R&S Chev, Joplin

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

71LS5;
Tell me about this '70 Yenko Nova at R&S Chev, in Joplin, MO. I know they received a Cranberry Red Yenko Nova equipped with an automatic, and power steering. They received this car on 9/2/00, were you there before or after this date? Was the green Yenko a real dark green or a lime green? Was it a 4speed or an a/t? I thought they might have only gotten one car, but apparently not!! Their red car was never titled in MO, must have been sold new to an out-of-stater, or it was a non-titled race car from the start. It was the 167th car made and was asigned stock number 126. It has not been found, have you heard of it??
Marlin

[71LS5]

Could only admire it from afar. It was setting in the showroom at the time over on the east side of the building and I was there after hours. It was a dark green color, as I remember. Don't know any of the other particulars. Am pretty sure I would have been there after that.

They had a lot of saliva and nose prints to clean up on the glass after I was there.....

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Bummer,
I was hoping you had test driven, bought, or stolen it!! Do you know what happened to it?

Did it look like this??
Marlin

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=378134&a=2797405&p=29191766&Sequence=0&res=high

[71LS5]

Don't know what happened to it. As best I can recollect it was a brighter metallic green than the picture you show.

The guy you could ask, if you could ever find him, is a fellow that lived in Baxter Springs, KS that was a salesman at R&S. The guy's name is Mike North. He was in his early 20's when he worked over there and was their muscle car guy in the shop. I know he had a Daytona Yellow '69 Camaro SS 396/375 4 speed car himself that his younger brother Steve took me for a couple of hair raising rides in.

Anyway, I have no idea where he is at now. It has been 30 years since I have seen him. You know, you lose touch after high school and a stint in the military.

Besides, the lime green Hemi Road Runner and the red winged Daytona Charger they had sitting at Frank Scott Dodge out on south 32nd street looked more interesting than the Duece Nova. At least they had these out on the parking lot and not behind a bunch of concrete and glass.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

So you had a chance at these other cars?? Did you grab some parts?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Did the R&S car look like this?

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=378134&a=2797405&p=28682209&Sequence=0&res=high

[71LS5]

Sorry, but the best I can remember is the color looked very close to the color shown on Larry Christensen's '69 Camaro (2000 SuperCar Reunion picture). It was a stunning color.

Was hard for GM to match up to the Mopars on stunning colors during those years, huh????

[bkhpah]

That Deuce looks wicked... I'm gettin' Nova fever.
BKH

[71LS5]

Could have grabbed some parts, I guess. I was driving a yellow '68 Firebird 400 at that time.

Let's see....sneak over to Frank Scott's around 2 in the morning. He was way out in the "boonies" (south end of Joplin) at that time. Chainsaw the wing off the Superbird. Bolt it to the Firebird. I think the lime green color would have clashed with my yellow paint. Besides, who wanted that goofy looking roadrunner cartoon character staring at you every day....he-he.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

71LS5:
I am looking for a guy in the Springdale area, he owns/used to own a junkyard; Dean Bitner. Ever heard of him??

I am also looking for Ira or Michael Nichols of Rogers, any knowledge of them?

They are supposedly separate prior owners of a '70 Yenko Nova that is now in another state.

Thanks,
M

[71LS5]

I have only lived in the immediate area about 5 years so I will have to rely on some guys that have been around here awhile.


Checked with a couple of folks that have been here since Rogers and Bentonville were just wide spots in the road. Dean Bitner is still alive and living....or at least 6 months ago he will still in the area.

Still need to ask a couple more guys about the Nichols'. Am coming up empty handed right now. Do you know where the car was bought at? Was is Berger in Bentonville? Spicer in Neosho, Mo? Sparks in Rogers? Or R&S in Joplin? All of these dealers would have been within an hour's drive of here and been around about that time.

What color was/is it? I know the Duece would have been an oddity enough, but if I knew the color it may jog a few memories.

I even asked a couple of guys that used to be on the Rogers P.D. Suppose they could have at least seen the fading taillights on the Duece. Did not ring a bell (yet).

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

The last prior owner that I know of for this car is Barbara Berner, but am not sure what town she was from. According to www.whitepages.com she is not in the area, or has an unlisted number. Dean Bitner never titled the car in his name, he kept it as an open title - as it still is today!

The car probably had white stripes, and would have looked like this;

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=378134&a=2797405&p=29330956&Sequence=0&res=high

If the car did have black stripes, it would look like this;

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=378134&a=2797405&p=29330958&Sequence=0&res=high

Thanks,
Marlin

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

This car is Fathom Blue, supposedly with black stripes, it has an automatic, and power steering. Car was last owned in AR by Dean Bitner, who bought it from Ira Nichols. It was then sold to another yard owner about 10-15 years ago. It is unknown what dealership the car was sold out of. The Yenko network dealers in that area are R&S Chev, Joplin, MO, and Peck Chev, Little Rock, AR. A few network dealers that were a little farther away were, Francis Chev, St. Louis, Johnny Londoff Chev, Flourissant, MO, and Riley Chev, Jefferson City, MO.

thanks for searching,
M

[71LS5]

Marlin,

Here is some additional information that I came up with during my search for the Nichols'.

There is a guy here in Rogers by the name of Rick Blevins who has been around here for ages and was/is into muscle cars. His dad used to own the Chrysler dealership here in Rogers during the late '60's and early '70's.
Anyway, I asked him if he had ever run across the Nichols' and their Duece. He seems to remember one but he thought the owner was either a Tim Jermeir or Larry Shelley. What he could not remember was exactly what color it was and if it was a Yenko car. May have been a Nicky car. And the color, he thought, was charcoal gray.

Anyway, I will try to get in touch with Larry Shelley tonight. He still lives in the area. Am still trying to track down the Nichols' and Dean Bitner for you as well.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Thanks!!

[71LS5]

M,

Just got off the phone with Larry Shelley. He is a guy in his mid 50's and a used car dealer. Said he bought what he thought was a Duece in Little Rock about 1975-76 time frame. Blue car, special door panels, Yenko badges. No stripes but thinks it had been repainted. Had a 350 in it when he got it. He had bought and sold the car 2 or 3 times during the next 4 or 5 years. Sold it to someone up in Pea Ridge. Then a Jim Hill bought it from the guy in Pea Ridge, and Larry ended up with it again. The owners in Pea Ridge apparently had dropped a big block in it. He sold it to some gal in Bentonville and she blew the motor out of it.
Last he heard, he thought the old car was sitting somewhere off the 540 bypass between here and Ft Smith.


Anyway, he also had a '69 "Dickey H" Camaro at the time. Blueish silver in color and ended up somewhere in Minnesota. Was painted black by the time it went up there.

Not sure if this helps much or not. If you need to talk to him, he is a great guy and have told him I will post his number for you to get ahold of him if you need to. Larry is at 501-636-9239.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

71;
Thanks a bunch, that helps a lot!! Will be sure to call this guy and pick his brain about this car, and others.
Thanks again,
M

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Spoke with L.Shelley today, he was most helpful with the history of this car. It turns out he sold the car to one of the people listed on the title, so it is one in the same.

He could not confirm that it was or was not a YENKO since he did not purchase it new, only remembered that it had an emblem and some door panel stickers - both items available through the catalog. He initially thought it was a HARRELL car, as the emblem looked similar from across a parking lot. He sold it at his car lot sometime in '76.

Thanks again for the contact,
Marlin

[71LS5]

Glad to be of what little help I could.

Has this car been found and you were trying to do research on it? Larry seems to think the old car is still in someone's backyard here in NorthWest Arkansas.

If you need me to, I will be glad to make a road trip to see if I can find it. I drive between here and Ft. Smith quite often and a few extra stops would not hurt.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

71;
This car is definitely found, and is in the New England area now.

From talking with Larry, I would conclude that this car was originally sold out of Peck Chev, in Little Rock, AR. This makes the second car found from there, and there is usually at least 3 Yenko Novas sold from any one dealer. This theory says that there should be one more in the area, (?). There were also two confirmed from R&S Chev, in Joplin, with a theory-third car. None of these have been found either!

There could very well be another one hanging around, keep searching!!
Thanks,
Marlin