It’s about time to relive the glory days of pure Chevrolet muscle, with the re-release of the Yenko Camaro.
The muscle car era of the automotive industry is actually fifty years in the past and the 1968 Yenko Chevrolet Camaro was one of the cars that showed up as a car that we loved to see and enjoy on the drag strips around the country. This car was originally built in the latter part of the 1960s and it certainly captured our attention, our creativity, and gave us the look and feel we wanted when it was time to get out on the road and enjoy the drive and the power offered.
The original Yenko Camaro was created because of a need to have a bigger engine offered in the early models of the Camaro. While it was somewhat of an answer to the 1967 Mustang offered by Ford, the use of the Central Office Production Order (COPO) system by Don Yenko of Canonsburg, PA created this special order Camaro with a 427 V8 engine under the hood. This COPO program was used by GM for fleet vehicles such as police cars and taxicabs, but Yenko found a way to special order the Camaro with this engine, thus creating the Camaro that was named after him.
Where Will You Find a New Yenko Camaro?
The Tulsa, OK-based company called Brand New Muscle Car (BNMC) plans to build a new version of the 1968 Yenko Camaro to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this car. BNMC has received permission from General Marketing Capital, the license holder of the Yenko name, to use it to create these new cars. This permission allows the new BNMC models to be listed in the Official Yenko Worldwide Registry for authenticity to make them official models and that you’re sure to want to drive.
Right now, the original Yenko Camaro models are some of the rarest, most valuable, and most collectible Chevrolet models in the world. The auction price for one of these cars typically begins at $250,000. The BNMC models of the car will likely be offered at a price around $150,000 and this will be a limited run of the cars to keep the numbers down and offer a special version of this Camaro to those who want to have something special to drive and show off at a variety of shows around the country. This is an excellent way to celebrate fifty years after the Yenko was offered for the races of the 1960s.
There’s another company building modern Yenko Camaro models based on the sixth-generation of the car. Specialty Vehicle Engineering of Toms River, NJ showed us the 2017 Yenko Camaro last year with a supercharged V8 engine that can produce as much as 800 horsepower to give you the power you’ll want when you head out on the track to take a drive. These models may not cost as much as the ones from BNMC, but it’s another great way to have the power you want when you want a performance car that’s serious about power.
