1968 Yenko Camaro YS# 8011

[427freak]

Before buying this car, I went on this site and enlisted the help of several members to make sure I was secure. This was not a $3k barn find. It was found in the middle of the desert but the owner knew what it was and I paid a fair value. I want to especially thank Charley, TC and Mark for their help.
Here is the story as it was told to me.
The car was owned by a sailor in the Navy stationed in the San Diego area. It was originally purchased at Jay Kline Chevrolet in Mn. I do not know how it came to Calif., but maybe him being in the service had something to do with it. The person in San Diego owned the car until about the mid 80's. I do not know how long he owned it before this time or if he was the original owner. Sometime in the mid 80's he took parts off of the car and called a wrecking yard and had it towed away. Bad move. It was actually on the back of the wrecker on it's way to the crusher when a couple of young guys stumbled across it parked in front of a fast food restaraunt, luckily the truck driver got hungry just at that time or the car would have been lost forever. The guys recognized the badges and realized the car should be saved and made a deal to buy the car on the spot for cash, cheap. The driver dumped the car on the spot and it was dragged home. Later, one of them needed transportation and traded it for a $1700. running car, believe it or not I think the car was a mustang. That is how the guy that I bought it from acquired the car. He took it to the desert and covered it and there it has remained until now. Some interesting notes about the car. When my seller got the car it had most of it's external badges intact. He was going through a divorce and actually took all of the badges off of the back panel, fender and glove box so the car wouldn't be taken by his ex-wife. That is why you can see the outlines of the badges on the car. The badges are in his garage somewhere. They were pretty crusty but we are going to find them. The car is in not bad condition considering it's been drag raced hard and sat in the desert for the last 20 years. There are a few small rust holes in the drivers front pan and the rear fender lips are messed up from big tires. The paint on the car is original including the stripes. The drivers side fender is missing. The hood was gone but my seller acquired an orig. after years of searching. It has the 140 speedo, big front swaybar, Yenko door jamb tag, Yenko type cowl tag and the seller is digging out the tach and sending unit, along with some other parts he stowed away. You can see the holes in the cowl for the sending unit. The car has a dash dash paint code on the tag but is painted Deepwater Blue. A 67 color. This was also verified by Vince Emme over the phone. The interior was std black. The Yenko tag on the fenders is over the old SS holes, not above the Camaro emblem. There was no raingutter trim or top of the door trim. The rear panel was never black. It did have a SS gas cap. It did not have spoilers. It came with PS and PDB. I and a few others have known about this car for years but I happen to be talking to the owner when he said he wanted to sell it. After a couple of weeks of talking we struck a deal. The car is now in my garage awaiting restoration. When I got it home I opened the trunk and there was a live rat still living in there. There is a picture of him to follow. He is now with Don Yenko. We dubbed the car The Desert Rat. If anyone recognizes this car or has any information about it's history I would be greatly indebted to them. There is still a Navy sticker on the back lower part of the car. I am a Bowtie fanatic and I am glad to bring this car back and put it in it's glory. Sorry I ran long but I know people like the story. I tried putting a pic but it was a little too big.

[68l30]

Congrats on your find! Another 68 found and saved.....


Steve

[427freak]

Thanks. I sent some pics to Charley, when I hunt him down I will have him help me get them up. It is not pretty but I love it.

[68l30]

SWEET......Love those as found pics.


Steve

[sYc]

Glad to help... look forward to seeing it at a SCR.

[427freak]

A long haul but I would love to go.

[Alss]

Cool story..congrats and good luck with the restoration.

ALbert

[mssl72]

Whoooo-hooooo!!! Awesome! Drinks for everybody!

[camarojoe]

Awesome story... can't wait to see the pics. Interesting that the Yenko emblems were put on in place of the SS emblems. This does not surprise me, as Don didn't really want the cars to be viewed as Super Sports, but rather as Yenko Sportscars. I'd be willing to bet there were other 68's done like that originally. It was common for him to remove SS badging and replace with his own, as seen in the early 69 Yenko Nova pics in another thread. Does the SS gas cap show any signs of being painted/blacked out? Odd that the rear panel wasn't painted black... likely due to the special order paint color. Did I mention I can't wait to see pics?

[Charley Lillard]

Proud new owner wondering what he has gotten himself into...