My SCR7 two cents

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

This has been discussed at length on other threads, so I'll try to give the 'cliffs notes' version.

All of the 175 Yenko Deuces were built in 3 consecutive weeks, but in two distinct orders. The cars were ready to ship to Canonsburg, but where was Don going to put 175 Novas in addition to his other new car inventory, his used car inventory, and his leftover inventory? And how was he going to convert 175 cars that had a more complicated stripe pattern than the '69's, needed a wheel change (not a wheel & tire change, just the wheels, so they all had to be broken down to reinstall the whitewall tires!), needed three holes drilled into the hood and install and wire the hood tach, install the emblems and door panel decals, and any additional options like sport mirrors, dual gate shifters, custom steering wheels, etc.... Think about 175 cars lined up nose to tail, and you can see where this can be quite a task. Don't forget that dealers were initially clamoring the for 'The Deuce' and they needed to be shipped asap. How many kids, local garages, spare employees, etc... could Don get to do this work?

It is our understanding that the entire second order of 50 Yenko Deuces were sent directly to Hurst in Detroit to perform this work. It was not a case where Hurst was trying to get into the Nova business, he was just a subcontractor to Don. To our knowledge, Hurst did not install his wheels on any of the cars, nor did any of them receive the 'HURST Equipped' badges when new.

When Hurst completed the conversions, the Deuces were either drop-shipped to the receiving dealer or shipped to Yenko in Canonsburg to await transfer to a particpating dealer. So, it's possible that some of the cars never saw Canonsburg, however, the MSO is still Yenko not Hurst, Kidder, or Douglass. The cars received an HYS-### stock number instead of the normal YS-### stock number to signify that the car was converted by Hurst.

The '67 Yenko Camaros were done similarly. Harrell did the conversions for Yenko, and those cars also may never have seen Canonsburg. If you have ever been to the original dealership, you will have a better understanding where 175 Novas won't fit!

[Supercar_Kid]

I agree the wheels on the orange car in the '71 photos could definietly be something other than Hurst Dazzlers. The rim doesn't appear to be wearing a trim ring either, it looks to me like it's chrome plated or highly polished aluminum. I don't think they're Keystones, at least not Klassics anyhow, so what are they? Who holds the original print of this period photo, I think it would probably be much clearer if we could see the actual print in person. This is certainly an interesting question I'd like to hear a definitive answer to.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

The original print was to accompany the car through successive owners, Mark should have gotten those pics when he recieved the car. If not, Belk was the person who initially received the pics from the original owner's family member.

I initially thought that they were Hurst wheels, just didn't have the trim rings installed in that pic. In the '71 pic it appears to have the rings.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Just to clarify, I believe Belk kept the pictures with the car, and they may have since been separated.

[DaJudge]

That's a cool tie in regarding the Deuces and Hurst. Hurst Performance in Warminster, PA was down the road from where I grew up. My father was an executive VP of First Pennsylvania Bank back then and met George Hurst. The Hurst execs had special parking spaces close to the front door, it was very common to see a half dozen Hurst Olds cars in those spots. Way cool that even the execs were into these cars back in the day. There was also a dealer down the street called Paul Oldsmobile and they sold a bunch of Hurst Olds. The Hurst plant is now a plastic tubing manufacturing plant I believe. There is an old Naval airbase across the street and word has it that a bunch of reject Hurst wheels and shifters were used as back fill when the base was constructing a runway. If I had a late build Deuce I would definetely put some Hurst wheels on it, The orange in the video looks great with them

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Double H plastics on Street Rd across from the Johnsville base.

I spoke to Campbell who ran the Warminster plant, and the deuces never came there according to him. In fact, the other Hurst involved cars didn't come there either for any conversion work. He remembers that the Hemi under glass would visit occasionally, but that was about it. They were a mfg plant, and apparently stuck to mfg. I think Dennis Kirban got a lot of stuff from the plant when they were shutting down.

[DaJudge]

That was a sad day when they closed the Warminster plant. They had a side entrance for shifter parts and rebuilds. You could go there and get your shifter rebuilt for about $25.00. I had mine redone on my 69 Judge when I was 18. I did not mean the cars were converted there, it was just really cool to see Hurst Olds parked out front. Kirban lives about 2 miles from me and he has an extensive Hurst collection. I used to buy GTO parts from him and he had his basement lined with all kinds of Hurst and GTO. goodies.

[fuzzbuster]

I am going to help everyone out with this discussion of Mark's Nova and "THE GREAT HURST WHEEL DEBATE". (LOL, LOL)First, seeing as how this orange Deuce has had several owners over its life, as soon as Mark got the car home, he wanted to personalize it to his taste, and set the car apart from others. Knowing that this is a "HURST PREPARED" Deuce, I noted, that it would be a great new look for the car, if it had "HURST MAGS" on it. Take the "Hurst Mags", and add "skinnys" on the front and "fatties" on the back, giving the car a sweet "almost Day 2" look. Through Mark and our connections, we were able to track down a set of ORIGINAL 14x6 mags, that would fit the car. The mags were on a 1965 GTO convertible, the owner of the GTO was dying from cancer and sold the GTO, keeping the mags. The mags are original, NOT REPO (ORIGINAL CENTER CAPS AND TRIM RINGS) as there is a tremendous difference from originals and repos. We were able to strike a deal and the wheels were bought. The owner of the mags gave Mark ALL the paperwork concerning the wheels. He said he bought the wheels back in the late 1970's early 1980's from a "wheel guy". He had the complete instruction manual, warranty card, maintenance paperwork, etc. Not only was it great to be able to buy the mags, but how often do you get paperwork and documentation with them. Also the guy gave me the original "Hurst Equipped" badge. When you bought a BRAND NEW set of Hurst Mags, they included this emblem. If you noticed the car at the reunion, Mark had a lot of the paperwork on display, with the car. Mark's Nova already had a "Hurst Equipped" emblem on the deck lid, so it was neat how everything went together. I then cleaned them up and we mounted them on the Nova for the reunion. Mark is NOT trying to say that the wheels came on the car from Hurst, nor is he trying to say that "Hurst prepared" Novas had these wheels or "Hurst Equipped" emblems, on them from Hurst. All he is trying to do is personalize the car for himself and give the car a "Period correct" look. We were anxious to see what the "Nova Guys" thought about the new look, (we weren't trying to make anyone mad). When we pulled the car out of the trailer and Marlin came over with his paperwork pertaining to the car, Marlin said that he had pictures of this car from 1971, with WHAT APPEARED TO BE- HURST MAGS. (I would like to thank Marlin and his expertise on this car, Mark and I learned a lot.) The car in the 1971 picture had "skinny" Polyglas with mags on the front and and "fatty" Polyglas on the back. We did not know this, prior to this time. As Mark is still waiting on the rest of the paperwork for the car. Just the possibility that the car "COULD OF HAD" Hurst Mags on it in 1971, and now they are back on it again, (thanks to Marlin's incite) was awesome to know. It also appeared from the pictures that Marlin had, that the Nova was "Day 2" as soon as the original owner got it home. He painted the underside white (or what appear to be white), junked the original wheels and tires and in favor of mags. We know the car was sold new from "Marv Minimun" Chevrolet in Warren, Ohio. We also know that the original owner lives (and possibly still lives) in Cortland, Ohio. Cortland is about 25 minutes directly South from us. What I am in the process of doing is; tracking down the original owner, and ask him about the car (mainly type of mags he added, and what the car was used for. I.E. street racing and/ or drag racing). Like I said before, Mark is still waiting for the rest of the paperwork to come, if Marlin or Balc(-spelling) has the original owner's name, that would be a great start and save a lot of time on my part. Then maybe I could find out for sure, all the answers to our questions. Thank you for all your inquiries about the car, and many thanks to Marlin. The "Hurst Mags" are going to stay, irreguardless if the original owner states it had something else. They finish the car-and make it Marks' (even the Motion is jealous). Thanks again to everyone!!! Hope all the Pontiac guys don't get mad that the sacred "Hurst Mags" are on a Chevy-LOL!!!
-Later

[camarojoe]

Just for the record, Its actually Marve Minneman Chevrolet, 4695 Mahoning Ave in Youngstown OH.