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It may not be considered a “barn find”, but there is no denying that this Corvair is worthy of gracing these pages. This is a real Yenko Stinger and that means that it was the ultimate Corvair money could buy. They were often raced and this one is no exception. It was raced by J. Bristow in the seventies and was restored by its second owner who held onto it for the last 25 years. So, perhaps it could be a considered a very well-cared for barn find? Maybe not, but just about any Yenko car is special in my book, so I assumed everyone here would like to take a look at this one. Find it here on eBay where the auction is ending in less than 24 hours. Let’s just hope that the seller has been realistic with their reserve.
yes these were something else ” back in the day ” and are should be great cars to race even to day. i loved watching them race SCCA and being autocrossed. you would need to check with the Yenko Stinger Registry for the history they have plus what the seller/owner has. i read on the net that there is a stinger out there that has had everything including VIN plates moved to a standard corvair unibody because the stinger unibody was unrepairable. the Registry may be able to answer question on that issue also. great find
i watched them being used for hillclimbing also.
This should be in a museum.
My dad was heavily into Corvairs for many years. My personal favorite was the Greenbriar with the ’76 bicentennial paint scheme. Then there was the really fast ’65 (?), but I barely remember it.
I’ve sent him this link and hopefully he’ll have something to add about this Yenko.
Great looking car but. First Yenko did not make a 65 Stinger they came out in 66 and he did 100 cars. In 67 they did about 25 or so no one knows for sure but he ordered 25 copo cars that is known. This is what we call a envelope car you sent Don your money and he sent you a ID tag and sold you the parts you wanted. That was done because SCCA would not let you race a Corvair in production unless it was a Yenko until about 82 I think then any Corvair could be run. The first 100 cars were white and most had the blue stripes the 67’s were red or blue and numbered 101-125 +- the envelope cars were in the 300’s
Don never did say how many cars he made in house so SCCA could not say you did not have a real Stinger so could not race. Plus most the first 100 were raced and most have been re-bodied so finding one with the COPO body plate is real hard and they bring the real big bucks. I’m building a clone right now for track days and hope some vintage races.
The cars delivered out of Canonsburg, PA were also generally sent out with no back seat. IIRC, that was especially true of the Stage III and Stage IV cars, as they were set up to be race cars from the get-go. The SCCA’s DP class was for 2-seat vehicles.
Some Stage I and Stage II owners intended the cars for street duty, asked for the seat, and never put in a roll bar. The thing about the “envelope” cars Rich mentions, is that Yenko’s team of mechanics therefore did not dive into the drive-trains, and perform the magic that made for increases in power and reliability in competition. Certainly those tasks could and were performed by others to make the cars faster.
Corvairs are of course still raced, not only in Vintage events, but in regional classes around the country, in EP or SPU with the SCCA. One of the most famous in Corvair circles ran in GT3, but it was an extraordinarily highly modified race car. There were four running at the recent Walter Mitty vintage event held annually at the Road Atlanta race facility. You’ll find photos of those here:
http://www.hsrrace.com/2015/Mitty/2015MittyEventPage.html
Teaser:
This is Mike Levine, in his beautiful and FAST V-8 powered car:
http://www.hsrrace.com/2015/Mitty/2015MittyEventPage.html
Oh, and here is Mike last Sunday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl3vTP6d7t8&feature=youtu.be
At $40k+ and reserve not met… If I was a die hard Corvair fan and given this car direct association with a legendary US tuner coupled with condition and rarity I can see the validity of the price. Good way to look at it is to compare it to the current values of Yenko Camaro…