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  #11  
Old 01-31-2018, 04:44 PM
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William and some others have been tracking these cars for decades. CRG has a very extensive data base that they are meticulous about, but even they have some questions regarding the accuracy of a few of the 1969 Yenko Camaro VINs. Our registry on this sites has 198 ViNs, but they are not the same 198 VINs that are on the SYC “1969 Yenko” list (only a few differences). It all sounds confusing until you realize that all of the lists seem to agree on about 98.5% of the VINs. Looking at the original hand written inventory sheets - it’s easy to see why there are a few interpretation errors.
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  #12  
Old 02-03-2018, 09:30 AM
JoeC JoeC is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by William View Post
Not so fast there. The Yenko records consist of small, hand-written VINs scrawled on old accounting ledgers. Hard to read and often mis-interpreted. Back in the day there were 3 separate '69 Yenko Camaro lists that did not match. One of the cars on all three lists is a cut up drag car with a body tag that does not fit with other known Yenkos in the time frame.
The Yenko records consist of more then "small, hand-written VINs scrawled on old accounting ledgers" although there are those.

The Yenko records were in boxes stored in the second floor of the old Canonsburg building and have items from Chevy, GMAC, Car Shippers, Yenko Dealer carbon copies and other Yenko papers.
Some cars have paperwork with the vin shown multiple times others do not.

That is an interesting subject but is irrelevant to my point. What I am saying on the 201 number is that the person who came out with the 201 number changed his number to 198. (in the 1980's)

So why do people still use the 201 number? The 198 number may not be correct either but that was the corrected number from the guy who put out the 201 number.

The 201 number has no basis. People should probably just say "about 200 built" as there are some questions on the 198 number. I just think its funny how the 201 number was a mistake that was corrected 30 years ago but is still used.

201 is the number used for 1965 Z16 Chevelle production
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  #13  
Old 02-03-2018, 10:27 AM
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bergy bergy is offline
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JoeC - The different totals (198, 201, and anything in between) are derived from the actual lists of 1969 Yenko VINs that different sources have tracked over the years. If you begin with a list that has 198 VINs (maybe with a couple of transcription errors) and then discover a car that is not among the 198 VINs, but has bullet proof documents (and a VIN that may be only one digit off from a VIN on the original "198" list) - it gets added to the list. At that point, there would be 200 VINs on the list. One VIN was removed from the list because the car was located and found not to be a COPO (transcription error). These changes have been very rare - 98.5% of the VINs on the list have never been questioned. It is important to point out that the 201 number that is referenced today (not sure about the 1980s) is derived by counting actual VINs on an actual list.
So it gets confusing, but the different totals are derived from counting actual total individual VINs - not what someone once purtortedly counted on Yenko documents (without presenting the VINs of the cars that were counted).
The above information is my understanding of how the numbers have changed due to a few additions and subtractions over the years. Our site has 198 VINs listed - we have (with help from long time hobbyists) identified the other 3 VINs (and the rationale for their inclusion) that would take our total to 201.
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  #14  
Old 02-04-2018, 04:35 PM
JoeC JoeC is offline
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bergy,

As someone who was researching the Yenkos in the 1980's , I remember when the 201 number was first used then changed to 198. Then saw the 198 number used but some still used the 201.

I remember this because every time I saw it I wondered why they used 201.

The 198 plus 3 vins was used much later so that is not why the 201 was used (by some) over the last 30 years.

Even today, I don't see why anyone would use 201 as the number for 1969 Yenko Camaro production.

From what I can tell, the 198 plus 3 vins would not mean there were 201 built since at least one of the original 198 vins will be replaced by at least one of the 3 new numbers.

If you post 201 vins on here then some people will go back to using the 201 number.


Or do you think there were 201 built?
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  #15  
Old 02-04-2018, 06:33 PM
William William is offline
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I have a great reason to believe there were more than 198: a real, no doubt about it 1969 Yenko Camaro that wasn't on any of the lists compiled from Canonsburg data. It was added to the SYC list only after I requested it.

N616074 Daytona Yellow/black vinyl automatic. Body number is in sequence with others.
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  #16  
Old 02-05-2018, 12:42 AM
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So question about these cars: Would Yenko (or for that matter, Gibb Chevrolet with the ZL/1) have to order these cars in a fleet or batch order? Like 50 cars at a time for Chevy to build them? It does seem based on the proximity of the VIN's that that is how they were built? So maybe not a coincidence that Yenko number is Approx 200? (a multiple of 50)
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  #17  
Old 02-05-2018, 01:38 AM
William William is offline
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Yes; that was part of the deal. 50 ZL1s in 5 colors; 6 4-speeds 4 automatics. I believe the Gibb ZL1s were ordered by the Zone; 49 of the 50 have consecutive body numbers. One must have been re-ordered. The COPO minimum was 50 units.

Yenkos Camaros appear to have been ordered in the same manner; several groups with consecutive body numbers.

Yenko stated in a 1987 MCR interview that he had to pay Chevrolet to warranty the L72 cars, claiming they ordered 500 Camaros. This may have created the impression the COPO was exclusive to Yenko Sportscars but it obviously wasn't. Working with the production numbers in Tailfins and Bowties, there were 997 L72 Camaros built. Whatever the Yenko total is, other dealers that did not contribute to warranty coverage sold more L72 cars than Yenko. By June 1969 it was very difficult to sell the cars as no one would insure them. Had Chevrolet limited the availability of the COPO to Yenko, it would have been very profitable for him.

Gibb also suffered Chevrolets' business practices. He stated COPO 9560 was supposed to list for about $2,000. Actual list price was $4,160 pushing MSRP over $7,300, a ton of money in 1969. He had great difficulty selling them; most ended up re-distributed to other dealerships or returned directly to Norwood. Didn't help that 19 more were ordered by other dealerships, including two by a dealer 65 miles from his.

Gibb also ordered 50 L78 1968 Novas under a COPO with the new heavy-duty Turbo 400.

Last edited by William; 02-05-2018 at 01:41 AM.
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  #18  
Old 02-05-2018, 11:55 AM
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50 seemed to be a magic number for batch orders and was also the magic number for AHRA and NHRA Super Stock class drag racing . NHRA was the main reason Chevy built the hi po COPO Camaros.

The COPO Camaro was exclusive to Yenko Sportscars in 1968 but not 1969

Yenko had the 1967 and 68 427 Yenko Camaros approved by AHRA but not NHRA

Yenko tried to get his 1968 COPO 9737 Camaros (with the 427 transplant ) approved by NHRA but failed


Gibb had his 50 L78 1968 COPO 9738 Novas approved by NHRA and AHRA

NHRA approved the L72s and the ZL1s but by 1969 the word was out on the 427 Camaros and Chevelles and other dealers wanted them so the orders went beyond the 50 NHRA minimum

Yenko was the king of the COPO hi po car orders if you ad up the Corvair Stingers, Camaros, Chevelles, Deuce Nova, and Vegas

Last edited by JoeC; 02-05-2018 at 12:04 PM.
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Old 02-05-2018, 07:38 PM
Krateness Krateness is offline
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Suppose I should chime in a bit more but I’m good friends with the now owner of this car. It was purchased and the family is still in the process of looking through paperwork. We’ve started reaching out to the original owner all the while trying to connect the dots a bit on our own. Still haven’t been presented with the inventory sheet showing the car. I’ve had others help on here to try and get in contact with Vince but haven’t heard back. I’ve seen the sheets/certificates he supplies but didn’t know if there was any other place to look into trying to track the inventory sheet down. I’ve been told it’s on the one that no one can seem to locate
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  #20  
Old 02-06-2018, 03:13 AM
Stefano Stefano is offline
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The Hugger Orange Yenko Camaro from the parts cache in Dupree Wisconsin was not on the list of 198 either.
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