Bogus Yenko sighting at Carlise

[Chevy454]

Yenkofan & Vern B:

Those sound like some excellent ideas! We have a Shelby, and have dealt a little bit with the Shelby Registry, but I am not sure exactly how it (or toher registries, ie the Pontiac Regitry) works. It might be worth finding out, as they have been at for a while. Anyone else have any dealings with any other registries? How do THEY operate?

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LS-6 Chevelle
(450hp, M-22, 4.10 posi,
AM/FM 8-track, red w/black stripes)

[COPO]

How would you stop "clones/fakes" from registering as "real" cars? Without someone VERY knowledgeable scrutinizing the car and all of the documentation it becomes an honor system and we all know there is a lot of misrepresentation out there. There is also the strong possibility of an honest owner registering a fake/clone believing it to be a "real" car. There have been a number of fairly knowledgeable collectors that have been duped into buying replicas that were represented as original. Unless an uncorruptable source can be found like the Pontiac Historical Society which uses the factory documents a clone/fake could be registered as a real car by both honest and dishonest owners. Ideas?

[Edited by COPO (05-09-2000 at 11:09 AM).]

[sYc]

Gentlemen; Congratulations! You have just discovered why the various clubs have not released to the public information on the Yenkos and other supercars. If someone contacts us, thay have to give us the VIN #, and, if we have a doubt about the car, we ask for trim tag #'s and other info. Right now we can take this trin tag info and compare it to other records and get a good idea if the car they are looking at is legit or not, or if they just came up with the VIN number somewhere. This is how the SAAC does it. They publish the Shelby numbers and current owner, but, if you call, they will ask you for the Ford number(which they do not release) plus they ask who the previous owner(s) was. Hopefully in the future we can put together a registry along these lines. Tom

[Yenkofan]

SYC and others:
Of course the registration process and validation is the key here.
We can't let just anyone say they have a supercar and register it as such.
There must be sufficient info provided to validate the authenticity of the car.
Perhaps a knowledgeable group can set standards for each type of car.
If we can accomplish this the club will be providing a most valuable function.
I will be glad to help, but I'm new here and less knowledgeable then many.
Gary

[Vern B]

I'm not sure how many cars Tom has registered
at the moment, but maybe what we do is go back and re-register the cars and ask the owners to provide whatever documentation they
have as to the authenticity of their particular car and register it as such. If
the information is deemed undeniably reliable, then a prospective buyer is informed of that. If the information is questionable, then a prospective buyer is
informed of that. Reliability on a scale
of 1-5 with 1 being the most reliable and
5 being the least and reasons why? I have
the original title application and all title work in between and have talked to the original owner of my car and
have a notarized/signed document from him
as to it's authenticity. I've never paid the
$ 150.00 fee to the COPO Connection to
document it any further, as I am satisfied
beyond a reasonable doubt that it is correct.
Is it possible we could do a one time buy
from some of the owners of that info ie. the
COPO Connection, Deuce Registry, etc to get
it in one file? As I said last night,I understand that they probably have untold
hours in getting that info together and are
now trying to capitalize on that and I respect that. What would be nice, however
is to somehow try to get that all into one
registry. I don't have the answer, just thinking and typing it out. The more discussion on this topic there is, the closer we will come to a solution. Keep the
wheels spinning!!

[bkhpah]

For the most part Marlin and myself have the numbers for the 1969 Yenko/SC cars and the 1970 Deuces. The numbers for the 67 and 68's are harder to come by, even though we have some. The trim tag information is important as well, and will give the legit cars a very strong document to go with. The trim tag is often the most overlooked part. The information on the trim tag will reveal a great deal of info that the person wishing to clone a car would likley never understand. I am not just talking X-codes here. To give a certificate of authenticity over the phone is in my opinion worthless. Without an expert looking at the car in person it would be hard to determine if the car even exists, let alone has the majority of correct parts. Some will even change the color to a more "desireable" one in order to get a bigger buck. With restamped tags, blocks, engine parts,etc it is easy to come up with the correct looking parts at the very least. Most people in the hobby are honest I have found over the years, but some are not. That's just the way it is and will always be even if the numbers are released I'm afraid. A registry will help keep the cheats at bay. I for one am not against releasing the numbers and have helped many people with their finds. I have yet to help one person that had a good number and found the "good deal" yet. The cars that have been called in about have always had a strong past history with them and were legit. If the price is good, beware.

[sYc]

I think that we all are in agreement that something needs to be done, and the sooner the better. Here are some suggestions. One, we need to form a group of interested parties and have them meet to organize a plan of attack, and also set some guidelines, such as fees, release of information, etc. In addition, they would over see the activities related to the supercar hobby, such as the registry, reunion, web pages, etc. Second, Brian is right, the best way to document a car would be to see it in person. A good place to begin doing this would be at the supercar reunion. Each year we have experts on the various supercars in attendance. We could have the experts on the Yenkos do those, the Harrell people do those, etc. Once a car is judged to be authenic, the owner would get something stating that the car has been certified by the Supercar Registry and also, the information on the car would go into a central registry. For people who own several supercars and/or can not make the reunion, then arrangements would need to be made to go see the cars. Both ways of checking cars would require some time and money, but once done, we would have a good base to work with. Even though I know the history of my cars, I would be willing to pay to have them certified and placed in a central registry. That way, if I ever sell, buyers would not have to take my word for it that the cars are legit. It would make the cars easlier to sell and I think, would raise the price, as buyers could bid with comfidence that they were buying a legit car. Third, we need one central registry for all of the supercars. I do not care who or where it is, I would be willing to work with who ever the group chose. In conclusion, as founder and president of the Yenko Sportscar Club, I will pledge full support from the club, in an effort to get this started. Its OUR hobby, so WE should determine how it continues. NOW!!! Tom