Fencl-Tufo's Draggin Deuce

[hvychev]

Don't get to excited.....I don't have the car.....yet! I have acquired the next best thing, The original paperwork from Yenko Chevrolet to Fencl Tufo Chevrolet. It is a real long story that I will try to give the short version of. I heard of a guy this past summer through Dan Hornback who owns the Forest Green Deuce that was sold through Fencl Tufo. Dan told me of a guy that approached him at a cruise in that said he had the paperwork on his car that he had "acquired" through the dealership when he worked there in the early 80's. Dan was able to purchase his original paperwork from this guy which I saw. I naturally became very excited and asked Dan to give me his info so I could contact him. The cool thing was the guy lived in my then hometown of Plainfield, IL. I ended up getting in contact with him and spent quite a lot of time with him. During that time I purchased the Fencl Tufo jacket and playing cards that I posted pictures of in the Fencl Tufo and Brigance Chevy thread in the Misc. Dealers section of this site. During the time of our meeting he brought a STACK of original paperwork that he got from the dealership. There were DOZENS of cars and ALL the paperwork pertaining to them. LS6's Z28's L89's SS396's , etc., etc., (this is a whole other thread). In his findings he had three of the six Yenko Deuces that were sold at F/T Chevy along with a Tor Red Yenko Vega. The cars were Dan Hornbacks Forest Green car, John Downers Gobi Beige car, & The Draggin Deuce. John and Dan have purchased there paperwork and Ed Cunneen got the Vega paperwork years ago from the guy. He did not find paperwork for the other three cars.

The guy worked the parts counter at Fencl Tufo and one day he took a call at the desk from a guy looking for some misc. part for his SS350 69 Camaro. In their conversation the guy asked the customer for his vin number. He had known that all of the old records were stored in the parts dept. so he started to look through the boxes and actually found the paperwork for the guys Camaro and sold it to him. After that he started looking through all the boxes and pulled the cool cars out of the bunch. The bad thing was he only pulled the factory paperwork and not paperwork with any customer info on it in fear that he would get into trouble for having peoples SS#'s DL#'s and personal financing info that you usually need to buy a car. This all took place in the mid 80's and in 1989 the dealership was sold and a professional company came in and shredded all the remaining documents. He has tracked down through title searches, etc., some of the other cars and has reunited their paperwork with the current owners.

After a couple of months of working him I was able to pry the paperwork for the Draggin Deuce out of his hands. He said that he had it for 20 years and after finding out the car was special, he said he would never sell the paperwork but what can I say...I am a salesman! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I had to pay IMO stupid money for it but if anyone else finds the car before me it is able to be purchased. Here are some pics.

[hvychev]

Here is a pic of all the documents including a NOS dealer decal that I made him look for weeks in his stuff cause I wanted it so bad.

[hvychev]

Here is the invoice.

[hvychev]

Here is a carbon copy that was on the back side of the actual window sticker when Yenko typed them up.

[hvychev]

Here is a card that was attached to the back from Don F Yenko that explains that dealers can't count/report these cars as sales through Chevrolet because they were ordered as fleet cars through Yenko Chevy.

[hvychev]

This IMO is the coolest item of the bunch. This is a piece of card board that was inserted into a metal strip that went on a slide board at Fencl Tufo Chevrolet which kept track of all there inventory. What it had on it was the car info, color, vin#, date in inventory, and the list price. On the back was the dealer cost of the car so the salesman knew where they were working form. The WEIRD thing is that I know of ONE dealer that still does business this VERY old way at his own dealership.........Mr. Ed Schoenthaller. He brought this practice with him from when he worked at Fencl Tufo. I guess that the old ways were the best ways! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[hvychev]

This is the NOS never installed dealer decal that I got from the guy. It is printed on a reflective sheeting. Dan Hornback and Geno Engler have a professional copy on the way for their Deuces! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[hvychev]

Dan Hornback made me a better copy of the original picture that he took of the Draggin Deuce at Oswego drag strip in 1970-71. The one that is on the site under Vintage Supercar Photos is a bad copy and cropped smaller than the original.

[hvychev]

The paperwork is absolutely positively real. There are a few cool things about it. First the color of the car is typed wrong on the invoice and scratched out and written correctly in pen. Second the stock number is not the stock number of HYS140 that is on the inventory sheets. It is YS-QLL533. On Dans and Johns cars paperwork the inventory sheet stock number was on them. Is this because the Citrus Green car was a Hurst Car? Is there an explaination for this? Marlin? Third the car came equpit with the Instrument package for $45.00.

[camarojoe]

Cool stuff Frank...Congrats. That guy also contacted me to buy it after you 2 had been wheeling and dealing, and i told him that no one wanted that stuff for the Draggin Deuce any more than you did, and also told him to take your offer...I'm glad he did. Now you just need to go find the car to go along with the memorabilia you already have! I know thats a little backwards, but hey, it worked for me. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[Supercar_Kid]

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif Very cool stuff Frank, and as they say "straight from the lion's den." http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif I'm very surprised to see that card noting the Deuces were specially fleet ordered through Yenko, knowing that only Central Chevy was privy enough to get their own '70 LT-1 Novas built by GM. Can I get a closer look at it? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

[JoeC]

Good work Frank! cool info
just a thought on the QLL533 ID#
Hurst farmed out some of the work that was farmed out to them to Demmer Engineering of Lansing, MI
maybe the L in QLL5 is for Lansing? just a guess
Maybe a Hurst Olds guy can supply some info as the Hurst Olds were built there.
Did you find any shipping records?

[Mr70]

The price of the Draggin just went up...where ever it is. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[JoeG]

Real http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif paperwork----it always amazes me the stuff that pops up ---Great for the Hobby--Congrats---

[DarrenX33]

Wow Frank excellent work! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worship.gif

[Charley Lillard]

Amazing http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Many congrats to Frank!! I have been dealing with this guy for almost 2 years, trying to get him linked up with the other deuce owners so they can get their paperwork. However, he would not consider selling me the DD paperwork, which didn't surprise me - I'm a guy on the phone from PA! Frankie was a local guy, and when we were talking about the paperwork I told him he's got the orig. invoice for the DD - convince him to sell it to ya! Good work by you Frankie.

The additional paperwork is just as interesting, if not more so since we've never been able to see the dealership side of the paperwork package. The 'fleet' card is the most interesting, I'd love a copy or pic of that one Frankie http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

The QLL stock number is actually the Chevy Order Number, and is also on the inventory sheet. There are several cars that had their stock numbers confused with the chevy order number, we don't know why. In fact, some of the original Yenko window stickers have the QLL # typed as the stock number. The cars with this phenom are all Hurst cars, which is one of the many reasons why we believe that they were prepped and drop shipped from Hurst in Detroit. Donna Mae probably typed up the first 125 cars with minimal typos, whereas the second order of 50 cars' window stickers are loaded with typo's - even to the point of typing '4 speed' on a car that has an a/t! Neither of the 'L's in the QLL Chevy Order Number/stock number implies Lansing, as the first 125 cars also have QLL Chevy Order Numbers.

Again, well done Frankie!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

BTW: Both Dan and John's cars are in the first order of 125, so their stock numbers were 'Canonsburg' asigned http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

[Mr70]

Frank
Was all this the result from the guy that approached you at Lombard this summer,when you brought your Deuce over?
I know him from D&R Camaro.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

The more I think about this, the cooler it is! You have really preserved some excellent deuce history here Frankie. We were afraid this guy would go underground again, and we wouldn't hear from him. His health is not very good, and you never know what could happen, and the paperwork would never be bought.

Very cool http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif

[hvychev]

Rick the guy from Lombard had nothing to do with this stuff.....the Lombard guys paperwork actually turned out to be real old copys of another known cars paperwork. this guy is a different guy all together.

Marlin I was so excited to get ALL the Fencl Tufo stuff from this guy! It is IMO a great thing for the Deuces to know at least someone in the public circle has the stuff. All of the memorabilia that I got from this guy is VERY cool! Fencl Tufo sold way more hi-po cars than I had ever thought. I will go into more of what they sold later.

A little side note is when he came to bring me the paperwork he was actually wearing his dirty old Fencl Tufo jacket similar to the other one that I bought from him already....just his was a little newer version. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Tell me you bought the coat off his back too http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
You're a DeuceNut!

[hvychev]

Actually I had already bought a coat from him that was brand new that he had bought for his girlfriend but never gave it to her. Believe it or not I DID offer to buy the coat off his back for a second but he said he wanted to at least keep ONE thing from his days at Fencl Tufo! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Pantera]

RE: The coat off his back

Get him to leave it to you in his will... http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

[JoeG]

Please Frank,--I'm tellin you the truth--I gave you everything I had---Please,---Just let me Go---- http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.yenko.net/attachments/102383-skel.jpg

[AutoInsane]

What is the history on the Draggin Deuce and where does the trail end? I am sure there is a fine line between giving up facts to get additional information and not wanting to let someone else find the car if it does still exist.

[hvychev]

There are some leads.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Honestly, I don't think anyone has really searched hard for that car. Several guys were looking, but then MotownMatt claimed to have found it. In my conversations with Matt, I gave him all the info he needed to confirm the car, but never heard that he got the car. Matt claimed that the owner didn't have the title because it was with a prior owner and had a lien against it. I thought that was good news, and told him to just pay off the lien so the current owner could get the title issue cleared up. He replied that the current owner would not allow him to do that. My suggestion was to do it anyway, how much could the lien possibly be? Just do a title search on the vin in whatever state the car is in, find out who the lienholder is (it should be on the face of the title), and pay it off. The title may even be sent to the person who satisfy's the lien, and then Matt would could actually lay claim to owning the car! Something wasn't jiving with the story, as the reasons kept coming as to why it wouldn't work. So, that's where the DD search stands, to my knowledge. We haven't seen or heard from Matt in quite a while, so maybe he's acquired the car (s) and is restoring them.

[hvychev]

He don't have the car or even know of it's whereabouts for that matter. That was just a bull$hit story.

[chads454Ls6]

Frank,that is real cool! i saw a citrus green deuce for the first time at the reunion this year and i gotta say i love that color! Good luck,chad

[Schonyenko2]

Rick, that guy poped up at vettfest last year. I think when I was over talking to you. Hornbeck talked to him, and got his phone # again as he had lost it. We hoped he would have Engler's paperwork, but didn't.
Very cool Frank. S. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggthumpup.gif