Jay Leno's Book Club: Yenko

Unfortunately some of the information in the book is incorrect and some of the Yenko information in the interview is also incorrect but still funny to see Leno talking about Yenkos


Jay Lenohttp://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/jays-book-club-yenko/1238634/

@ 1:50, It's kind of hard to believe neither guy knows what COPO stands for!

www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/jays-book-club-yenko/1238634/

Some Yenko history I believe is incorrect in this interview.

Jay asked what COPO is and most would reply it is Central Office Production Order.

He said it was a fleet and special service but that is also incorrect as the fleet dept. name was F&SO - Fleet and Special Order

I think he was talking about 1967 where he said Yenko only did one 350 to 427 Camaro with Dick Harrell. That is not correct because there have been two 350 to 427 Camaro found so far that Yenko did before the Yenko/Harrell program and there are more vin numbers of possible 350 to 427 Camaros done by Yenko.

He said the Yenko Stinger won the SCCA championship two years in a row
The Yenko Stinger won the SCCA D/P national championship in 1967.

He said they built less then 50 Yenko Vegas. I think there were more then 50 as Yenko was selling them with no turbo but with some mild modifications and the Yenko graphics on them. Yenko said he did about 200 of the Vegas but some of Yenko's numbers have been found to be incorrect in some cases so I am not sure of the Vega production total.

He said Don died in 1986 and was 34 years old.
Yenko died March 5, 1987 and was 59 years old according to the 1987 newspaper obituary.

I have this Yenko book and believe the book also has some Yenko history errors.

Look at the pictures.

Any ideas where the author got his info for this book?

Any ideas where the author got his info and pictures for the book??

Any ideas where the author got his info and pictures for the book??

Looks like he got info from a bunch of different sources.
Some of it is good but some is incorrect.

For example, The info from the Yenko family is interesting but I don't know where he got the info on the 1967 Yenko Camaros.

I did a lot of research on the 67s and the info in this book is a lot different then what I have found.

He said Dick Harrell built the first 25 Yenko 427 Camaros and only one was a 350-427 Conversion. I don't believe that is true as documented cars prove otherwise and the Yenko Harrell deal was later in the year.

He said Bill Thomas had a deal with Dana Chevy for 1967 427 Camaros. I have not heard of this but I have an ad showing Yenko had a deal with Dana late in 1966. Bill Thomas was working with Nickey in 66/67.

He shows pictures of Don Yenko with a 67 Z/28 and said it is a prototype Yenko Super Camaro 450. To me it looks like one of the early Z/28 that Yenko had. (It has the Z/28 stripes on it).
There is a picture of another Z/28 and He said that one is an early photo of Dick Harrell working on one of the original 25 Yenko Super Camaros. I think it is a picture of an early Dana or Yenko Z/28. The car has Z stripes and the guy in the picture does not even look like Dick Harrell.

A bunch of other questionable info in the 1967 Yenko Chapter.

The Yenko Chevelle Chapter has basic info on the car that is incorrect.

There are odd mistakes all through the book.
Some examples are;

he said the Ed Hedrick 1969 Yenko Camaro had ZL1 engine.

He said in many places that the Chevy dept that did the COPO paperwork is the Fleet and Special Service dept. but in other places he said it is the Fleet and Special Order dept.

In the Yenko Deuce chapter he said the second batch of cars went to "Yenkos new Super Dealership in nearby McMurray, Pennsylvania".
In the chapter on the dealership he said the new McMurray dealership opened in 1969 because there are pictures of 1969 Yenkos sitting at the dealership. I believe the new Yenko dealership opened in 73-74 and those pictures were just of older cars at the dealership.

He used Yenko production totals I never heard of and don't know where he got those. Some of the Yenko racing info is incorrect.
Some of the specifications and codes are incorrect and a bunch of other small mistakes.

In my opinion, He could have done a lot better job on technical research, fact checking, and proof reading.

The pictures in the book are nice. :)

The pictures in the book are nice. :)[/QUOTE]

That was quite interesting. I want me a Yenko Camaro !! Anyone for a trade ?

In this thread, there is mention of 3 known 67 Camaro 427 conversions that were originally 350 cars. Does anyone know when, or have information as to when the 427 conversion Yenko program began?

In this thread, there is mention of 3 known 67 Camaro 427 conversions that were originally 350 cars. Does anyone know when, or have information as to when the 427 conversion Yenko program began?

I mentioned that there are two documented 1967 Yenko "Stomper" Camaros found that are early SS350/427 conversions done by Yenko.

YS-601 red SS RS 350/427
YS-604 butter nut yellow SS RS 350/427

Late 1966, early 1967 Yenko had ads for the Yenko Stinger (SCCA Corvair), The Stormer (race ready Z/28) and the Stomper (427 Camaro)

Other YS-6xx vin numbers have been found including a YS-606 vin N151xxx DEC 1966 build date. It is believed to be a SS350-427 conversion
YS-601 and YS-604 are N184 N185 MAR 1967 build dates

Yenko invoices have been found from JAN 1967 where Yenko ordered 427 headers, traction bars, scattershields etc.

Other evidence shows Yenko may have built a 427 Camaro as early as DEC 1966.

A full page Dana/Yenko ad showing the Dana 427 Camaro and Yenko Stinger was in Dec 1966 saying that the Dana 427 Camaro was available at Yenko Cheverolet.
It is not clear if the 427 conversion was to be done by Yenko or by Dana or if Yenko ever sold a Dana 427 Camaro but the ad was run in a national publication.