[William]

Last week, I re-visited a real black L34 4-speed '69 Camaro SS at a local shop for finishing. He was a customer of Camaro Parts Exchange back in the '80s; been sitting probably 30+ years. Another one of our customers claimed to have a Yenko Chevelle. He must have sensed I didn’t believe him so I was invited for a visit. Real deal, yellow 4-speed sitting in a garage on the NW side of Milwaukee. Never saw it again. Probably still there.

Other recent finds include the orange/orange Dale COPO Camaro and the ’68 Nova “Ghetto Rat” race car.

In an 80 mile stretch along I-94 there was Dale Chev [Waukesha], Yunker Chev [Oconomowoc] and Hult’s Chev [Madison]. At least 30 COPO Camaros sold out of those dealerships; Yunker and Hult’s were Yenko franchisees for ’69 and also sold Chevelles and maybe a Nova. Few of them are known to exist. My guess, several of those cars remain hidden in the area.

I have also heard the Yenko 427 Nova stories over the years. Purchased new at Yunker by a woman in nearby Elm Grove, given to her 18-year-old son for making it through HS. That lasted about 3 months; she traded it in for something else. One of my Nova buds has a pic of the car on a showroom floor.

The Nova on FB has a Dale Chev nameplate; they were not a franchisee for ’69 so it was not sold new there. True, a few guys that worked there back in the day are around but none of them remembered the orange/orange COPO at all. The Principal Owners’ son, Bill Dale Jr. was still with us last I knew. The only car he has memories of is ZL-1 Camaro #7, acquired directly from Fred Gibb.

Hope to hear more about the Yenko 427 Nova and its Milwaukee history.