'69 Yenko Nova questions

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

The ex-Chandler / Kevin Suydam Yenko Nova supposedly had a COPO box checked on it's broadcast sheet, thereby leading Greg Joseph and Roger Gibson to believe it was a factory 427. I have several broadcast sheet copies from '70 COPO/Yenko Novas, but I haven't found a 'COPO box' on any of them. This was the only information that I heard of that steered the restoration into a non-SS COPO style car. It is also unknown why Gibson installed custom interior panels on a standard interior car, unless the broadcast sheet had a different code. Some Yenko cars received the wrong broadcast sheet, (mine for example). Most believe the car was originally an SS. Some friends and I have spoken with numerous original owners of the '69 Yenko Novas, and they all repeat the same description: SS car, 427 engine, 4 speed, 12 bolt posi, dual exhaust, black interior with bench seat, disc brakes, and XT wheels with little caps and whitewall tires. Some remember just emblems, and some remember emblems and stripes, but they all remember them as Extremely Fast.

As for the first one built; from the info that I have collected, Kevin's car has the lowest VIN #, but Tom Clary's car has the lowest BODY#. This may sound strange that the car with earlier body received a later VIN, but it happened with whole blocks of the '70 Yenko Novas, usually relating to color change. I don't know which number signifies the car's chronological order, any ideas?

The '396 stolen from the car' story is even more interesting. Yenko had a lot of trouble with locals stealing parts from the cars as they sat in a lot, on a hill, that was across a small creek, behind the dealership. They got a dog to roam the lot and keep theives away. One night an engine was stolen from a '69 Nova, (unknown if it was the 396 or a 427), the dog's paw prints were all over the tops of the fenders - apparently amused at all of the activity. A few nights later the dog was gone, never seen again. Theives would row down the creek in a small boat, run up the embankment, cut a hole in the fence and steal stuff. Yenko had a guy (J.Buckels) on an adjacent hill with a shotgun, stuff was still missing - the guy was sleeping most of the night. You have to see the dealership for all of this to really make sense. (Thanks to Donna Mae for her recollections).

Although a lot of this sounds like Yenko Chevrolet was a busy hub of hi-performance activity, when you talk with some of the locals in Canonsburg you find out that they really didn't know what was going on. It was until the cars hit magazines in the '80's that they realized what he was doing. You never know who you will run into, I ran into a guy whose dad owned the tire shop across the street from Yenko Chev. It was always believed that Yenko changed the wheels on the '70 Nova's, but he didn't. Yenko had this guy's dad do it across the street, they called the stacks of XT wheels left over 'the rainbow'. He also remembers having to put tubes in all of the Atlas wheels they installed for Yenko, the aluminum was so poruous they leaked right through. If you ever get the chance, it is really interesting to walk the lots of the old Yenko dealership.

Marlin



[Edited by YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY (07-13-2000 at 08:48 AM).]