The CONVINCER II

[Salvatore]

Stop stealin all our race cars!

[jannes_z-28]

Found this picture in Wheels Magazine from March 1982.
Picture is taken at Mantorp Park August 1981.



Jan

[COPO_Anders]

I´m not trying to wake this thread up again. I just want to say what I know before I forget.
When I tried to find the COPO Chevelle “The Convincer II” a few years ago I found out some things that should be known to everyone in case it is being sold in the future.
While searching for it I talked in person, or by phone, or by e-mail with three of the owners in Sweden. The first, the second, and the current owner. And I talked to a friend of another of the owners. I also talked to Joe Spino in N.J, who built the race engine for the Convincer II.
This is what I found out: The engine and transmission was not in the car when it was shipped to Sweden. And since the internals in the rearend had been substituted earlier, the rearendhousing would be the only part of the original drivetrain that COULD have come with the car.
Since the Convincer was imported to be used as a dragracecar, customs fee was not paid to the amount that it could be titled over here. When one of the owners at one point wanted to drive it in the streets, he borrowed a tag from another Chevelle and put it on the Convincer. When the police saw him coming down the street they pulled him in and told him never to use it like that again, or…. Luckily for him, they didn´t find out about the tag-situation. The strange thing is that he told me he had used the TrimTag from the other car since that Chevelle was titled using the bodynumber. I have seen the entire list of VIN´s from the 67-69 Camaro´s in Sweden and some of those are also titled using the bodynumber. So maybe that was the case with the Chevelle also. Anyway, this would mean that the TT was taken off the car and then put back on again.
Some years later another owner who also wanted to drive it in the streets pulled the VINtag and installed a tag from a very early 1969 Chevelle. That car was built in August 1968, long before the COPO Chevelles were built. This is a pity since everyone tells me about the beautiful body this cars had/has. I don´t think the hidden VIN´s has been tampered with but I can´t say for sure since I haven´t been given the chance to inspect it. The current owner knows about the tags being switched since I have told him about it. In Sweden this COPO has been called “the Convincer” but also “the Yenko Chevelle”
I have been told that the original hood was sold in the 80´s, but have not heard about any other bodyparts being sold off.

[mockingbird812]

Good (sad) info Anders. Appreciate the heads up!!

[COPO_Anders]

Here is an update on "The Convincer II": after having been repainted white pearl/dark red metallic in 1979 the car was campaigned with "Convincer IV" on both sides (look at some earlier shown black and white photos).
In 1995 it was sold to a guy in Malmö who repainted it the way it looks below, with "Idunsgatans Bil" on the doors.

Now to the news: after I spoke to the owner who had it a few years ago he has apparently sold the car to Denmark. I found this pic taken at Feringe Dragway in 1997 on Facebook a couple of days ago, and a danish guy says that the body and crome on it still is flawless. I wonder if the Cragars are the ones used in N.J. in the seventies ??
Before shipping the car to Sweden they bought a hoodscoop at Motion Performance on 12/14/77, paying $69.55 tax included. I assume that is the scoop you see on the car in this pic.

[COPO_Anders]

Yesterday I spoke to the guy in Karlstad who initially told me how to find the Convincer here in Sweden. I sent him the pic of the car in yellow paint with red and blue stripes, and asked him if this is how he remembers the car. When we talked about it an hour later he said that it was his friend who had the car repainted this way. His friend sent the Convincer to Erlings Billack (Erlings Carpaint) in Leksand in 1986 (give or take a year), and Erling must have done a good job as it still is flawless according to the Danes.
He also told me that his friend only drove the Convincer 25 miles before selling it. Racecars/musclecars wasn´t his thing !

[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/[/img]

[COPO_Anders]

The &quot;repaint&quot; in 1995 or later was obviously just putting &quot;Idunsgatans Bil&quot; on the sides of the Convincer. I thought they had done a complete repaint as I have never seen photos of the car in yellow/red/blue before.
It´s kind of sad that the owner who had the original hood sold it in the early eighties. But I guess that´s what happens to racecars, being changed over time.

[COPO_Anders]

At last a colour pic of &quot;The CONVINCER&quot; in it´s second paint scheme, taken i 1981.
Photo taken by Jan Nyrén, Motala Sweden.

[COPO_Anders]

A few days ago a pic from Mantorp Park in 1978 showed up on Facebook. It was taken by Anders Bergman. It shows the Convincer II with som some decals applied in Sweden and with a glassfiber hood.

[img]https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics...8_anders_bergm[/img]

[HappyCaptainBob]

Hello everyone, I'm late to this thread but new member.
I was there when the Convincer II was new. Peter Dedella (Peter Parts) worked at Holsey Chevrolet in JC, NJ. I knew him by picking up parts for Sip Automotive as a mechanics helper. When the car arrived it was stripped of everything including the interior. Even the battery was replaced with a motorcycle battery. The car was brought to Sip Automotive in JC where it could be transformed under the supervision of Doc San Filippo, the owner of Sip Automotive and a street racer legend in his own right. (1955 Chevy) The first thing done was the car was driven the length of the Garden State Parkway and back. This broke the engine in so it could be disassembled and blueprinted. One shock was left off the rear to help compensate for the torque passing through the posi-traction rear.
As for the robbery attempt. The car was kept in his garage with a security system outside his bedroom window. The thieves made it pass the security and into the garage undetected. Peter had the car chained to the floor so they couldn't move it. I never heard of a fire but there may have been.
Over the last 45 years I told that story many times. I purchased my first car from Holsey Chevrolet and eventually I ended up the General Sales Manager at Bell Chevrolet after it was purchased from Holsey.