'69 Original Yenko Nova

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

To all;
The attached pic's are from an early owner of a Rallye Green '69 Yenko Nova, all feedback on these pic's is encouraged. Here are the details.

The car was reportedly sold new out of Nankivell Chevrolet in Indianapolis, IN. The owner who took these photos titled the car on June 26, 1974, bought it locally, and lived in Souteastern Indiana, near the KY border. (Some have suggested that it seems unusual for an owner to go several hours away to Indy when V.V.Cooke was much closer in Louisville. However, the orig. owner of my '70 Yenko Nova also lived in this area, and also went all the way to Nankivell in Indy.) This owner is deceased, but a relative forwarded these photos.

The photos clearly show the 'SS' emblems on the grille and tailpanel, and no Yenko emblem on the trunklid. It is not known if the original owner made either of these changes, or if it came this way from Yenko or Nankivell. Remember, emblem theft was a common occurrance on these cars, and we know of other models where the emblems were simply not replaced or they were replaced with other types of emblems. The car also appears to have trim rings, suggesting either a wheel change, rallyes, 'SS' wheels, or 'XT' wheels with the trim ring option. It is 'different' to see rallye green Yenko cars that have a black vinyl top, but white Yenko stripes. There are several Yenko Camaro's with this combo, but it is usually the other way around. The fender antenna suggests either that it was added, or that the car came with something other than an AM Radio. There does not appear to any 'SYC' silkscreens on the headrests, but they may have fallen off by '74. This car has traction bars on it, so I can't tell if it had an F41 suspension package or not.

As for the car's whereabouts, it is thought to be owned by Randy Miller - who is currently selling his '69 Yenko Nova as part of a tri-Y package. If this is the same car, it eventually found it's way over to Kentucky. Sometime in the 1980's I believe it was discovered next to a body shop, by a paint delivery person. When found, the car had faded paint/stripes, no engine, no trans, and some rust in the normal places. The interior was plain black bench seats that were torn, but the orig. Greenline SW Tach was still on the column, and other SW guages were under the dash. The car was purchased and then resold.

If anyone has any feedback on the photos, details, history ect, it is welcome!

Thanks,
Marlin

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=378134&a=2796933&p=34963331&Sequence=0&res=high

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=378134&a=2796933&p=34963332&Sequence=0&res=high


[Edited by YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY (12-07-2000 at 02:54 PM).]

[Edited by YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY (12-07-2000 at 02:58 PM).]

[bkhpah]

I am fairly certain that the sYc headrest decal did not work well with the shorter nature of the bench seat headrest, and were not used on the Nova or Chevelles equipped with bench seats. Any one else with any ideas on that. I have original pic's of a bench seat Chevelle without the sYc headrests...
BKH

[Edited by bkhpah (12-07-2000 at 03:56 PM).]

[Chevy454]

M:

I think our Nova has the antennae on the front fender as well...does this indicate an AM/FM?

Also, our Nova has traction bars on it, and Rallys, and a remote mirror...I don't know if it came this way originally, but that is what is on it now. How do you tell if it is the F-41?

I forgot to add that we are trying to get some early pics of our Nova, from a previous owner, but it's been real hectic here at work. Hopefully, we can all shed some light on these rare Y-cars!

[Edited by Chevy454 (12-07-2000 at 06:47 PM).]

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Rob;
I am not certain about the fender antenna indicating an AM-FM, but I believe that is the case. When only an AM radio is installed, the antenna is in the windshield unless the customer specifically orders the fender antenna.

I would agree with Brian about the SYC on the headrests. These rests are short with a serious curve at the top, which would make it hard to keep them on.

It is really hard to obtain early photos of '69 Yenko Novas, special thanks goes to RowdyRat who persisted for quite some time to obtain these! Also, thanks to Joe Grom of 'Chevy II Only' for the 'discovery' story. These kinds of photos do raise a lot of questions, which was the purpose for this post.

The F41 package can be determined by looking on the underside of the trunk floor, above where the muffler is installed. If it is an F41 car, there will be brackets welded into the floor for the two short vertical bars from the rear sway bar portion of the package. All of the '70 Yenko Novas have F41 suspension, even though GM only offered it on SS cars. The '70 COPO 9737 is thought to have superceded this, and included the F41 package. It would be interesting to see if any of the '69 Yenko Novas were ordered with this option first, which made Don order it on all of the '70 Yenko Novas. It is usefull for traction since the force is applied behind the rear wheels, it is worth a few hundreths in the 1/4 mile. Take a look under your car, they are not real big, but they will be obvious.

Marlin

[MikeA]

I remember reading an old interview with Don Yenko. In the article, Yenko said that the '69 Yenkos were not SS cars? The photos appear to contradict this statement. It seems weird that Yenko did not know how the cars were delivered. Can anyone explain this or do I remember the article wrong?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Mike;
That is the big question on these cars. Most people that we have spoken with remember their cars as SS cars, black interior, bench seats, dog-cap wheels, AM radios, rubber mats, and only 4 speeds.

However, 'Supercars' has a Garnet Red car that did not have any SS indicators found on it when it was being restored. It is really not known for sure how Yenko picked out which cars got converted in '69. There is one that is rumored to have been left an L78, but got a Corvette Tri-Power added to it!! Yenko also is quoted as saying that they 'got the emblems, but no stripes', these photos contradict that as well.
M

[JoeC]

Great Yenko Nova photos! Thanks to all the people who worked on locating and posting them.
MikeA “ Don Yenko did say in his interview that the 1969 Yenko Nova was œnot even an SS”. Unfortunately DonÃs ability to recollect 16 year old car facts was not 100 percent accurate (it isnÃt easy to do). There are other statements in his interview that have proven to be untrue. In my opinion, Don was referring to the 1970 Yenko Deuce Nova not the 1969 427 Nova when he made the statement that the car œ was not even an SS”. He may have recalled getting a fantastic COPO deal from Chevy by ordering all the Hi Performance components that the Deuce is equipped with such as the LT1, 4.10 12 bolt, and F41, without even paying for the SS grill, hood, rear panel, and emblems. Don was pretty smart and knew how to get a œgood deal” from Chevy. By ordering the Deuce that way, he reduced the cost and weight of the LT1 Nova and knew that by adding the stripes the car would have no identity problem among the hot rodders without the "SS" emblems.
Getting back to the 69 Nova photo - it appears to have plain rims and small hubcaps with trim rings. Maybe the 69 Yenko Novas were ordered with the small hubcaps and the trim rings were added later. It is not scientific proof but for discussion purposes, if you look close at the 1969 Yenko œ Meet the Mean Ones” ad the Nova appears to have the stripes and the small hubcaps. The ad is only a drawing but appears to be well detailed with the SYC on the headrests and the USA-1 license plate. Don Y may have drawn the ad himself since there are other drawings by him that have been found in the Yenko memorabilia collections.

[Kurt S]

Unless Nova's were different than Camaros (I don't think so in 69), if you ordered any radio, you got the antennae. AM was the oval telescoping one and FM was fixed height. It looks tall to me, probably an AM one.

The windshield antennaes came out in 70.

[bkhpah]

Kurt is right about the antenna on a 69. Only 70's got the windshield style. As for the dog dish art work, there is a 69 Yenko Camaro with stripes, no spoilers with dog caps and trim rings on the Hult Chevrolet ads..
BKH

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Good Call on the antenna, my '70 is the oldest Nova I have owned and just assumed that windshield antennas were the norm from '68 on.

Supercars;
Does 'Sue' have any other photos of your car?

Marlin

[bbdon]

I have tried to fool with the photos a bit to bring out any hidden detail. I did not have much luck, but see what the rest of you think anyway. The original files are very small. The wheels do look like they have the dog dish caps on them. This doesnt look as bad as you might think, I have seen some like that in person before, and as long as they are the wider 7 inch wheels and the right trim rings, it looks pretty good.

http://www.sonic.net/bbdon/free/rallygr1.jpg
http://www.sonic.net/bbdon/free/rallygr2.jpg

[SuperCars]

Marlin, I haven't talked to Sue directly. But Vince had pictures of my car as it was when he found it. It had SS emblem on the grill and the big hood scoop as seen in the dragstip photo had been replaced with a smaller stinger-like scoop. On the Yenko list of the Novas there is a box with the options. On my car in the box under options it said "none", it came with nothing; no radio, therefore no antennae.

How many of you out there know that the first Yenko Nova conversion would have been an automatic? The first Yenko Nova (with a VIN number and Yenko stock number) on the list was an automatic, but in the last box for this car on the Yenko list it states "Delete-didn't work".

I am still trying to get email address from Jerry Heasley for the person claiming to be the original owner of my Nova. Jerry works for Speedvision and travels a lot.I finally caught him at home for one day and said he would get it to me. The next day he was gone to Italy to photo some race over there. So I am still after him to get it for me. Jerry says the guy claimed to be the original owner and thought he had the window sticker for my car. I hope it is not a hoax.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I will attempt to find out more by trying a full title search, sometimes prior owners show up. It would be nice to find some earlier photos of your car, and Scranton is close by.

I wonder why the '69 Yenko Nova - automatic cars 'didn't work'? The mechanics are the same for an L78/TH400, so it must have been the suspension, (?). Interesting...
M

[JoeC]

I canÃt think of a reason why a 427 TH400 Nova would not work but it is difficult to know exactly what the comment is referring to.
Kevin, That is interesting that the first Yenko Nova was going to have a Auto trans. Did Vince say if that Nova was sold with the 396 and Yenko stripes or just sold as a stock 396 Nova? I have read that there were 37 Yenko NovaÃs but only 30 were converted with the 427 but I do not know if that is a true statement. Did Vince give you any numbers on the 69 Nova production?

[Rowdy Rat]

Marlin,

Thanks for the recognition on the photos; I'm glad that you could scan and post them so we could get some feedback on the car.

You mentioned the SS emblem on the trunk with no Yenko medalion. I'm not sure if we discussed this or not, but the SS emblem is located higher and to the driver's side of center from where it would normally be located. I wouldn't be surprised to find that Yenko medallion located where the SS would normally be found; unfortunately, the glare from the bumper prevents that. Still, why move the emblem in the first place unless to put something else there...

I've been fortunate to speak with five original owners of 1969 Yenko Novas. Without exception, they all said that their cars were delivered with steel wheels and small hub caps. I hadn't thought about trim rings on the standard steel wheels until Joe and bbdon mentioned it, but it certainly makes sense now that I think about it... Quick and easy way to dress up a set of stock wheels.

As far as the non-converted cars, I traced the ownership history of one of these cars and had a chance to speak with the original owner. He confirmed that the Lemans blue 1969 Yenko Nova that he bought was sitting on the showroom floor at Yenko Chevrolet with an L-78, Corvette tripower, and a set of Atlas wheels. Brian has seen the car in person and tells me that it was never striped, but carried the Yenko medallions.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Stan Falenski

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Stan;
I agree that the 'SS' tailpanel emblem on this car was relocated a little to the upper left, but I hadn't thought about the Yenko emblem being installed to the lower right. I had assumed that the '427' emblem was installed to the lower right. I then figured that since the 'SS' was still there they would have put the Yenko emblem where the 'Nova by Chevrolet' emblem is on the trunk lid - I guess I thought that because the '70 Yenko Novas have it there.

It is a shame that the photo has that 'hotspot' on it, because it really creates some questions!!
Marlin

[sYc]

I recently spoke with Randy Miller about the so called "unconverted" '69 Novas, including his car, which may be the one pictured above. He has owned several Yenkos, including at least 2 '69 Novas. He disagrees with Vince's theory, that just because some of the cars sold for a couple of hundred dollars less, that they were unconverted cars. He feels that the price difference could have been caused by poor sales, which indeed did happened in late '69. He would like to see more proof before making a determination about the cars, but Vince has been unwilling or unable to come up with anything. At this point, Randy feels that his car is a 427 "converted" car. Tom

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Tom;
I agree with you and Randy about the 'unconverted' cars, it is hard to be sure what was done at Yenko Chev. towards the end of '69. I had spoken with Randy and Dante', (he bought Randy's Fathom Green '69 Yenko Nova), about this topic a few years ago at the Pure Stock Drag Race in Michigan. We had agreed that the only way to know for sure would be to speak with some original owners of the proposed 'unconverted' cars. It is hard to know which ones Vince believes are in this category. I believe the tri-power L78 car that RowdyRat researched is not on Vinces list of the 37. It is unclear if that car is one of the 'unconverted' ones, or if it was just another L78 that was dressed up with the tri-power - maybe a demo, return, warranty situation, ect... (something like the '67 YS-060??)

RowdyRat; Do we know what color the emblems are on that car? If it was one of the YENKO SportsCars Inc. products I would think it would have white YENKO emblems. If it was a YENKO Chev. product I would think it would have the black and chrome emblems.
M

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Tom;
Does Randy Miller have email? I would like to confirm his '69 Yenko VIN # to see if it is the same as the car in the photos above. Or if you have his VIN, let me know.
Thx,
M

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Here is Randy Miller's previous '69 Yenko Nova, it is now in Canada. I do not know the VIN number of this one either, so I don't know what dealership it was originally sold out of. Some people have suggested that this one may have been one of the 'unconverted' cars. If it sold new here in PA, I would like to do some research to find the original owner to determine the engine, stripes, emblem placement, options ect...
M

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=378134&a=2796934&p=35459782&Sequence=0&res=high

[SuperCars]

Just bringing this old topic up to respond to the questions Joe had above. The 69 Yenko Nova with auto trans was at the top of the list and had a Yenko stock number which had written above delete-didn't work. Vince showed me the the top half of the actual Nova list, so I saw it with my own two eyes. There was nothing written as to whether it was sold as a SYC Yenko with stripes. I wonder if the the words "delete didn't work", means it was put back into inventory as a regular 396 auto trans Nova. Anyway I did not ask Vince anything about the 396 SYC Nova issue. I believe that is a sensitive subject.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

RowdyRat;

You've got mail!

Marlin