Fake yenko!!!!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Originally Posted by Steve Shauger

Bill I couldn't agree more. His points are misdirected and after several owners and 20+ years the information presented by present owner video may be based on what he was told by two previous owner or what he has uncovered.

Attacking someone you sold the car two 20 + plus years ago is not prudent or productive.

I need to contact Marlin who is the Yenko Nova authority/historian. I lost his contact and if anyone has it please pm or text.....

Hi Steve!

I read through the discussion and don't really see any 'new' information about this particular Nova. The story has been that the orig owner ordered it with additional options and special paint that was outside of the Chevy colors, this is a bit unusual in that most '-' paint codes on '69 Nova's were to get a Corvette / Chevelle / Camaro color. The color written on the order form is 'Nutmeg', we can debate whether a Cad color was eventually sprayed with a special gun or not, but that is what is listed on the paperwork.

It appears that the question is whether this specific car was initially intended to receive a 427 conversion, and thus was added to a block of cars that Yenko was already ordering for conversion, tuned 396 or stock. This is impossible to answer obviously because nobody knows Yenko's motivation for ordering various inventory, we know he did some radical conversions on the '67 Superman Camaro so anything is possible if/when a buyer steps up - but its not possible to determine his motives for ordering cars.

However....if you look at the data that has been collected, especially after we got the data from the LB 427 Nova found in WI a couple of years ago, there does now appear to be some logic which has only fueled additional questions, as it typically does.

Putting aside this nutmeg car and the PGN a/t car, and just looking at the 9 cars that have been found indicates that there appears to be at least 2 distinct 'blocks' of Nova's ordered by Yenko per build week; 5 in one week and 4 in another. There also appears to be a VERY significant difference between these two blocks.


1. This first block of '69 Nova's were built in 01A, and we know of 5 of them. These 5 have VIN's ranging from 393985 - 394331. There are 4 additional VIN's for Nova's that have not been found that are also within that range of found cars, so we conclude that there are at least 9 Nova's built in 01A.

It should also be noted that 2 of these 4 unfound cars were never titled in PA, that becomes important at some point for these cars....

The LB car from WI is one of the 5 found cars in 01A, and the trim tag data from that car showed a clear indicator - to me at least!! The BDY numbers for those 5 cars end as follows in order of VIN sequence: 254965, 952, 954, 955, & 956. I don't think it is a mere coincidence that these BDY numbers are sequential. The Nova with BDY ending in 953 belongs in this data set as well, and it is known that all of the COPO cars ordered by Yenko (and some other dealers) have sequential BDY numbers. I don't know if non-COPO cars would also have sequential BDY #'s. However, it reported / documented that these 5 cars all have BV rears, and cars built after 01A have been found with BT (3.55's) rears. So, the question that we have been trying to answer is whether the initial block of Nova's ordered by Yenko included a COPO for BV rears with 4.10 gears which apparently was no longer available for Nova's in '69, and thus documents his motive that these cars were intended to be 427 conversions. This doesn't mean they were all converted, but could indicate that he ordered them with a COPO rear gearset to coincide with the intended L72.

Note that none of these 5 cars were sold from Yenko Chev, only via other dealers - including the 'first' one that was resold through Hugh White Chev in OH.

2. The second batch of cars appears to be 04B. 4 of the found cars were built in 04B and using VIN extrapolation we could easily add 3 more. These BDY numbers are close but not sequential - they could become such if more data were available, but.... The key is that these 4 cars were all reported to be non-converted, have BT rears and were sold from Yenko. I'm sure Yenko sold some converted Novas, but the data indicates that other dealers sold them.

The majority of the remaining VIN's could very easily be included in these two build weeks and strengthen the case that there were but 2 blocks of cars ordered, one of which could have included a COPO for the BV rears, but I'd like more data before doing so.

So, where do the Nutmeg and PGN cars fit into these two blocks? Well, they don't really!

The PGN car was built in 02D with a BDY # (226913) well outside the range of the 01A cars, and its an a/t with a 3.55 gear. We'll leave it stand on its own in term of significance.

The Nutmeg car was built in 04D with a BDY # (393464) well outside the range of the 04B cars, and I believe it was a 3.55 gear. I remember looking at it when the OP had it at the WoW show in Pittsburgh and thought it was a neat car, but was far more interested in Joe's Harrell Chevelle that day! Brian however had done some homework on the car and believed it to be something unique. The story of it being converted later by Yenko's mechanic at his home was interesting, but where did the part about it being 'intended for an L72 conversion' come from - especially since it was built so much later than the other 'found' Nova's? Well, converted cars in '67 / '68 that were sold at Yenko apparently received a $500 credit, presumably for their L78 short block assy and perhaps just a general discount. The original paperwork for the Nutmeg car shows a $500 discount. One can debate whether this discount is specific for a short block and thus indicates an intended conversion - or not. But, it is a bit unusual to offer such a steep discount on a special ordered car since its already 'sold' so to speak, and the logic is that the discount was a predicate for the intended conversion.

Note, this is first time sharing this BLD & BDY info in public. I've only partially shared this M.Miller, J.Barr and Schoneye for discussion purposes as we have been trying to figure out the BV vs BT and whether a COPO was involved. So, flame away if you want to, but you are all welcome to gather your own data, compile it into information, test a hypothesis and if you're bold enough - share your conclusions with the rest of us!