And The Answer Is.................Colonial Chevrolet

[bkhpah]

I think that we suspected Colonial all along. I am glad you got the real answer..BKH

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Charlie;
That is excellent news!! Although we had suspicions about it being a Colonial car with military ownership, it is really nice to know for sure how the car moved around. Very nice detective work. Did you get some DMV info from the state of Virginia?? I thought that was impossible. The best part for me regarding your car is a prior quote, 'I wonder why these '302' emblems don't fit in those holes in the hood, I guess somebody misdrilled them for those '427' emblems in the glovebox'!!
Marlin

[Chevy454]

Congrats on the info, Charlie!

Just curious...did it come originally with 4.88s, or were they installed somewhere along the way? Seems like I remember reading that 4.10s and 4.56 were available on COPO cars...is that right, or did I dream that?

So, how does she run?!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Rob;
Yenko's order form to GM for the '70 COPO Novas shows '4.10' written in for the rear axle ratio, but 3 original cars have since shown up with different, but properly dated, rear gears. One of those 3 is a 4.56, the others are 3.55 and 3.73. The only explanation we have is that they ran out of the 4.10's! (None of these 3 cars are 06B's)
M

[COPO]

The question: Where did my '69 Yenko Camaro come from?

Just got a package in the mail from the DMV. It had copies of all of the old titles for my car back to the original owner who purchased it at Colonial Chevrolet in July of '69. My car has a shipping date of 3-14-69 so it looks like it sat on the lot for a bit. The original owner only had it about a year and traded it back to Colonial Chev. On the original application for title under the heading "make" is typed in Yenko Camaro. The trail started with the NY DMV and then to NC before finally ending in VA. Pretty exciting and I was awefully lucky that the paperwork was still available. Now, I need to track down some prior owners. Thanks to Brian, Marlin and Steve A. for their assistance.

One interesting note about the car's history. From 1974 to 1991 it was owned by a gentleman from upper NY state. He bought the car while he was at the Marine Corps boot camp in NC and commuted a number of times between NC and upper NY. He told me it got real expensive to go home as it was during the Arab oil embargo and he had 4.88:1 gears! Can you imagine today driving that far w/a screaming 427 and 4.88 gears?? He also raced the car on occasion and it ran high 11's w/slicks.







[Edited by COPO (05-11-2001 at 09:18 AM).]

[COPO]

Rob, I have not yet learned which gears the car came with. I have talked with the guy who owned it from 1974-1991. When he purchased the car it had 4.88's. Years later he put in 3.55 gears. If I am able to talk with some of the earlier owners that's certainly one thing I will inquire about. You are correct, typically 4.10 gear and occasionally 4.56 on the COPO's. It is likely they were 4.10's originally and the dealer or a previous owner swapped in the 4.88's.

[JoeC]

What is the rear end letter code?
BE=4:10, BW=4:56, BX=4.88 if factory installed. According to Jerry M. you could have ordered gears through the COPO system. The 4:56 was COPO 9511. He dosn't list a COPO number for the 4:88. If you have a BE then the 4:88 could have been dealer installed. Many dealers would change the gears if requested by a customer.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

JoeC;
Non orig. rear I believe, so we don't know the code.
M

[Kurt S]

There is a documented COPO ordered with a 4.56 gear from the factory. The rearend is stamped BE. Not sure how they kept is separated from the 4.10 BE's.
BW wouldn't have had the HD unit in it.

[bkhpah]

The car in question does not have its original BE at this time. That may change. The owner is looking for the original or a suitable BE replacement. As for 88's, I would say the owner changed them out. Makes for an interesting everyday gear...BKH

[GMH454]

AND thats why God invented hone overdrive units.

[Chevy454]

We had a '69 Chevelle with a 454, 400th, Dana 60. Anyway, it had 5.13s in the rear, and I used to drive it to school, and around town, as well as our back roads to those secret "racing spots". Anything over 5 miles was an adventure. As Brian said above, it was "interesting", but when you launched, WOW! It was like no other car I had ever owned! Of course the 5k stall w/trans brake might have helped a little...!

[Edited by Chevy454 (05-14-2001 at 06:39 PM).]