The Mustang-Killing Yenko Camaro Is Going Back Into Production

50 years later, America's most storied muscle mod returns

May 11, 2018 9:00 am

All muscle cars are not created equal.

Just take the Yenko Camaro, a Mustang rival that debuted in 1967 but didn’t really gain notoriety until the following year, when it was modified to hold a bigger engine than its muscle-car brethren, which weren’t subject to General Motors’ strict 6.6L engine-size regulations.

The exception owes to one Don Yenko, a Pennsylvania racer and car dealer who became a household name in American motoring for his outlandish modifications of stock vehicles. In the case of the Camaro, those mods included a 450 HP big-block v8 engine, a new hood, new wheels and hardware upgrades throughout. Those cars are known as Yenko Super Camaros, or Yenkos for short, and they fetch a super, super high price when they go up for auction (rarely).

The 1968 iteration is probably the most famous, and it’s being re-made this year by General Marketing Capital (the present owners of the licensing rights to the modified design) and Brand New Muscle Car to celebrate the vehicle’s 50th anniversary. 

No note yet on pricing or how many editions will hit production, but considering that less than half of the originals remain, we expect this to be a quite rare lot.

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