Yenko produced the 427 Nova in 1969 only. There were around
thirty built with only seven or eight that are accounted for today.
This is the very first one produced.
This 1969 Yenko Nova was a car described by Don Yenko in one of
his last interviews as “a beast, almost lethal, a car that they
should not have produced; as they were skirting the edge of product
liability when they built this car”. The Nova was not a COPO high
performance 427 motor from the factory. It was built with a
transplanted 427 motor as Yenko did with the 1967 and 1968 Camaros.
Although GM put factory 427s in Camaro’s and Chevelles, it is
known that the GM factory apparently would not put a COPO 427 motor
in a Nova. Why not? The most obvious reason would be just as Don
Yenko describes himself; using the word “lethal”, and a matter
of liability. The body weight of the Nova was less than that of a
Corvette. Stuffing a high performance L72 427 Corvette motor in a
car of less body weight certainly had to result in tire-smoking
performance. The Yenko Nova featured here has turned elapsed times
of 10.90’s in the quarter mile. Of course it was with racing
slicks, but few other modifications were necessary.
This Nova left the factory with a 396/375 HP, Muncie 4-speed,
4.11 12-bolt positraction, and power front disc brakes. It is Garnet
Red with standard black vinyl trim. It was destined to be raced so
it was ordered very basic, radio-delete, etc, having no comfort
options which would have been just added weight to slow the car
down. Yenko did their magic with transplanting the L72 427, Stewart
Warner column mounted tach, SYC graphics and other high performance
modifications. It would be safe to bet that since this was the first
427 Nova, it was built with an extra level of performance in
mind.
