Western New York Supercars

[Diabl07]

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

[smallblockhero]

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.

[David C.]

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.

[smallblockhero]

Originally Posted by David C.

One of the eight 69 TA convertibles was sold new in Clarence. 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.

[fortim]

Originally Posted by smallblockhero

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.

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.

[WILMASBOYL78]

Originally Posted by smallblockhero

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.

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

[smallblockhero]

Originally Posted by WILMASBOYL78

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.

[WILMASBOYL78]

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

[WILMASBOYL78]

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

-wilma

[smallblockhero]

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.