The first X44 Yenko?

[COPO PETE]

When you guys get this figured out, you can help me with which came first, the chicken or the egg. In my business this would be great to have documentation on
Peter

[COPO]

There is a guy on the camaros.net board w/user name JohnZ. He has extensive knowledge of this process as he was a plant manager for Chev. He explained the sequence earlier on the camaro board. Can't recall it exactly.

Also on the copo.com board when Ed C was unsure of the original selling dealership, he would list it as Yenko Chev. The was the case on my Colonial sold Yenko Camaro.

[Edited by COPO (06-22-2001 at 08:01 AM).]

[Unreal]

A bit off track from Brian's X44 question, But KurtS mentioned an X11 Yenko. Would an X11 Yenko have wheel well trim, quarter louver trim, drip rail moulding? i've seem pictures of "Yenkos" with this, but didn't know if any were actually produced that way.

[Kurt S]

The order process is documented, there is a sheet that was provided to the dealers describing how the orders were processed.

The order was placed and when it was accepted, the # which we call the body # was assigned.
When that car was able to fit into the build mix, it was scheduled. Body tag was stamped and attached to the firewall and body was built up.
When the body passed thru the wall out of Fisher, it was put into a queue for sequencing. This was so certain operations were overloaded, basically spacing the cars out, eg don't want to many convertibles in a row or AC cars, etc. In this queue, the VIN was assigned.
Proof the VIN was assigned here is the broadcast sheets all have the VIN on them. And they needed the VIN so they could sequence and stamp the engine and trans.

Marlin,
No way the cars would be scheduled if the parts weren't there or else due in a day or two and would be there when needed. They didn't schedule the body #'s in order. This topic helps show that. And once the car was started being built, it went the whole way thru the line. It would be chaos otherwise.

Denis,
Body #'s were assigned by body style and interior in LA only in 67 and by body style in LA in 68. Norwood assigned 67-8 body #'s irrespective of the body style.

454,
All 68-9 Camaro got a 124-7 trim tag, even L6 cars. The engine didn't affect Fisher Body so it wasn't coded. Should be the same with Nova's.

Charlie,
JohnZ worked for Chev back in 69, but he was the plant manager at a competitor (big hint is look at his email ID).

Unreal,
I said it was an X11 COPO, not an X11 Yenko.

Kurt

[COPO PETE]

I believe Don's personal car was an X11 car and yes it had the wheel well trim and louvers as well as the drip moulding trim. Brian, I believe can confirm this! I'm curious as to how many other Yenko's came this way. My orange COPO is a X11 car and my white COPO is a X44.
Peter

[Chevy454]

Kurt:

I did some checking, and everything I can find in my books and on the internet shows that both the VIN # and the trim tag on Camaros/Novas used either a 3 (L6) or a 4 (V-8). Now, I'm not saying that any of the info I found was correct, just telling you what I found.

So, let me see if I read the above correctly: you are saying that neither Novas or Camaros can be determined to have came originally with an L6 or a V-8 by just looking at the trim tag?

When were the VIN #s stamped on the bodies? Were they stamped AFTER the car was assembled, or on the sheet metal prior to assembly?

[Edited by Chevy454 (06-22-2001 at 11:21 AM).]

[Kurt S]

454,
Yes, you can't tell if it's a V8 or L6 by the trim tag.
Probably the most frequent question the CRG site gets. I think it's under the 'Decoding' section of the site. I'm going to have it made into it's own section to highlight it.

The VIN was stamped on the firewall and cowl after paint, but before assembly. That's why those #'s are often rusty.