1969 Yenko COPO 427 Camaro uncovered after 30 years!

This 1969 Douglas Yenko COPO Camaro was sitting in a trailer in Illinois since the early 1990s. It just moved last week to the home of the owner. Just like any barn find, it hasn't been touched other than made movable with airing up the tires are unsticking the brakes. It's all in the video breaking down the car!
nickeyperforma...
/ theautoarchaeologist
/ theautoarchaeologist
/ autoarchaeology
/ autoarchaeology
/ theautoarchaeologist
www.barnfinds.org
[e-mail]

[@Mike-t4n6g]

I built that car with help from my friends at the Chevy dealer I was working at as a teenager. My buddy Dan painted it. I sold it to the kid! 1982(ish) he was a 17hr old and his father had just passed away. It’s super cool to see that it lives on. Mike C

[@AutoArchaeology]

Hey Mike, drop me a line about the car. [e-mail]

[@bryancoyne9692]

That's very cool thxs for sharing 👍

[@stefanobimbi9466]

Very kool Camaro you built! Any chance you can stop by the show this weekend?

[@LITTLE1994]

Awesome story.

[@johnpopoff7950]

I was 17 in 1982. My how the years have passed.

[@dannypalazzo1969]

I'm sure I have pictures of this car from my Duquoin days. I was there almost every year that's on that windshield. Some wild times for sure back then.

[@rpturbo]

Thanks for posting this up! I have a few memories of this car. Since you posted your email i may also directly message you. I remember the owner telling me at the Street Machine Nationals the car was a original Yenko car. Lots of disbelivers at the time and some hate for the paint. I always thought the car was amazing!

[@JA-sm9zf]

Wow what an amazing Camaro. Great job documenting this special car.

[@Funsho97]

Ooh, it's a killing machine, it's got everything, like a driving power, big fat tires and everything!!! I love it, I need it, I bleed it, yeah, it's a wild hurricane. Alright, hold tight, Im a highway star!!!

[@midwestspeed7889]

I love unrestored original muscle cars, but most of all i love the stories that come with the cars!

[@valricogarcia]

Very cool. I hope it gets preserved just the way it is. I was at the CC nats but a few years before this car was there (1984-85)

[@jcm78]

It’s got driving power, big fat tires and everything Love it, need it, bleed it Highway Star

[@MAC-ws8fz]

WTF?

[@danielplummer6385]

@@MAC-ws8fz It is a Deep Purple song Highway Star!

[@enginebuilder7393]

Ron was a good friend, thank you for the video

[@Hilligan7114]

Ron who?..last name?

[@enginebuilder7393]

Asien i think is how it's spelled

[@nemesisxrox6773]

@@Hilligan7114 ... why

[@1NinjaJesus]

Ron was a fantastic friend and I miss him.

[@larsmanson9577]

I remember seeing that car at the street machine nationals back in the late 80's or early 90's.

[@sethware1665]

Ryan, you should have this dude on all your videos. Super knowledgeable. Best video you’ve posted in a while

[@jamesdalton7191]

That is totally a 1980's show car in the flesh 😎🏁

[@Hobart1958]

Awesome video, Ryan! Learned a lot from Stephano here about the Jack Douglas cars too, which was very interesting. Ron would be proud!

[@kurtbaumann2042]

Ron loved that car, that car always got attention. I hope The Highway Star goes to the right new owner. RIP Ron.. great friend....

[@mattskustomkreations]

I think it’s extra cool it’s named after a Deep Purple song 🤘

[@bobgasm1471]

Used to be an Olds nut around here that built a beautiful Vista Cruiser..he named it Fool for the City

[@tomeighty]

Great video. It was awesome seeing this car at the show and getting to talk to you! Keep up the great work.

[@TheJagjr4450]

Ordered in Early March, there were a number of COPO's in the 302XXX 303XXX body numbers group which were built in late May. I found a X11 single COPO at a local cars and coffee which was a 05D build

[@drhoff585]

Finally got to see the video. Great stuff. It was great meeting you at MCACN. We talked about my barn find COPO.

[@p3th3t1c]

A Yenko Street Freek is pretty sic tbh.. i had a 69 copo big block car back in early 2000's and i sold it for what i thought was big bucks back then.. now they are just stupid prices LOL

[@brentftaylor]

I saw a Yenko go through a Tulsa auction in 1974. They wanted $4500 and couldn’t get a buyer

[@gregorylyon1004]

I'm not surprised they wouldn't get a buyer for $4500 in 1974. That price is about what they sold for brand new. And with the oil embargo of 1972, these cars sunk in value big time. A lot of them got scraped out for junk in the late 1970s because nobody understood that they would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars today

[@BENCHSEATRACIN]

I had a green black vinyl top automatic Yenko body back around 81-82. Might be you or someone in your camp I talked to about it. I’m in Maryland. Whoever I spoke to tracked it down to the original owner and a few owners after me. He verified it was indeed a real yenko 69 Camaro. The big block and 12 bolt were gone when I got it. I traded a 72 SS Nova roller for the Camaro as a roller. One of the many I should have kept. He figured out mine was from Marshall Chevrolet in PA

[@markhellman-pn3hn]

some cars need a museum quality restoration - this ones it

[@marcmohr4105]

Interesting video. Thanks for sharing it!

[@danielplummer6385]

Do you know who Stefano Bimbi is? He is the owner of NicKey Performance in Loves Park, Il. formerly NicKey Chevrolet out of Chicago. I remember when I was a kid driving into Chicago and seeing the big Nickey sign sticking up above the expressway. The K is capitalized and it is actually a backwards K which you cannot type. I still remember their ads " I'll put any engine in any car". The NIcKey Chevrolet dealership was sold in the late 70s or early 80s but they kept the performance division and later on Stefano Bimbi purchased it. They are still going strong and up until the end of the Camaro they were still selling the NicKey Camaro through a couple dealerships. They offer stages1 thru 3 and were registered cars like Yenko and others. The have been involved in the drag racing scene since the early 60s. Two years ago I had them do performance work on my Gen5 and at that time it was a year wait for people to get their cars worked on.

[@scottmihalsky3612]

I love it, keep as is this car has a very unique story.

[@stude1953]

Did you see the Yenko paper collection that guy has on the Dennis Collins video? Outstanding!!

[@bobsilver3983]

Now that is a cool car!

[@clank4001]

that thing is dope

[@michaelpung4121]

Great car! Thank you. Someday hopefully I'll learn to not read the idiot comments. Social media and similar platforms has ruined many things with all the "experts" out there throwing their comments around.

[@Issueforth]

But idiot comments are what make the audience feel better about what they've learned. Because there is always someone out there who needs enlightening. And this helps the learn-ed to shed light on those mental discrepancies and fill the gaps or iron out the false knowledge the others acquired, by providing real knowledge and links to genuine fact.

[@daniellebcooper7160]

Have you heard of the Australian Bob Jane, who brought two big block Camaros out to Australia in 1970?. One was a 4-speed which he circuit raced successfully, and the other an Auto which he drag raced. I believe that they were both genuine ZL-1's.

[@silverstar4289]

Awesome car

[@onearm5827]

Dad gone never had a COPO Camaro but back in 1977 my dad help me get a 69 orange ss/rs with a black vinal top and interior with a 4 speed 350 but like everything else fooled around and got rid of it o well figure that i would share this little story with my youtube friends

[@keithcollinscollins2190]

Killer great find

[@rockeroller]

An era correct hotrod muscle car in mint condition.

[@Moonshinesgarage]

My Buddy messaged me. Said he knows who painted that car

[@fivestar8337]

It amazes me that a car of this kind was owned this long and none of the family knows the details

[@jeffmiddleton2222]

I'm not. I've owned a 69 in pieces since 1987, purchased in 1983. My three kids grew up with this car around and it stayed at my brothers for a year and none of them know it or my vision for it. Both of my boys are gearheads but not into 1st gens Camaros the way I was at their age.

[@michaelcraig4710]

" highway star" was a song by deep purple in the early 70's.

[@jimferrill1790]

It would be perfect in the barn find section

[@charleshaggard4341]

I worked for a small town Chevy dealership from 67-69 while in high school. I wish the dealership would have ordered some of these high performance Cameros back then but the town was too small to be able to sell them. Back then almost all towns of any size had Ford and Chevy dealers so most people bought local unlike today.

[@rob-u2l]

camaro

[@SeanJoseph-s2s]

Neat car...thanks ....🔧🔧👍

[@RonNorman-ie1nv]

I live right down the street from Hinsdale. Street racing back in the early eighties mid-70s it was everywhere

[@rogerchevelle8543]

Very cool car and a neat story

[@tomkelley8313]

You are great finder sir!!!

[@RobertCates-h9w]

Such an awesome car! Hope they just clean it, get it running! Such a strange place for hood pins! Wonder if if this car made the "SHOWCAR CIRCUIT", looks familiar, I live in Kansas City!

[@stude1953]

Do you know whatever happened to the original engine? And where it is today?

[@Hilligan7114]

Very nice Vid Ryan,please post a link to the Highway Star doing a burnout in that parking lot if U find it.

[@garygarner1095]

super cool vid but those are centerline wheels

[@c1run1]

OMG Dream Machine

[@TheBigh1229]

Cragars? those are Centerlines

[@Sean-i4r]

Cragar made them first actually

[@MarkCorley71]

@@Sean-i4r Yep, I had a set in the 80's. But those do have Centerline center caps.

[@LITTLE1994]

Save the classics!

[@carrieterrykellogg9960]

Awesome cars. I work at a place that builds copo camaro. The newer camaro body styles. In michigan, Oxford. Company name is turn keys

[@123tanners]

Wheels look like period Centerlines.

[@FABRIC8TIONUNLIMITE1]

They are in fact ''Centerlines.''

[@stefanobimbi9466]

Yes, they are Center Lines

[@thomasmccartney]

I'd like to get a close up look at that body. Could be just the lighting but looks like it has a lot of bondo around the rear and with the other changes back there I'd guess it got rear ended at some point and not so expertly repaired. Could be a loss of control and fishtailed into a telephone pole? Excellent video though, took a lot of research to decipher all that.

[@jimferrill1790]

Is this car going to be at the MCACN show this weekend?

[@brettmerryman2837]

It is

[@jimferrill1790]

@@brettmerryman2837 Oh Heck Yeah!! See you tomorrow.

[@stefanobimbi9466]

Yes!

[@rodgerweida2811]

Thanks!

[@AutoArchaeology]

You bet!

[@leemurphy3960]

You said it had the correct cut out for a 4 speed. I have a 69 Firebird that has a 4 speed. According to the internet the 69 had a rough cut hole for the shifter not a clean hole. Is this correct? Mine was an OHC6 with Saginaw tranny. The numbers on the motor is for a manual transmission and the numbers on the transmission match the car.

[@jeffmiddleton2222]

I've heard that they torch cut the four speed shifter holes but I have my first manual trans Camaro here and it's not torch cut and has a reinforcement ring. I will add the top of the tunnel was added to this car as it has seam that are not factory.

[@leemurphy3960]

@@jeffmiddleton2222 the internet said the 67 and 68 had clean holes with a reinforcement ring around it and the 69 had a rough cut hole. Mine is all factory tunnel.

[@goratgo1970]

Not that it helps, but my '70 402 Chevelle has a rough cut shifter hole.

[@christiecrowe1373]

No it is not correct if it looks like a hatchet was used then that's what was used it was actually common back the because no on had Sawzall or torch and they were to thick for jigsaws or hammer an chisels.😂

[@davidconley3610]

I’d have to see some original paper work

[@cpayne9790]

I would too. too many alterations. I wanna see #'s and buildsheet. I love the car, but telling me its a Yenko, I want proof.

[@jeffmiddleton2222]

How did it end up on the registry? If I was paying Yenko money I would want a bit more documentation than just a listing on the internet but for a broke bystander I'm OK with calling it a Yenko.

[@gregorylyon1004]

​@@jeffmiddleton2222 General Motors kept all of the vin numbers of the cars that were ordered by Don Yenkos dealership

[@red-doggracing5557]

Wheels have centerline caps so they look to be set of Centerline Wheels

[@nickeyperformance93]

They are indeed Center Lines.

[@PeterBrock427]

I just want one 427#...

[@SteveTalbot-h6o]

Centerline rims.

[@RuralEmo311]

Bob Ross was the first owner.

[@jamesnotter4535]

A long story but very knowledgeable

[@OrlandoGomez-ws8ui]

👍

[@coachtomsvolleyballchannel2286]

I noticed that it has the 7k tach with the 6k redline. I was under the impression that those tachs were used on the early 69 MY cars. Can anyone clarify this for me? Thanks!

[@drhoff585]

My 06A built COPO has the same tach

[@MrWjblake]

how much does the replacement motor hurt the value? $10,000 more or less?

[@adamhoffman3687]

I hope its not restored just preserved and functional

[@philipbohlinger4150]

If he's wrong about the wheels from the beginning, what else is he wrong about? Those are not SST's.

[@jeffmiddleton2222]

I didn't catch that but did feel he was ignoring details that are general knowledge in the Camaro community. I felt he would have completely ignored that RS grill if Ryan didn't bring it up.

[@timmiller260]

Nice story

[@Longnlow.1991]

Did the car sell ?

[@roycervantes1341]

Good evening,,,,,,,,,,,, Yeee Yeee 😊😊😊😊

[@Donny.C.wlWilliams]

😎👍🏽

[@carlokerblom770]

👍👍👍👍💯💯💯💯

[@scoopervisorservices7374]

No vin on the Muncie?

[@dougmather3489]

Who cuts a hole in the hood of a yenko Jesus Christ 😂

[@jeffmiddleton2222]

In 1983 this was just a 10 year old used car to many people.

[@danielplummer6385]

It is not the Yenko hood it is a stock hood!

[@tonysendrick6347]

Back in the day..they were just high performance cars meant for racing nobody knew what the value would be today

[@LS1424]

One of my friend's dad bought a 69 Yenko Camaro new from the dealership. He drove it home and cut the exhaust off it. Although he no longer owns the car, it's still in our small community.

[@richardresendez2325]

Nice

[@Sean-i4r]

Yenko,cant be both COPO,AND YENKO,i dont believe it ever happened, but i could be wrong

[@Hilligan7114]

You are.Don Yenko ordered 427cid equipped COPO 1969 camaros,(and others) from the factory,then put his decals & badging on them,calling em now YENKO Super Cars,so yes,it's both.

[@tonysendrick6347]

O yes it can...when Chevy put the 427 in the Camaro it came from the central office production order...copo... Then delivered it to yenko. And yenko finished the car off

[@Sean-i4r]

@tonysendrick6347 ok ty,I've been a gear head for 40 years,and never heard this.I just thought Yenko did the engine swap,like the real super car dealer,Baldwin Motion,inl long Island NY.Now,idk if motion installed the BBC, or built it more with more horses and reinstalled the BBC, but,in my opinion, car ,power wise,I'll take a Baldwin motion car over yenko,sorry, but I live 4 hours from NY city,so that's my team.Plus,yenko didn't SC as many platforms as Baldwin motion, from what I can see.Yenko may have more total cars,idk,but Baldwin did,chevelle, Vega, Camaro, nova,and I think one more.yenko did chevelle, nova,Camaro. It's all awesome, they all a r e great cars

[@Sean-i4r]

@tonysendrick6347 And, motion Baldwin's cars,definitely faster than any yenko

[@tonysendrick6347]

Motion cars were made to order like they say no two are the same.​@@Sean-i4r

[@rollin19]

When they pay so much for them you cant drive them.

[@ericheine2414]

68 spoiler won't fit on a 69 Camaro it's an inch and a half wider

[@richardharris492]

68 WILL FIT but it will be a little narrow for the 1.5 in wider 69

[@dodge33445]

Why did they paint it? UGHHH

[@jamesnotter4535]

I also know of another yenko Camaro in illinois

[@markohnemus5159]

Is it one of the half dozen he said they know of ?

[@MAC-ws8fz]

The real owner of a "Yenko', would Worship it, not disfigure! Back in the day, I did Stripping and some Flames. When asked why my own cars didn't have the 'GRAFFITI', I would say that 'I wouldn't have that crap on my cars!' And here we have a High Dollar (?) Yenko with silly graffiti even in the engine bay! No wonder it's still for sale! A Illinois car with South West Mountain (?) artwork! More like a 'Trans'!

[@nemesisxrox6773]

... what ? U must b a young pup. Personally knew many (the majority) that took rare muscle and redid em - custromized and raced and unfortunately trashed em in bad accidents. Back when ( 60's and 70's and into the 80's ) - ' they were NOT high dollar cars ' until years later due to all the pos junkers they began to spew out of the factories.

[@michaelpung4121]

You're obviously too young to remember what us old fellas used to do to these cars before they became collectible. Trust me.

[@jamesnotter4535]

Sure is a long story

[@rollin19]

If it is indeed real its still in possession of owner and he trying get big views on it.I he bought it good for him,these cars are a rich mans game at the auction. I'll build myself one of a kind muscle cars with my own names. The cars were ugly anyway.

[@bernandoturner4840]

WIFE Ready to get Paid.. help A Sister out.... Dont be Lowballing... this A Yenko Camaro' Cut the ole Lady A Fair Check' $3M..😅

[@yavin99]

These cars are only worth around $300k fully restored with the matching number or correct engine.

[@jamesgregory2865]

There is very little yenko left in this camaro, even with a very expensive restoration it will never be a numbers matching car.

[@dennisfredrickson1202]

You called it a shifter.You don't know anything about cars

[@yavin99]

So your saying one of the biggest experts on these cars doesn't know anything about cars...

[@jeffmiddleton2222]

​@@yavin99 I respect Mr Bimbi's knowledge but IMO there are others with more knowledge on 1st gen Camaros then him.