Yenko Camaros can be confusing for some, so let’s try to cut through the confusion before you watch this video of Ryan Snyder’s 1968 Yenko Camaro.
Yenko Camaros from 1967-68 were strictly transplant cars. Don Yenko’s henchmen would remove the L78 396 from the engine bay, take out the big-block’s components, and reinstall them (plus new pistons) in a 427 short-block. Nineteen sixty-nines featured a factory-installed 427 via COPO order. As such, as long as a 1969 Yenko Camaro didn’t have dealer-installed headers or other options available in the Yenko catalog, it could be considered a factory-built muscle car with dealer-installed stripes and badging.
Image courtesy of Jim Campisano
So, what is a COPO order? COPO is Central Office Production Order, Chevrolet’s fleet ordering system. Though normally used for odd production requests (such as a fleet of phone company cars dressed in the same corporate colors), it also was used to build the 427 Camaro in 1969. Why wasn’t the 427 available as an RPO (Regular Production Option)? Because until the 1970 model year, General Motors had a cubic-inch limit on pony cars like the Camaro (not to mention the compact Nova and mid-size Chevelle). This rule meant the largest engine available was the 396, but the COPO 9561 order for the Camaro bypassed the rule to allow for close to 1,000 L72-powered 427 Camaros; around 200 of them were converted to Yenkos.
Image courtesy of Jim Campisano
Though this is a ’68, this car does have a COPO distinction: COPO 9737, which was the “Sports Car Conversion,” a bundle of options believed to be developed for Yenko Chevrolet (though available to other dealerships) that upgraded the Camaro’s performance equipment via 140-mph speedometer, 15-inch wheels and E70-15 tires, and larger front sway bar. Notice there’s nothing subversive about it, unlike the 1969 427 Camaro.
Image courtesy of Jim Campisano
If you are in need of impressing your friends, tell them “sYc” does not stand for Yenko Super Camaro — it’s Yenko Super Car.
Join Muscle Car Campy as he fawns over this Grotto Blue 1968 Yenko Camaro. In addition to the transplanted 427 and the Sports Car Conversion, it also features an aftermarket fiberglass hood and Pontiac Rally II wheels with “Y” center caps. All of it is correct for a 1968 Yenko Camaro.
If you dig what you’re seeing, there are plenty more Muscle Car Campy videos you can view!
