YENKO SUPERCAR 2-PACKS
Ialways find it amusing that Don Yenko, purveyor of Yenko Supercars—some of the most hairychested mega-motor muscle cars ever to terrorize a drag-strip (or a local street-race spot!) actually got his start tuning one of Chevy’s smallest engines to go road racing! Indeed, Yenko’s first Chevy performance upgrade of note was the original Stinger, a modified 1966 Corvair Corsa with its diminutive 164ci Flat-6 tuned up to go road racing! Of course, Yenko graduated to the new Camaro in ’67, and that’s when the horsepower numbers—and the Yenko reputation—really took off. I love that Johnny Lightning has paired up some of
Yenko’s most notable cars into special two packs to make it easier for fans of the legendary Chevy tuner to collect a full set. One set pairs a first-year Yenko Camaro with what would be Yenko’s final V8-powered muscle car of the muscle car era, the Yenko Deuce Nova. The other matches up a ’68 Camaro with perhaps the most unusual selection, and it kind of takes the Yenko story full-circle back to its smalldisplacement roots. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
When Chevy announced in 1967 that the new Camaro would be subject to the corporate ban on engines larger than 400 cubic inches in anything but a land yacht or a Corvette, Yenko knew that he and the crew of his performance shop tucked in the back of his Canonsburg, PA dealership would have to break out the wrenches and correct this bureaucratic oversight. The 375hp L78 396 that was the Camaro’s top option was a fine mill; better yet, it used the exact same block and heads as Chevy’s strongest Corvette motor, the 450hp L72 427. Yenko reasoned that he could swap out the 396 for the 427 in a few hours, transforming the Camaro into a fire-breathing supercar capable of putting any factory-built muscle car on the trailer. So that’s exactly what he did!
Yenko ended up making 54 427-powered Camaros in 1967, but the one Johnny Lightning has modeled—an actual survivor Yenko car—is unique. It is a ’67 RS/SS car equipped with a ’68 SS hood— delivered that way from Yenko! It was the very last ’67 Yenko sold, and his crew had plundered the hood and air cleaner for another build, so when he sold it—in March of 1968—he tossed a ’68 hood on it, along with a cowl-induction plenum like on a Z/28— perhaps the only ’67 Yenko so equipped. The color combination is highly unusual too—Nantucket Blue with red interior—both of which JL gets just right, along with that ’68 hood!
The little coupe you see here the second Yenko Stinger, the spiritual successor to the original Corvair-based Stingers. Much like the original, the Vega Stingers were envisioned for road-racing and Yenko even obtained certification for it to compete in SCCA competition, as his Corvair-based Stingers had a few years before. The key to boosting the little 110hp 4-banger up to Yenko’s target of 155 was the use of a turbocharger. Sadly, the EPA put a halt to the dealer-installed turbo idea, but Yenko did build 400 special Yenko Stinger Vegas, and a few of them were even delivered with the turbocharger system in the trunk for owners to install themselves! No way to tell if JL’s Man-o-War Red example was one of those, but it is decked out with engine detail under its front-hinged hood. It also includes Yenko-specific 5-spoke wheels, Yenko Stinger graphics, and the special ducktail spoiler. The real rubber tires even have Goodyear Polyglas sidewall markings.