Chevrolet Yenko Camaro

Yenko Camaro at a glance

The Yenko is a version of the Chevrolet Camaro, and it took a different route to performance from the Camaro Z28, Chevrolet's Trans-Am car of the same years.

Why dealers built 427 Camaros

When the Camaro arrived for 1967, the SS could be ordered with the 396 V8; Chevy Hardcore gives the L78 version as 280 kW (375 hp). General Motors had a corporate rule that its divisions should not install engines larger than 400 cu in in mid-size and smaller cars, so the Corvette's 427 was off limits.

A group of performance dealers worked around the rule by swapping engines themselves. Wikipedia names Don Yenko in Pennsylvania, Baldwin-Motion in New York, Nickey in Illinois and Dana in California. Their success pushed Chevrolet to offer the 427 through the COPO channel, an ordering process normally used for fleet and special orders.

1967–1968: the Yenko Super Camaro

Yenko's first cars were 1967 Camaro SS models from which the dealer removed the 396 and fitted the L72 427, a solid-lifter engine with higher-flow cylinder heads and a more aggressive camshaft. Wikipedia counts about 54 conversions in 1967 and about 64 in 1968.

Chevy Hardcore describes the 1968 cars with a Muncie M-21 close-ratio four-speed, a large twin-scoop bonnet, Yenko badges on the sides and tail and a 140 mph speedometer. Wikipedia lists about 336 kW (450 hp) for the 1968 L72 conversion; Chevy Hardcore uses the factory rating of the L72, 317 kW (425 hp).

1969: COPO 9561 and the factory-built Yenko

The conversions were labour-intensive, so for 1969 Yenko used the COPO system to have the L72 installed on Chevrolet's own production line. The order was COPO 9561. Chevrolet rated the iron-block L72 at 317 kW (425 hp, SAE gross) at 5,600 rpm and 624 Nm (460 lb-ft) at 4,000 rpm. Yenko ordered 201 cars: 171 with the four-speed and 30 with the Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 automatic.

Chevy Hardcore lists the 1969 specification:

• power front disc brakes and the Z28's front anti-roll bar;
• a heavy-duty radiator and high-performance suspension;
• a 4.10:1 Positraction rear axle with heat-treated half-shafts;
• 15 × 7-inch rally wheels;
• front and rear spoilers and a cowl-induction bonnet;
• "Yenko 427" badges, optional twin side and bonnet stripes in black or white and optional "sYc" lettering on the headrests.

The cars were offered in six special colours, and the standard interior was black. Wikipedia notes that around 1,000 Camaros in all received the L72 that year, through Yenko and other channels.

The other COPO 427: the ZL1

Next to the iron-block COPO 9561 there was COPO 9560, the ZL1, with an all-aluminium 427. Only 69 Camaros were built with it. Drag racer Dick Harrell conceived the package, and it was ordered through Fred Gibb Chevrolet in La Harpe, Illinois. The engine alone cost more than a base V8 Camaro.

With 69 cars against Yenko's 201, the ZL1 was the rarer of the two COPO Camaros.

Don Yenko and the later Yenkos

Don Yenko died in 1987 at the age of 59 in a plane crash, Chevy Hardcore reports. The name did not disappear. Wikipedia mentions a 1981 Yenko Turbo Z, the restart of 1969-style Yenko Camaro production by Classic Automotive Restoration Specialists in 2007, a modern Yenko Camaro shown at SEMA in 2009 and the Yenko programme of Specialty Vehicle Engineering announced in 2016. These later cars lie outside the 1967–1969 period covered by this page.

Checking a Yenko Camaro

• Year: 1967–1968 cars are dealer conversions; 1969 cars were built by Chevrolet under COPO 9561.
• Paperwork: COPO and dealer documents are essential, because the Yenko look is easy to copy.
• Gearbox split: of the 201 cars of 1969, 171 had the four-speed and 30 the automatic.
• Equipment: a 1969 car should have front disc brakes, the 4.10:1 Positraction axle and the cowl-induction bonnet.
• ZL1 or Yenko: an aluminium-block 427 means a COPO 9560 ZL1, a different car.

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