chest. whats the problem with vince emme? after all the helpful clues and suggestions i received i followed one which suggested i call vince.
he i was told was the guru,the man ,the one true source to look to. easy enough, i thought. after a brief introduction i told him what car i bought and asked him how i would go about having him document it for me.
the answer was quick and to the point."i was supposed to get that car. i'm not helping you at all......click,hangup,end of conversation. quite a different experience then i had had with everyone else i contacted. several people have now informed me they had similar responses. i didn't realize i was doing something wrong by calling mr emme. i was just seeking some help. oh well, live and learn. thanks again to everyone for there help. i will be starting a frame off restoration soon and will be in tennesse with my chevelle. hope to meet some of you there.

[Chevy454]

Bill:

You are not alone! That is almost the exact same response Vince gave us on our '69 Yenko Nova, only I think the word "pissed" was used somewhere in there! It sounds like you met the majority of the "true enthusiasts" first, though, and got to see that there really are people out there who are willing to help another eunthusiast out, even if it doesn't benefit their pocket book...unlike "you know who".

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Bill;
Good Luck with the car, bummer on the speedo though. Unfortunate situation with Vince.
M

[Charley Lillard]

I feel I should speak up. I have talked to Vince a few times and have never had a Problem with him. He has always been OK to me. Just my personal experience's.

[johnk]

charley;
i also have spoken with vince a few times
with no problem at all.mind you,this was way
before these cars got really popular with enthusiasts.he verified my vin for my deuce
which i bought close to 20yrs ago.i've spoken
with him probably when he first obtained the
records,& he answered any questions i had for him.like i said,this was in the early 80's.i would just like to mention that not only was this web site a great idea,enough can't be said about the people that are willing to share their information with others on the bulletin board towards any questions they might have concerning a purchase or restoration of one of these cars!
it's a FUN hobby to be enjoyed!!!i also i felt i had to speak out&would like to thank marlin for always taking the time to answer anything i could throw at him !!!&will continue to throw at him in the future!!a little common courtesy is not too much to ask for!!!