Western New York Supercars
 

Hello everyone!
I’m Jacob, I’m new to the forum and I’m looking for information if anyone has it. I’ve been browsing stuff on this site for a while getting info for my registry of the rare muscle cars that have resided where I live in Buffalo and Rochester in western New York. I have a couple cars, Yenkos and COPOs and Mopar and Pontiacs and all that, but I was wondering if anyone knew of any Yenkos or COPOs delivered new or that resided at one point or now in Western New York. I have a couple already, but I’m trying to expand the registry because I know there’s more out there. I believe there’s a few I’m missing from Taylor Chevrolet, Glen Campbell Chevrolet (who had a Z-11 Impala that’s in Texas now I think) and Bokman Chevy who may have had a few Yenko/COPO cars.
Here’s a small list of what I have so far

124679N709626 (which I believe to be in a collection here)
124379N666301 (delivered new to Molyne Chevrolet in Rochester)
And 124378N472062 which is the really pretty bronze car Bill Wertheim had for a time
And an unknown Z-L1 in Rochester in the 1970s

There’s a lot more on the Mopar/Shelby/Pontia side but I’m definitely more interested in the Yenko and COPO stuff.
If anyone has any information that could help me find some of this stuff I’d really appreciate it! Or if you have stories or cars delivered new to WNY, I’d love to hear them

Thank you all so much!
Jacob

Im from Buffalo and can tell you about many that once resided here. many of the best were sold years ago and went out of state or to canada. i only know of one local sold COPO from Bokman chevrolet, and as far as i know it has not surfaced. there was 2 local 68 Hemi Darts sold and campaigned at Niagara. Holiday oldsmobile (now Basil Ford) sold many local Hurst Olds in the area. There was 1 local small block AC Cobra years ago. And everybody knows the legend of Steve Battaglia owning 7 Superbirds that he bought in the 80s and drove them everywhere.

One of the eight 69 TA convertibles was sold new in Clarance. I worked on a yellow 69 yenko which was drag raced in NY and eventually restored to stock trim again.

Not only that.. but 1 of them wound up at Bob Harris's place. not sure if it was the one sold new in Clarence. it was partially restored in one of the pole barns. When i saw i,t i looked wide eyed at Bob, he just smiled and said, " yep its a real one". needless to say i touched it all over just to be able to say i did.

its not actually WNY but, Neal Robbins in Bath NY had and restored at least 4 Yenko Deuces of his own. They were in magazines a bunch of times. None of them were sold in WNY as far as i know of. Still kinda local COPOs nonetheless.

Not that theyre anything special.. But the 2 1971 Cutlass's were sold new at Holiday Oldsmobile. They were both dated and put on the lot within 2 days of each other. we had paperwork and grease pencil markings in the same hand writing on the core supports dating them both.

The green car is a weirdly optioned 350 2 bbl car. rear defrost, trunk release, hood lock , AM/FM with a rubber mat. my buddy still has the build sheet, he sold the car.

The Gold one was original paint, 455 TH400 car with console and A/C. Same friend owned this car as well.. recently sold to a guy in New Jersey.

There was a Boss 429 in West Seneca from the mid 80s to 1998 when it was sold to someone from the mid-west

The owner of this car also had a friend with a 70 Hemi Cuda and a 69 Hemi Satellite, both in West Seneca. I am unsure what happened with these. I last saw them in 1998

I tried to buy that car when it was sitting on the side of a machine shop covered in a tarp...not for sale. A '69 SS427 L72 triple black conv. 4sp was special ordered from Glen Campbell Chevrolet who sponsored our race car. FWIW, I bought a local '68 400 Firebird from Bob around 2008 that needed to be finished, nice car.

The red Hemi cuda with the black hockey stick stripe? There was a Black Boss 429 that was hidden in Marilla since 1973, my friend bought it around 2010. thats the only one i heard of.

Yes, it was a red Cuda with black stripe. Is it still around?

The Boss was Maroon. The owner never took it to shows and took me and his daughter out for ice cream once or twice a year. It also went to the Woodward Dream Cruise around 1996-7 Otherwise it sat covered in his garage. The last I saw of it was it loaded on a trailer bought from a man from Ohio

That car is what started my obsession with musclecars

This is the Marilla Boss 429 that's was parked in 1974 actually. There was a street racing incident and the owner hid the car for 35 years. It has 13k miles on it. this was the day they pulled it out of a shed that the car barely fit in. It went to Musclecar Alley in Arcade , all they needed to do was was clean it. The original motor was refreshed and reassembled and dyno'ed up to 5k. It went to one of the big auction houses.

I havent seen that Cuda in twenty years.. last time I saw it, it was driving down the 400 getting off at the Union exit.

God damn. Incredible car

a few more pics of the Boss 9 when it got to musclecar alley. Its kinda crazy because this car was a mile from my friends house and he drove past it for 20 years never knowing the owner or that the car was in his shed. The owner contacted him by word of mouth that he was a restoration guy.

Glen Campbell Chevrolet got one of the first 25 '67 Z-28 Camaros in January of that year. Not sure if they were racing it or it just became a street car or what. Don't even know the color. If somebody knows anything about it, please share. Thanks.

I talked with my friend that bought the Boss 9 today and he sent me a few more pics he had. Youll notice one is exactly how it sat since the 70s when he opened the shed.and then a few others after they cleaned it up and put the fender decals back on.

There was a black COPO automatic that was sold in the Rochester area. Don't know whatever happened to it. Think there were 4 69 Hurst Olds sold in Rochester - B&B Olds, Philanz Olds.

Heinrich Chevrolet in Rochester sold a 67 Z28 that was SCCA raced. That went to a collector in Canada.

i know of at least 2 1969 H/Os sold in Buffalo, my Dads friend owned one of them and it was a mess by 1976. My mom has a pic of me standing next to it and you cant even tell it was a 69 H/O. The other one i havent seen in 35 years..it was perfect with 30k on it at the time.

I remember seeing Hans Schmidt II winning regularly at Batavia drag strip in his Cobra. I believe that the Cobra was delivered at Muck Motors dealership. Also recall the full size Ford lightweight sponsored by Al Maroony (sp?) Ford beating the Cobra. The Ford went on to win at the nationals, but was dq’d on teardown. Hans’ father was a famous wrestler back in the 60s. His best move was the “nasty nostril” ��

Funny you say that... the only real Cobra I ever saw in the area was a black small block. I saw it at Ja Fa Fa Hots cruise night once in the mid 80s. i have no idea if it was the El-Cid Cobra or not. it wasnt lettered and i never saw the owner. but that makes me wonder.

Al Maroone Ford sold a lot of Hi-Po cars back then, We believe thats where the black Boss 9 came from. We had a Marti report but cant remember.

not sure if it was the same car, but around 25 years ago i bought a 69 H/O out of the buffalo area and it had just a little over 30k on it.

wow...25 years ago, if the same guy owned it.. he wouldve been in his mid 30s. i was about 15-16 when i saw the car and met him around 88ish. i was totally obsessed with it. and he was real knowledgeable about the car and olds. What are the odds that its the same car? pretty good id say. he only took it to cruise nights..and even then it was rare. it was by far the best H/O in the Buffalo area.

side note: the first time i saw the car he left the cruise night, and lit it up. smoke pouring off the tires thru the first 3 gears and swinging... we heard the 4th gear chirp and saw the tailights wiggle a little bit. that has been burned in memory , i can still see it.

all of the 69 H/O's were automatic cars. so if that one had a 4 speed it wasnt the one i bought

Geez.. i never thought of that until now. 35+ year old memories can get fuzzy. Obviously it was an auto then. Im still betting it was most likely the same car.

Buffalo Muscle Cars...
 

I would like to jump in on this thread to try and get more info on a black 70 L78 TH400 Nova I bought from Steve in 2003. He didn't give me much to go on at the time...the car was registered to his girl friend. I did try the NCRS search and it came back as Krise Motor Co. in Canton, PA [dealer code 380/zone 12].

But, it didn't seem right so i did some digging...this old thread has some new info. It appears the car came from Laks Chevrolet

https://thesupercarregistry.com/foru...126908&page=56



Anyway...this current thread mentioning the Superbird guy caught my eye...he showed me a bunch of those cars when I went there to buy the Nova.

Happy to chat with anyone who has some local info...thanks.

-wilma

are you talking about the bench seat , column shift L78? lol.. Steve somehow bought that car out from underneath a friend of mine. i saw it at his shop on comet right after he bought it. He didnt know anything about the car at that time, he wasnt even sure it was a real big block car.

L78 Nova...
 

Yes...that's the car I'm talking about. It is in my garage as we speak...we put the others away for the winter, planning to do some work on this one over the winter.

Would love to learn more of the history about this car.

thanks,

wilma

Western NY cars...
 

Had a great chat today with 'small-block-hero'....getting some history on the black Nova. Took a couple of photos in the garage today...time for some TLC on this old gal :smirk:

-wilma

Not quite a Supercar by definition, but it was purchased in western, NY at Dave Hallman Chevrolet in Hamburg, NY. It certainly has the look of a Supercar. I purchased this car 25 years ago this past June in 1999.

https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...t=dave+hallman

It's not a supercar but here is my '69 L72 Biscayne that was bought new at Maglio Chevrolet in Perry NY. It has had several owners in western NY until 2019 when it made its way to IA and then MN. The original owner is still in Perry and I keep in touch with him.

love that car. did the original owner buy it to drag race only or a driver/racecar?

Thanks!
It was driven on the street for a year before he got serious and started racing modified production at Lancaster Dragway. The vintage photo with the black wheels is from 1970 and the photo with torque thrusts on the front is 1971.

Wow! You guys all rock! I’ve heard about that black Boss 429 but I’ve never seen photos, how incredible. All this information is really awesome everyone, keep it coming! I love the stories of my area back in the day.

I have tons of new information from this thread, thank you all so much. I have a pretty full idea of the Supercars from WNY, Ill share some stories here. If anyone wants to know if we had anything, I have a pretty compressive list I am more than willing to share! Im only sharing stuff I have vins for, ill add some other stuff I dont at the end!
Enjoy!
But here are some I have,

As far as COPOs, Yenkos, and Bergers and other Camaros go, Buffalo had a couple pass through
67 Yenko 124377N241474 and 69 Yenko 124379N579518 were with Bob Harris being restored as well as the WGI pace car (124679N686263) and a lot of his other Yenkos and COPOs (which I dont have vins for) he's owned and restored like YS-8051, which was owned by
Bill Wertheim in Clarence, and I also believe he has the gold L-79 Acadian (671637003920) and the 2 SD-396 ragtops (which I dont have vins for). also he may own 124679N709626, but im not sure

124377N163228 was the SCCA prototype car raced in Rochester

124377N242082 and 124377N242122 were both 1967 Yenko Super Camaros delivered new in Jamestown just an hour south of Buffalo

124379N666301 is a COPO car delivered new in Rochester

114279W357883 is the Cordia fast Track Nova, absolutely one of the greatest ex-WNY cars ever

136379B401872 Chevelle COPO delivered new to Bokman Chevy that I think is owned by someone on this forum

136670B175145- ragtop LS6 which was one owner in Buffalo until it sold at Mecum just a few months ago

as far as Boss 429s go,
1970s
0F02Z124193- in a great collection in west seneca up until recent
0F02Z104682- owned in rochester and up for sale in Hilton NY a few years ago
0F02Z127597- grabber green, owned by Bob. B in Rochester in his collection with his many Hemi cars
then the 69s are:
9F02Z171596- not sure how long its been around but I see it at cars and coffee every so often
9F02Z150469- early candy apple red car, first owner was in Buffalo

OK now the pontiacs, this is a good one
I mentioned Bob Bartosiewicz in Rochester, Bob has a huge collection which includes/has included
3 1970 Ram Air IV Coupes
(242370P216698, 242379B176476, and 242370P140831)
2 Ram Air IV Verts, a 69 and a 70 (242679B173023 and 242670B129433)
and a 71 H.O. Judge convertible (242671P121426)

There were 2 Ragtop 69 Trans Ams,
223679N107816 which was delivered new here and stayed a while and I think restored by Bob Harris
and 223679N106884 which I know was here but not sure the story on

there were 2 70 GTO Ram Air III cars here new, 242670P158060 delivered to Piehler Pontiac in Rochester and 242670P230708 delivered to Brown Motor Sales in Buffalo

2V87X2N515007 is a 72 455 HO delivered to Al Ives Pontiac in Tonawanda

and a 71 455 HO 228871N110001 which is curious because it seems to me like thats a very early vin. if not #001

Thats what I have, not including the tons and tons of Hemi cars previously in Western New York, Which Ill share if anyones interested. I have more info on most of these cars so ask away if need be

I LOVE sharing stuff like this with people, Ill make another post about cars I know but im missing vins on
Thanks everyone!!

Jacob

If anyone knows info on Bob Harris 1969 COPO? Or the 68 Yenko RS they were working on. Also anyone know of a ZL-1 that was in Western New York in the 70s?

Great thread, NY was a hotbed of performance cars.

I meant to post the below 10/70 Newspaper Ad here previously but landed it in the Huebner ZL1 thread first where William noted #12 was known to have been in NY.
Sorry, I forgot to get back here w/ the Ad until seeing your postings today, was the car you knew of Blue also do you know if it came from the Manhattan area?
Awesome thread also thanks for the great details w/ your postings above!
:beers:
~ Pete

.

My former '69 GTO RAIII 4sp convertible was sold in WNY, and I bought it from the original owner in the 1970s. I still have the VIN if you're interested. I took the car to Lancaster Dragway a couple of times. It was a great street car.

You only have part of the story right it wasn’t in Marilla . It was in Elma and it was not in the shed. There is a good story about it y it disappeared for so many years.

Back in 1972 this black boss 429 was sold from Delaware sports car on Delaware Avenue between Hertel and Tacoma. From there, the new owner took it to Elma and I looked at it in 1978 off Bowen Road. Right after that, the car Disappeared and then soon was recovered And sold to a good friend of mine , it was then put away for 30 years then we brought it back out and decided to sell it.

Send me a private message with your phone number and I’ll give you a call .I owned both of the Trans Am convertibles, and good friend of ours had one of the 427 AC cobra it was a red one. He also owned the 67 GT 500 Shelby with the 427 side oiler, also it was another friend of mine that owned s the black 69 boss 429 and sold it several years ago could give you a lot of information and stories about all the super duty Trans Ams and raiv cars in the area .A lot of these rare Pontiacs are still right here