April '04 Feature car

[Supercar_Kid]

[ QUOTE ]
Why did these wheels receive GM's AO code even though they are not from GM?

[/ QUOTE ] Good question. My guess would be that they were actually given the AO code by Motorwheel when they were produced, which was probably just their way of identifying a 14x7" 4&3/4" painted steel wheel that was manufactured for '70. The ones they sold GM were most likely from the same batches as the set you'd buy at your local speed shop, or wheel/tire shop down the street in Don's case. I'd like to know the definitive answer though, so let's hear it.

[Mr70]

Thats a Good thorough Explanation!
Thank You for that.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

That is exactly what we believe as well regarding the AO code! When Don called Motorwheel to order them, he gave them the application of '70 Nova, 14x7, and they shipped them the standard SS wheel with the Magnum 500 hubs. Don didn't care that they said AO, YA, or nothing at all - as long as they were correct for the application.

So, the question has always been, did GM use Motorwheel's application codes or did Motorwheel use GM's application codes?


Camarojoe is right on the money, the original cars always have the Magnum 500 insert impression showing through the Y decal. That assumes that the Y decal was even installed!

[camarojoe]

My guess would be that the AO code was GM's code, not Motorwheel's. GM commonly used a 2 letter code for all their wheels, and most likely instructed Motorwheel to do the same. I have a set of Motorwheel 14x6 Magnum 500's that were not a factory GM wheel, and they have no codes on them at all, indicating to me that any codes on a Magnum 500 were there by instruction of GM, or whoever they were making the wheels for.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

I would agree, especially since there were situations where more than one mfr produced a wheel for GM and both would have the same code. Others differ, but I think it was a GM code.

[Supercar_Kid]

[ QUOTE ]
Did all Deuces get the wheel swaps?

[/ QUOTE ] Ok, how about that? Any documentation of Deuces being sold with their XT wheels still in place, or any other type of wheel installed by Yenko besides an Atlas Alloy or Magnum 500? My bro has an original color pic of the Fathom Blue 6 cyl prototype Deuce still wearing it's 6" steelies and dog dish caps, but were any of the COPO cars "definitely" delivered that way? How about any other noteworthy Yenko add ons, vinyl tops, additional speed parts, etc?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Eric,
There is only one car that we know was sitting at the dealer with the original XT's and dogcaps, the beige one. However, the original owner insisted that Yenko change the wheels to the Magnums like the advertisement shows. So, Yenko grumbled, but did indeed change the wheels. Yenko did not install the Y's on the centercaps though, they just threw a bunch of the decals on the front seat - to this day I don't think they are installed. There are other deuces without the Y's too, but no deuces found without the Magnums.

BTW, according to owner history, one of the demo deuces (also beige) received a Magnum wheel for a spare - it's also the highest optioned deuce found, so that makes sense that it was 'loaded'. All other deuces retained their XT spares, but one fathom blue deuce actually received a forest green spare - original owner car, spare never hit the ground!

[Mr70]

Was that Beige Loaded demo Deuce sold from Fencl-Tufo?

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

No. The only demo cars that we know of are those that are listed as such on Yenko's inventory sheets. That is not to say that other dealers did not purchase a Yenko and place into demo service (some did, like Colonial Chev), but this beige demo car was one of Yenko SportsCars'.