Douglass Yenko Emblem Placement

[Belair62]

And here I thought it was over !!!

[sixtiesmuscle]

Nutz

Mr. Yenko, lets say you purchased one of these cars new, and someone told you that all you had was a COPO camaro. ??? Would you pop the yenko emblems off, and say "OK, sorry, I thought it was a real Yenko"?

[sYc]

I think "pissed" would be the word. As one original owner of a JD COPO stated, you paid the extra money (Yenko dollars) to get "that Yenko 427". Then to find out that the car did not come from Yenko! Yes, I know they were both COPOs, but the perception back then (public wise), was that the Yenkos had something extra. That is why JD had trouble selling his COPOs without connecting them to Yenko.

[olredalert]

Tom,

-----Not knowing the Yenko lore as well as many of you guys,I have a question.It seems I remember that Yenkos were rated at 450HP.If this is true,did Don do anything to the cars to warrant the 25 extra horses?Did he change the carb or add headers or anything?I guess my point would be that I dont think Jack did HP mods at all,just badges,and stripes!I know Jack fairly well and the "bottom line" was always more important than anything else to him.If he could get the extra Yenko money for a few badges and a little vinyl then he was all for it.Jacks position would likely have been "why modify an already fast car and let ourselves in for all kind of warranty issues when we can sell it just like it is".Its not as if there were a whole bunch of other Yenkos around Chicago to compare to,as far as the horsepower modifications were concerned.
-----I hope none of this is misunderstood.As far as Im concerned the cars are(simply)the cars.They are all significant,just some are different than others,but the are all interesting(other than some burnished brown ones)!!!!!!!......Bill S

[sYc]

Unlike in '67 and '68, in 1969, Yenko did not modify most cars. The 450HP figure most likely came from NHRA. I am thinking that is what the NHRA rated the L-72 at. As per JD, I am sure he was like all of us. If he could sell a few more cars, that meant a few more dollars in his pocket. Nothing wrong with that. The reason JD needed the Yenko name was not because of the performance edge. JD and others proved that they could equal, or even beat what Don was doing performance wise. The edge Yenko had was in how the public viewed the cars. It was in how they were promoted. And Don was very good at this. With his racing success (name recoginition), nation wide dealer network and extensive advertising program, the public saw Yenko built cars as something special. In the same way as the Stephani family did with Nickey and Joel Rosen (with he help of Marty Schorr) did with Motion. And, IMO that carries over to today. There were many dealers, such as JD, who were doing the same thing as these three, but on a smaller scale (publicity wise). One of the reasons Yenko was so prominent in the midwest was because of Span, INC. AKA James Spencer, who was Yenko's sales rep, working I believe out of Chicago.

[ssl78]

I was talking to a guy who used to have muscle cars but is now heavily into Porsche. He was telling me he used to own a yellow Yenko Camaro between 1973 to 1984. He bought it from the original owner who lived in Joliet IL. When he bought the car it was original but the owner put a small block in it because the big block ate to much gas. This was a stripped and emblemed, car the original motor was sitting in the corner of the garage. I asked him if the tach was on the column or in the dash, he said in the dash. This tells me it was more than likely a JD Yenko since all PA Yenkos sold out of JD were early cars. I am almost positive this car belongs to someone on this board. He believes he still has the vin number to the car and also has slides of the car, and will give them to me. I think most people agree that most JD cars came with some sort of Yenko identification on them. That means there werte probably 18 PA yenkos and maybe 20-23 JD Yenkos in the area. No matter what anybody thinks know back then they were Yenkos. I think this is why they are so well known in the midwest.

[hvychev]

Interesting poll results...........

[Mr Yenko]

Yenko,
When talking to the orig. owner to my Byrnes. Bros. COPO. I had mentioned that I had bought his old camaro and that it was a COPO camaro he had never heard of the term. He remembers them as being advertised as SS 427 Camaro's. He recalls seeing some Yenko's their but at the time there were about 7 "SS 427" Camaro's in the lot when he bought his. He was looking for a FAST camaro for a reasonable price and $3900,00 would do the trick. I even recall a member of this board buying his Yenko new and removing the stripes cause he thought they looked stupid. "Forgive me Don for saying that" Most people didn't even care they just wanted a FAST car. That is just my thoughts, I can't say if I would have wanted all that flare and attention bought to myself with the stripes and emblems. I like the SLEEPER look myself. "MOF" [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/flag.gif[/img]

[Clint_69]

So, are you stating that Byrnes Bros. COPO owners now want to be recognized as SS 427 owners? LOL!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beers.gif[/img]