1969 Yenko Camaro

[T Billigen]

Yes, I delivered it on Friday. I'm sure the new owner will post something on the site when he is ready.

[JChlupsa]

Which direction did it go?

[Mr70]

What's next Tom....a Deuce or maybe or a 2002 ZL-1,or Both?

[T Billigen]

I am now the owner (again) of my 1968 Corvette Bronze 396/375 Camaro which I originally purchased new at Kenny Ross Chevrolet in Pittsburgh, PA in September 1968. Car only has 5K original miles, and may be a Non-Converted COPO/Yenko which I was unaware of at the time I owned it. Have been researching this possibility for sometime now and all signs are looking very positive. Will update as I learn more. I have attached a picture of the car that was taken in 1968 in front of the dealership.

[Belair62]

How did you find your old car Tom ?

[Mr70]

Wonderful news Tom.CONGRATS
Glad to hear it is coming back to you.
The Following is from an article from Kenny Ross himself in January 1970,through the Chevrolet Central magazine:

Kenny Ross,from Kenny Ross Chevrolet,is Performance minded,but not a specilaist.He has been keeping a close watch on the Youth market for some time."marketing for all sorts of products has been aimed at the under 25's-and that includes cars."
Even though the Dealership is not located in a Performance area,he believes that getting into the performance market is the way to reach young buyers.Today,close to 25% of thier new car business is in peformance cars.
"The kids are looking for identification,........individualty,they're looking for a Car with Flare....speed...color-something different.
For this reason we do a lot of custom painting.
The Kenny Ross Dealership has three specialists on the sales staff,and a seperate showroom for High performance parts.
The most Important thing a dealer needs,Ross Believes,Is a Service Dept. equipped to handle performance car business.When it comes to ordering,most of the Kids Know as much about the cars as anyone on our staff.But if you don't have good service,you lose the business.This is especially true in make-ready,so we can make an extra special effort preparing performance cars for Delivery".(Outstanding equipment in thier service department includes a Dynamometer-not usually found outside specialized speed shops.)

[Supercar_Kid]

"Even though the Dealership is not located in a Performance area..." Ouch, I'm hurt. Shows how often the writers of Chevrolet Central visited the Pittsburgh area. The 'Burgh was a hotbed for performance oriented buyers in the late 60's. There was Kenny Ross selling plenty of L-78 cars and the sort, not to mention Don Allen, Tom Henry, Schrieber, Bud Donahue, and I'm sure several others that would sell you any high perf car in Chevy's lineup short of a COPO, which could had easily enough by heading on out to a little dealership in Washington county by the name of Yenko Chevrolet. Let's also not forget that Grabiak Chevrolet in nearby New Alexandria sold nearly as many Corvettes as Yenko did, and remains a tri-state Corvette volume sales leader still today. Sure...maybe the Pittsburgh area wasn't as performance oriented as say the Woodward cruising crew that bought from Berger or the Long Island Baldwin/Motion crowd, but it sure wasn't lacking in performance seeking customers or dealers that could provide what they were looking for. to all the "back easties" out there.

[hvychev]

Tom did you keep any paperwork or old photos of your car when you sold it?

Supercarkid....The Chicago area market was the hottest hi-performance market of the time!

[camarojoe]

Tom, do you have any pics of your 68 as it looks today? I feel pretty confident your car was an unconverted COPO 396/375 car originally ordered and delivered to Yenko Chevrolet and later dealer traded or sold to Kenny Ross. Not sure if you'll be able to turn up any paperwork to prove that, but with the 140 speedo and being sold just a few miles down the road from Yenko, I would bet my last Berger wisk broom that it was originally delivered to Yenko and was one of the cars that never got converted from a 396 to a 427.

[Mr. T]

Tom,

What a great way to end 2003, to actually buy back your 68 Camaro SS396 that you originally purchased in 68. Can't believe it only has 5,000 miles. WOW! You don't hear of stories like this everyday. Do you know if the car was shipped from the factory to Don Yenko and then to Kenny Ross? Can't wait for more info on your car. Congradulations!!