'68 Yenko, Transplant vs. COPO

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Here is a pic of the documentation regarding the L72 engine being tested in a '68 Camaro for Yenko Chevrolet in May of '68. Keep in mind that we should never say 'never' where GM is concerned.

One possible theory is that Yenko purchased this car from GM after their test, as an export vehicle. Yenko then sold it to a participating dealer through his network, with his own warranty just like the other transplant cars. This is not impossible, remember the hemi cuda proto-type story in MCR last year.

Kevin has studied these documents, and can add explanations better than I.
M

[bowtie3168]

Marlin,
Thanks for sharing the info.

Andrew

[Mr70]

Very interesting reading.I enjoy the obscure.

[JoeC]

Wow - interesting document. Special instructions "report name as Excalibur" ? Sounds like someone was being secretive. Not sure why Yenko would need a Federal Emission test on a car sold for Export. My guess would be that the GOV was requesting the L72 Camaro emission test numbers from Yenko and he asked Chevy to help him by performing the test on their equipment. If Chevy was openly selling the L72 Camaro then they would have persued the GOV approvals. The GOV was going after shops that they considered manufactures no matter how small the number of cars produced. In the 60's the GOV shut down some small manufactures like John Fitch by requesting crash test results and emission test results that they could not afford to do.
Marlin-Is there a vin number on the document?

[Yenkofan]

It reads to me like GM is testing Yenko's car for Yenko at Yenko's cost. It doesn't seem to shed any light to me on the transplant or GM produced issue. Yenko wouldn't have had equipment to do the smog tests correct?
Also what does it mean at the bottom when it says "closed" and "no report issued"?
JMHO
Gary

[SuperCars]

Gary, I think you are correct about testing Yenko's car at Yenko's request. But I believe that this could be a 427 Camaro already at the factory that was built by Chevrolet for Yenko. I wouldn't think it would make sense for Yenko paying for shipping a Camaro from the factory, then Yenko go through their transplant process; then pay to ship the car back to the factory, and then pay to ship the car back to Yenko when it was done. I think it was easier to drop in a 427 in at the factory instead of shipping a car 3 times. It is my belief that a Camaro like my 68 Yenko which has the tag from GM that says "special order drag car" is such an example. You can see this tag on my website with the little Chevy bow tie in the rib line of the tag. I don't believe that it would have this tag like this if it was just another RPO L78. I'm not suggesting though that my 68 is a COPO 9560 like in 69 though. I believe this it is possible my car could be a pilot 427 motor but hidden in the COPO 9737 sports car conversion. Jim Mattison in his interview in MCR touches on this a bit. Jim was in charge of COPO orders at GM and makes the comment on this very same subject. He says the guys in engineering where always doing something like that; and I don't think Mattison has any agenda for making statements like this unless they were true.

Lots of strange things have happened when it comes to GM's engineering research and development department. Another example I can give, is that for years it was believed that no M22's where ever put in a 65 Vette. This is because it was never listed as an RPO from GM. I own such a M22 Vette that is used in Alan Colvin's book "Chevrolet by the Numbers" and is the documented example of a M22 Vette which was instrumental in proving that. You can see my M22 Vette in the appendix of Colvin's book.

Then is the controversy of the 66 427 L72/M22 Vette to which some claims are made of these as being a cast iron head version of the L88. The reason that some suggest this is that for example in 1967 there were 20 L88 corvettes and 20 M22's produced. On this very subject there is an old article by Martyn Schorr as well. Interestingly Martyn as a young writer was at Motion Performance in 1966 when a 66 L72/M22 Tanker Vette was brought in for modification. Martyn writes that on the window sticker the motor was listed as L72-B. When the motor was taken apart for blueprinting it was discovered to have a gear drive timing gear with reverse rotation distributor. It also had a different valve train and the piston compression was not identified. Strange story, right? (I have to get Denis over to my house to post this as I have a scanner but yet to learn how to do it.) Anyway, this summer in Bloomington, Al Grenning whom is an NCRS judge and Corvette historian will do a presentation on 66 427/M22 Corvettes. He asked for my 66 427/M22 Tanker which raced at Daytona to be there as a part of his demonstration. I am sending it and it will be there as part of the special collection. He has uncovered GM factory documents documents on these 1966 427 Vettes which when having the M22 they were not the conventional L72 427, but a cast iron head version of the L88. I've yet to see these documents myself. Anyway, I guess all the more for the saying "never say never".


[Edited by SuperCars (04-20-2001 at 11:03 AM).]

[JoeC]

Kevin. I am curious where these documents were found on the 1968 L72 Camaro. Did they come with the car when the original owner purchased it? The other document on this L72 Camaro that was shown in the Chevy Action article appears to provide more information. The picture in the magazine was not very clear but it appeared to be a COPO form that deleted some RPO's in exchange for other parts. Can you post this COPO document? It has some writing on the bottom that I could not read.
About the L72 M22 1966 Corvette. Don Yenko orderer a 1966 Corvette for a customer/friend who wanted the best possible race car he can get from Chevy. I have read that it was ordered as a L-72, M-22, J-56 dual pin brakes, F-41 suspension, G-81 positraction, K-66 transistorized ignition, and had no radio or heater. It was said to have been one of two 1966 L72 Corvettes with a special engine suffix code. I don't know how accurate this info is but I wonder if this Corvette had one of the cast iron head L88 type motors in it. This is a picture of it after it was race preprepared by Yenko including cutting off the windshield and adding a 42 gal. gas tank.

[SuperCars]

Joe, I was given a file of about 50 pages from Chevrolet Engineering Archives, that I believe I was told came through help from Herb Fishel, a Chevrolet Engineer, and I believe along with Fran Preve. The bulk of these documents pertain to COPO 9737. Most of which deals with suspension parts such as tie rod ends, sway bar components, steering and a bunch of stuff I haven't paid much attention to. The key pages I have focused on are this smog test, but also there were engine assembly numbers that were added and deleted number through this 9737 process as it appears to have evolved during 1968. Also for example, is one Engineering Change Recommendation on COPO 9737 (dated 4-10-68) is noteworthy, as it is typed "NOTE: RPO L78 Fuel Pump will used for delivery of vehicles only". Typed below that is "RPO L78 Fuel Pump required to facilitate assembly". In between these two typed sentences is handwritten: "Make Exp V78 Mandatory on all exceptions with Engine Changes- add to cost sheets." (signed with initials ARB 4/15/68; A.R.Baker was one engineer listed at top of page) Then, when I refer to the list on the COPO 9737 sheets, which is titled "Exception Control Letter Sheet" it lists all the RPO's to configure the COPO 9737. The first COPO 9737 Sheets do not list V78. RPO V78 was added to COPO 9737 on 4-3-68 and is: "V78 Less Certificate of Compliance/For Export/". It is my belief that this RPO V78 addition, plus handwritten in by an engineer the words "engine changes", is exactly what happened.

In answer to your question of the COPO order document in the Chevy Action Article, I thought I had a copy, but can't find it right now. I know who does have it and will get a copy one way or the other (I hope).

The 66 L72 Vette you posted is one of the L72/M22 that created the controversy over whether there were 66 L88's. There was a Lawsuit going on between a couple Corvette guys over this car, it got kind of ugly. But, I do believe it to be another of the L72-B/M22 cast iron head versions of the L88 as previously discussed. It was special ordered by Don Yenko for friend/customer named Mike Summers who owned "Best Photo Service". It was raced extensively and you will see the BEST PHOTO name on it. I can type another whole story on this car but won't right now.

By the way this reminds me of another interesting item about Don Yenko. It was told to me that his special order performance cars were white with red interior. We see that this 66 Vette is white/red and my 68 Yenko is white/red. When I was told this I didn't really think any significance to it; but has anyone else heard this?



[Edited by SuperCars (04-22-2001 at 12:56 PM).]

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

More pics relating to Kevin's explanation;





M

[JoeC]

Kevin, The document shown in the Chevy Action article is the best evidence I have seen to date of a COPO 427 1968 Camaro maybe two. I scanned and magnified it to 8x11 size trying to read it. Some of it is legible but some of it is too grainy. I sent a copy of it to Jim Mattison and he replied that he hadnÃt seen one for many years but remembered it as the œGSD-578” form. The copy shown on the Speedvision Musclecar COPO TV show looked like the one I emailed to Jim. I did tell him that there seemed to be some good evidence that not all the 68 Yenkos were MV code 427 engines but on the TV show Jim seemed to indicate that he still believed they all had the 427. I am not convinced that they all had the 427.
The GSD-578 form shows a COPO 9737HD. The "HD" is the ECL (Exception Control Letters) code to show a configuration change in a RPO or COPO number. Such as on the Yenko Chevelle build sheets that show 9737LD and 9737KD. Chevy could have used a different ECL suffix code on the 9737 to build different configurations of the 1968 COPO Camaro. From what I can read on this COPO order form it is dated 2-13-68 requested by Yenko Chevrolet and Span inc. for two 9737HD sports car conversions to ship ASAP. ( It appears to show quanty as 2 but not clear). One line of the document listed the RPO's that appear to have been deleted and replaced by other components. They are as follows; Z23, L78, M21, AXL2 (crossed out), J52, J50, U63, G80, N40. I decode this as; Z23 = special interior package (looks like it is not on this car), L78 = 396 (the article claims the original motor is a 427 with L88 parts), M21 (they claim the car has a M22, AXL2 = special performance axle (this is crossed out on the form) J50/J52=power disk brakes (the car looks like it does not have power brakes but may have J56), U63=AM radio (the car has no radio) G80= Posi rear (the crossed out AXL2 could spec. the axle 4:56) N40=power steering (the car looks like it has no PS). I can email a copy of what I have but I hope you can find the original.
On the Yenko colors “ I am not sure about the red interiors but Don Y definitely liked his racecars to be white with blue stripes down the center. He used this paint scheme on his early Corvette race cars and on the first Stinger Corvairs.