Meet the Mean Ones!

[Supercar_Kid]

I was just looking over one of the repro "MEET THE MEAN ONES!" ad fliers that were given out at the SCR7, and a few things caught my eye that I hadn't given much notice to before. it's interesting to note that the Chevelle doesn't show the SS hood, which makes me think Don may have had no idea that the COPO cars would receive it as part of the package. He may have assumed they'd arrive looking just like 6 cyl Malibus. I know he did charge an extra $150 on his own hand typed window stickers for the "Super Sport Hood, Grille, Rear Panel, and Special Rear Sway Bars" that GM included already in the COPO package.

The Nova also shows no SS hood louvers, perhaps Don was expecting GM to honor a COPO for the L-72 Nova as well, and expected it to be in base trim. It makes me wonder what Don looked at when he did these sketches, or when they were created, before or after he started receiving the actual COPO ordered cars. By the level of detail depicted, 3 screws holding in the parking lights in the Camaro, and the headlights reflecting in the front bumper of the Chevelle, it makes me belive he was at least looking at photos of real 69 models when he sketched it, whether they were COPOs or not isn't very clear.

Also interesting to note, no grille emblems in any of the cars, bowties or otherwise, which would lead me to belive it was always his intention to remove any factory front end identification, whatever it may be. The Camaro shows Yenko crests on the fender above the Camaro script, and numerals within the rear bowtie, the configuration that was used on the gold demo car. The 427s appear on the hood though, not on the fenders like the demo car. The Chevelle and Nova show no emblem placement whatsoever, crests or numerals.

The Nova also has the curved rear portion of the stripe removed, and the stripe runs horizontally right to the end of the quarter, although I've never seen an actual car striped in this manner, it would look ok aesthetically considering the Nova's body lines and lack of any available rear spoiler. You can't see the end of the stripe on the Chevelle by the way it's been cropped, but I'd suspect it was originally drawn lacking the ducktail on the end as well.

What's also interesting is that some Specifications and Standard Appearance Features are noted with an (*) indicating they're features unique to the 427 Camaro only, but the front under-grille spolier lacks the (*) but the Chevelle and Nova lack any front spolier in the drawings. I'm assuming just an oversight or typo in using the (*) on this particular Camaro only feature, as I doubt Don intended to fab front spoliers for the Nova or Chevelle. Wonder if any customers complained?

Another question it raises though is the use of the 9737 included 140 mph speedometer. Why did Yenko think it was necessary in the Camaro but not the other specially ordered Chevelles and Novas? Why did GM agree to manufacture it specially for Yenko when he'd only agreed to purchase perhaps 500 Camaros at best. Will a 4.10 geared L-72 even do 140 mph on an E-70 15" tire? All of these questions arise from this simple hand drawn ad flier.

Does anyone know when these were originally printed and distributed? Tom, have the original sketches used in these ads ever surfaced amoung the estate items, and if so do you know if they were dated or signed by Don anywhere?

Anyone else notice this kind of stuff when looking at these things?

[hvychev]

You have way too much time on your hands bro......

LOL! j/k

Actually very good questions and observations Erik.

[bkhpah]

They were dealership hand outs. I have an original you can look at..BKH

[Supercar_Kid]

Can anyone help me with a timetable of when Yenko began receiving and converting the '69 COPO cars? I know the first X66 Camaros were early January '69 build dates, which makes me think they would have arrived at Yenko sometime towards the end of January early February of '69.

What are the build dates on the earliest '69 COPO Chevelles found, and how about the builds on the known '69 L-78 Novas that were used as the basis for the sYc conversions?

I'm assuming the COPO Camaros were in Canonsburg first? Does this mean Yenko got the idea to do 427 Chevelles and Novas as an afterthought to the '69 COPO Camaro?

Are Yenko's COPO Chevelles the first built? Did any other dealers receive COPO Chevelles with Sports Car Conversion and get the 15" Ralley Wheels, etc?

It's interesting that there were no known L-78 Chevelle or Nova 427 conversions done in '68, like the dozens of Camaros that were being built. It's surprising there aren't even any documented customer requests for one, with Motion and other shops doing 427 installs you'd think someone in Canonsburg would want a 427 put in something other than a Camaro in '68.

Is there any existing correspondence between Yenko and GM requesting the special sway bars and 140 speedo that the 9561/9737 Camaros would recieve? I still can't figure out why Don would think the 140 speedo was worth the extra cost of having it designed, calibrated, and implemented under his own COPO #, and if it was so important, why only on the Camaros and not on Chevelles or Novas.

Is there any paperwork from GM specifically denying a request for a factory installed L-72 in a Nova? Don claims GM wouldn't build them, but how do we know he even asked? Maybe there simply wasn't a great enough demand for them to warrant purchasing the quantity GM would require of a COPO order.

These are all interesting questions that I have never gotten a straight answer to. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Good questions, tough answers! I'll take a shot at it.

The first order of '69 COPO Camaros was the 50 X66 cars, and the earliest build date that I know of is 01B. I know that the second order of 100 cars was placed November 11, 1968 and they were built in March of '69. So, logic says that the first order of 50 was placed prior to 11/68, but... I think Ed C has the exact date.

Regardless, the earliest '69 Yenko Nova has a build date of 01A! Two of them to be exact. So, it appears that Yenko had the Nova in mind along with the Camaro. I'm not sure about the Chevelles.

[Supercar_Kid]

I guess the sketches must have been done post December 69, or Don wouldn't have even known what a cold air hood would look like. I'd bet it was before he saw a Z/28 equipped with one too, or he'd have used the rearward placement for the engine numerals like GM installed the Z/28's 302 badges.

Maybe the Camaro in the sketch IS the gold demo car, have any other 69 Yenko Camaros been documented to have received the demo car's emblem placements?

Ed Hedrick's early X66 car got the crests below the Camaro script, and the 427's on the hood, but the same tail pan treatment as the demo car with the '68 style 427 emblem placed on top of the blue bowtie. But it too has inexplicably shown up in pics with the "standard" staggered crest and 427 tail panel emblem placement. I know at least one 69 Yenko Camaro is documented to have received no Yenko fender crests at all.

I wonder at what point did Yenko develop the "standard" emblem placement we see on most Yenkos today? Was he ultimately responsible for switching the tail pan setup on Hedrick's Yenko sponsored racecar?

It seems every answer just leads me to asking more questions.

[camarojoe]

I personally always wondered why the early cars had 140 speedometers, yet there were no in-dash tachs until the May built cars...I always figured it was probably a factor of Yenko being "cheap" and assuming he could install SW units cheaper than GM would sell him a factory in-dash tach, but doesn't explain why there was ever such an item as a speedometer that read to 140mph... Even more odd is the fact that the 68 L78 COPOs had these 140 mph units too.

[sYc]

My guess would be Don's road race mentality. After all, COPO 9737 is more of a road race type package then a drag race package.

[JoeC]

hard to say why Don did some of the things he did but also some things may have been directed by Chevy engineering. As Tom said Yenko was always thinking SCCA road racing and the Yenko Camaros were sort of like 427cuin Z/28s. Maybe Chevy engineering designed the car for high speed use like the COPO police cars which also had 140 speedos. Maybe Chevy wanted it in the COPO Camaro but then why didn't the Chevelle get the 140 speedo?
I am still trying to figure out why Don ordered rear antenna on the Yenko Chevelles.

[Supercar_Kid]

[ QUOTE ]
I am still trying to figure out why Don ordered rear antenna on the Yenko Chevelles.

[/ QUOTE ] Maybe just because it looked cool and was what Don was used to having on his Corvettes?