Lancaster, PA Yenko Chevelle
 

When I was attending Bowman Technical School in Lancaster, PA back in 1977 I took pictures of this Garnet Red Yenko Chevelle while walking back to BTS after lunch. Had to run back to the place I was living to get my camera. Believe I took the pictures around May, as I was surprised the car still had snow tires on it. That was the only time I ever saw the car.

Car was parked on N Shippen St, a couple of cars down from the intersection of E King St. In 2004 I was in Lancaster and decided to get the street name where the car was parked. Basically everything was the same. The only thing that was missing was the street sign next to the Chevelle. After looking at the sidewalk I could see where they had sawed the post flush with the cement. Not much has changed in that old city.

Tried locating the car after all these years to no avail. Maybe someone reading this and checking out the pictures will remember it.


- Warren

Sorry, can't help with the whereabouts, but is a very interesting photo. That car appears to have '68 bucket seats w/headrests. Can't make it out for sure, but the pleats and buttons aren't '69 and don't have SYC on the headrests. Also the lack of the front hood arrow. Were any yenkos configured that way?
Good luck with your quest.

I remember someone telling me about this car and telling me the same story shortly after we acquired our car. Maybe it was you. Neat pictures. I also thought I heard that Yenko used black Yenko crests on their cars that did not go thru the Super Car sales department but were sold through the main dealership. Odd however that it does not have any SS emblems and does have the 427 emblems so maybe a COPO. I would then ask why it would not have been sold thru the Super Car division.

Annie is from Lancaster, PA and will be here at the shop momentarily. I will ask if she ever remembers seeing it.

I believe this is the same Yenko Chevelle that showed up at Carlisle....like 8-10 years ago.
Owner claimed it was the the Real Deal and it was Never Ever going to sell it.
There was a huge crowd around the car the entire time.

Even with the Yenko Chevelle's things were changed and added. Car guys just couldn't leave things alone, I myself always changing stuff on my Chevelle....it's what we did back then.

Dan

Hey Warren, Annie just left. Though she remembers that area quite well and even though she was a tom boy and loved cars she does not recall this one at all. She too suggested maybe checking with the home owners in the area as she said so many people in that area stayed a long time. You never know. Also speaking to her about this Chevelle she did remind me that it was in fact you who told me the story. Great seeing the pictures. Let me know if ok to post on Facebook.

Dan, if you are talking the same car I am thinking of, that Yenko had stripes on it and was well worn on it but still a nice solid car. I thought I had a picture of it from the show but cannot find it though I too heard people went crazy over it and it was NOT for sale.

Rick, or anyone else that wants to share the pictures, that is fine with me.

At one time I thought it would be cool to find and purchase it, but I have too many car projects to finish right now.

- Warren

Sounds good Warren. I will pass along any comments that are made on Facebook as they are public. Hopefully it surfaces.

Dan, is this the car you are talking about? Also for those involved in a previous discussion on hood stripes, take note of these.

Yep, that is it Rick.

Well done.

Dan

This is interesting Rick. Although I agree that this car looks to be a copo, do you know if Yenko modified any of their cars out of their inventory to suit a customers need? Were there any non-copo 427 cars from Yenko in 1969?

Wonder why the placement of the Yenko badge was lower on the vintage photo, and higher up on the later photo?

I'm really not the one to ask that question as there are many more people on here better qualified. However I do know they did modify cars for customers.

They are 2 different cars...

Different cars if I understand what you are asking. If the vintage photos were of a car that did not go thru the Super Car department that could be why they were in a different place. If only Don were still alive to bring more of this to light.

I see no reason not to believe the car is a Yenko 427 COPO Chevelle. Aside from the fact the stripes are missing, everything else is there.

Why the black crests then? Sure would be nice to know the VIN. Maybe one of the unknown Garnet Red cars.

Whole car could have been repainted, crests too. I certainly don't see the fact the badges aren't painted correctly as a sign its not legit. BTW, they aren't painted how the stick-on black and chrome ones were painted either.

I see 2 plausible scenarios here:

1) It could have been repainted by 1977, which would explain the missing stripes. The emblems may also have been changed at that time.

2) This is what I was hinting at before... it may not be a garnet red car originally. What if a customer specifically wanted a cortez silver 427 Chevelle, would Don have pulled a car out of his regular inventory and converted it? This would explain the black crests on this particular car.

I don’t think people were cloning Yenko cars in 1977, were they? Beat up looking with snow tires?

It may very well have been repainted, but why would you think it's not one of the 99 Yenko Chevelles? It's got a bowtie in the grille and an SS hood, no Malibu side trim, IE: all the COPO stuff that a Yenko 427 Chevelle would have. It wasn't some put together car off the back lot.

maybe because when the kids got there after school to put the stripes and emblems on those cars the new kid placed the emblem to low on the fender. The shop foreman hollered at him but told him to leave it like that and get to the next car.
Think it could of happened that way back then? What a great era for muscle cars!

Exactly. There was no set place or template that dictated exactly where the emblems had to go. That includes the 427's too.

Like I said in a previous post, I agree this car looks like a copo, but anything is possible. Joel Rosen would have built you whatever you wanted as long as you had the cash to pay for it. There are a few things out of the ordinary on this car that gets the gears in my head turning :D

Joel Rosen didn't build this one. Don Yenko did.

Gee, thanks for clearing that one up :D

No problem.

You guys sure it’s a real yenko or COPO or made up?

Forget about the car in the pictures for a minute. So you’re basically saying that there is no way no how Don/Yenko Chevrolet would have put a 427 into a Chevelle in 1969 (non copo) no matter how badly a customer wanted one in a different color than his run of supercars? It would explain the lack of stripes, headrest call outs, and the black crest. I thought dealers were in business to make money. Cash talks, and the customer is always right.

No, I'm saying theres nothing to indicate to me this isn't your standard Yenko 427 COPO Chevelle. It's not an SS, it's not a Malibu, and the photos were not taken 1969, so the lack of stripes/repaint/etc. is not shocking. There are plenty of cars that Yenko modified outside of the standard COPO cars. This just doesn't appear to be one of them.

I have a few friends that grew up in the surrounding neighborhoods back in this time frame . All who would of been in their early to mid teens at the time. Ill show these pics around ,maybe somebody will remember it ??? Everybodys older brother or sisters boyfriends had Cool cars back then

Exactly my point. Maybe I misread, but I thought someone said, "Same car."

another possibility is that this Chevelle was from Jack Douglass Chevrolet.

A Douglass converted 427 COPO may have had different placement of stripes and emblems even less consistent then the Yenko Chevrolet converted cars

the red Yenko Chevelle with side pipes was posted on team chevelle.

It was said that the original owner brought it to the show.

There were 2 pictures posted, this is the other and has a time stamp 9/22/2012

or... the first pic is of a non Yenko with emblems slapped on. People did that even back then. We may be looking at a 307 Malibu with Yenko emblems on it

The hood looks to be more faded the the rest of the car.

It’s not a Malibu. It’s got all the details of a COPO, and Yenko badges, including Yenko specific 427s. It’s a Yenko.

The picture of the Garnet Red Yenko at Carlisle doesn't have a grill bowtie. Do you think the owner removed it or did some come like that?

- Warren

the red one with side pipes is missing a bunch of trim, windshield trim, front fender opening, grill bowtie, grill eyebrow

maybe the guy was working on it

looking through some Yenko Chevelle pictures

here is a restored one with black stripes but I don't know if it is the same car from the 1977 picture posted here

the one next to it with white stripes was a one owner car at the time and may still be

I believe the Yenko Chevelle that Warren posted is VIN #356640, originally purchased from Marshall Chev in Reading, PA by F. Delewski of Summit Ave, Reading, PA on 5/2/1969. It was last titled in PA to a K. Shelton of Manheim, PA in the mid-late '70's, no DMV records since then.

Nice work Marlin!