Were there ever any Yenko or motion cars built that had A/C ?

I was wondering if any of the super cars ever left the dealer with factory or dealer installed Air Conditioning

[bkhpah]

Yes, Two Camaro's in 1968. I don't believe there are others
BKH

[moparts]

Hey BKH What about the 81 Turbo Z's?

[bkhpah]

That's right, all the 81 Yenko Turbo Z's are air cars. 19 units. Any more than that?

[Chevy454]

Would any of the Vegas have had A/C? Probably not, but just a thought. http://www.yenko.net/ubb/smilies/images/icons/wink.gif

[ed427vette]

At least 1 Phase III GT Corvette came with AC. The one that has been featured in all the Vette magazines in 1993/94 that Joel Rosen owns, the Daytona Yellow one with Black stripes. I think a few of them came with AC. These cars were made for touring as well as racing.
Ed

[69motion]

i heard there were 5 68 yenkos with ac a freind of mine owned a 68 with ac the last time i saw the car it was red with lace paint on it he moved to fla in 81 and sold it to a guy named tim im still trying to find him any help would be apric. jeff ps all i have is a couple of pics of car and one of 140 speedo with tic toc tac

[Mr4speed]

e-mail me 69 motion,I may be able to find the car you are looking for.
[email protected]

thanks
jeff

[Chevy454]

I was reading an old Super Stock & Drag Illustrated magazine today, and I ran across something interesting. It was the August '69 issue, where the Yenko Chevelle was tested. In the article, it states that the car they tested was not the car they originally planned to test. They said the car they were supposed to get had an L-72 with AIR CONDITIONING! Here is what the article says:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"Originally, we had planned to bring out a Chevelle equipped with air conditioning and the Turbohydramatic box. Our premise, and Yenko's, was to show that comfort and speed can go hand in hand. That particular unit we had in mind was inadvertently sold, however, so we opted for the straight L-72 with 2.20 first gear four-speed and standard 4.10 rear."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am assuming the a/c car was a demonstrator car that had a/c dealer installed, but...? Did they normally sell there demonstrator cars?

[JoeC]

That could be a simple misunderstanding or it can be that Yenko built up an AC 396 car. Unless one turns up with documentation, it is difficult to believe. I don't think Chevy would build a solid lifter AC car in 1969. That article is great and has great original pictures. Notice there are no 427 decals on the air filter lid.

[bkhpah]

The 69 road test's from SS&DI July and August are great articles, but have mistakes. They also mention that the cars have duel point distributors. This is not correct. As for A/C in a 69 Yenko, I have never seen that.
BKH

[Unreal]

Another issue, which I had to deal with on my tribute car, which will be an air car, since my car was originally SB with air. The 840 heads do not have the three bosses for the lower A/C bracket. It has the upper forward one, but not the upper rear one, or the lower one. I modified an original big block bracket, to pick up two manifold bolts. It works, and looks stock from the top of the engine, but if you look close, you can see the fabrication. I don't know if all Yenkos used 840's or if the last batch used the 291's. Did the 291's have the bosses?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I believe it was a trick that Don pulled on the magazine to get more coverage! After the 7/69 article, why not bribe them with a 'comfort and speed' car? When they come to do the test, just give them whatever is available. Just a thought!!
M

[sixtiesmuscle]

Unreal: Could you define a "tribute car"? I'm wondering how that might differ from the oft written and talked about "clones" and "fakes". I personally don't see anything wrong with someone mocking up a supercar for their own pleasure. We have to realize that this will go on, and in fact, it makes allot of sense, in my opinion, to drive a 20,000 car instead of a fresh 70,000+ car on a regular basis. I do think that those of us involved in legitimate cars need to find a way to identify these cars to avoid future misidentification by unscrupulous sellers to unsuspecting buyers. Anyone have any ideas?

[COPO]

I suppose publising the VIN's is likely the most foolproof way to stop the flow of fakes. The ZL-1's are pretty well covered as the entire VIN's are out there, though there is at least one car that was a complete rebody. On the COPO Connection website, many of the other Supercar VIN's are shown. I'd like to see that information incorporated into some pages on this site as the COPO site is rarely updated. The COPO 9561's are more problematic because no one even knows the number built let alone the VIN's. The Motion VIN's, we've discussed those a number of times and everyone knows the issue there.

I don't see a problem with a "tribute car" ie: replica, clone. I would add, to do one right, will often cost close to the same $$'s as a real one for certain models. Case in point a really nice '70 Yenko Duece replica was available for $14,000, yet the owner spent over $30K to build it. The flip side is because these cars are rare and expensive they aren't often seen in public which sometimes adds to the mystique and the wow factor when they are on display at events like the Supercar Reunion.

[sixtiesmuscle]

I would expect that more than one [maybe more than we want to know] of each of the supercars is a total body swap. Re the vins on the COPO connection site, I must be doing something wrong, as the partial numbers listed seem pretty worthless to identify a specific car. Am I missing something?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

The partial VIN's on the COPO site was to narrow down potential cars. It might seem misleading but if you had a '70 Nova that you thought might be a Yenko you could check your VIN against the sight to see if it was within the ball park. If so, then you could request further verification from the site. It would be hard to publish the Yenko VIN's at this time, because they are not all known.
M

[JoeC]

Marlin, do not speak ill of D.Y.. His ghost may come on Halloween and put some 1986 sugar in the gas tank of your Deuce! Give Don a little credit after all he was a car salesman and his job was to move product. My guess is that he intended to give them a "loaded" Yenko Chevelle with power steering, auto trans, bucket seats, and vinyl top. The AC option was probably an exaggeration by Don or by the magazine. A Yenko Chevelle equipped that way is fairly plush by SuperCar standards. There is enough room for four adults to sit comfortably and listen to the rear tires squeal as the TH400 bangs through the gears at 6000+ RPM. On a side note, the one owner 4sp Garnet Red Yenko Chevelle that attended the SuperCar Reunions 2&3 has AC, PS, bucket seats, power windows, factory gages, and remote trunk release. The original owner, who transplanted them from parts cars during the 70Ãs, added the options.

[Unreal]

Sixteismuscle,
I inadvertantly started a debate on this subject several months ago; I don't want to resurect it. But to me a clone or "tribute" car (nicer sounding moniker) is made to look like an original, but with the absence of the intent to deceive. "Fakes" in my opinion, include ill intent. I have no intention to represent my car as anything but a nice clone. The problem remains, however, that if I were to sell it, the buyer might not be as honest.
Anyone with anything more than a passing understanding of the COPOs could see in a second, that my car is not real. A/C, 3.73 rear, unaltered engine code (mine is LE,) unaltered VIN on the engine, pass side grab bar...etc, etc. I support the concept of registering clones, and making the information public, so that misrepresentation could be reduced. But with all the clones out there, that's a real chore. And only the honest folk would register. You're right, this debate will continue, ad infinitum.
Gary

[restorer]

Sixtiesmuscle, you could be correct in assuming at least one S/C could be a rebody. In '86 I saw a Yenko for sale on the east coast of Florida the only part left of it was the cowl the rest had rotted into the sand. I didn't buy it one because the $16,000.00 asking price was high for just a serial number and two what would I really have when I was done, in my mind it would be totally wrong.

[bkhpah]

What year Yenko was it 67,68 or 69? Was it a Camaro? I heard about a very nasty 68' out of Florida a few years ago. Could this be the same car?
BKH

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

restorer;
Are you sure it wasn't a '68?? I thought I remembered one in FL that you could buy through the mail.

Difficult call on the 'how far is a re-body' restoration topic. Legally, I guess it is when you stamp one car's VIN into another car's firewall, thoughts?

Marlin

[sixtiesmuscle]

Well, I don't mean to bounce from the subject of fakes to re-bodies, BUT, in my opinion, they are certainly very different. While I don't want to own a total rebody for my own purposes, we should undestand that many of the supercars have required extensive bodywork as a result of rust or wrecks. At what subjective point does a "restoration" of a really bad car become a "body swap"? If you put a rusty wreck on a jig and replace floors, fenders, quarters,wheel housings, frame rails, sub frame, and roof, etc,etc, but the firewall stays in place, is it a really good resto, a body swap, or a rebody? Is the person who did this a crook or the savior of a piece of automotive history?

[restorer]

bkhpah: sorry I wasn't a little more specific but it was a blue '69 Camaro, anyone else heard of this car and what became of it?

[GMH454]

In historic racing circles they refer to the "tub" (interior compartment firewall etc)
as the intergral part of the body, which must
remain. Fenders boots hoods are parts, and are always subject to replacemant, but something more tangible than VIN and body tags should remain. Back in the big $$$ restoration boom I remember the word gas cap restoration being applied to one 1967 L-88.IMHO rebodies are closer to Clones than real cars (even substantially restored)ones