2020 Yenko/SC Camaro: 1,000hp, manual, $70k
Seriously, though, what more do you want?
Yenko Camaros are part of muscle car royalty. Originally devised surreptitiously more than 50 years ago by Don Yenko and Yenko Chevrolet, circumventing Chevy rules about engines by dropping a Corvette 7.0-litre in a Camaro, the rarity and performance has ensured reverential status ever since. There was one in 2Fast 2Furious and everything.
Now there's a new Yenko, again taking the Camaro to another extreme of performance. Built by Specialty Vehicle Engineering (SVE) in New Jersey, which now owns the Yenko brand and has a line in silly Chevys, this Yenko makes 1000hp. One thousand horsepower. Stroked from the standard 6.2 to 6.8 litres, the V8 now also features a forged crank, forged pistons, ported heads, new fuel system, a honking great supercharger, bigger throttle body, bespoke headers... the whole kit and kaboodle. It's manual only, and there's a 36,000-mile warranty on it as well - perfect.
Marking the Yenko out, beyond the fantastic array of 12 colour combos - from white on Rally Green Metallic to Flat Black on Crush - are new five-spoke wheels (with Michelin PS4 tyres), a hood scoop, Yenko badges, the stripes and a build plaque. All things being relative it's a pretty modest overhaul for the power, given a Camaro is pretty imposing as standard.
In fact, such is the unrelenting focus on huge power that not much else has been touched at all. Arguably that's in keeping with the true muscle car tradition of straight-line performance at the expense of everything else, but to see not a single suspension upgrade and a caliper colour change as the only brake change is a little concerning. The Camaro is better dynamically that it's ever been, though that is a heck of a lot more power than standard.
Still, limited chassis mods make the Yenko more affordable - for 1,000hp, that is. MotorAuthority says the SVE pack costs $68,995 on top of a Camaro 1SS or 2SS with 1LE package. Given a 1SS 1LE is less than $40k retail, that means a 1,000hp Camaro in the US for the price of a 911 cabriolet. There's only going to be 50 made, too. PHers of the US, your Chevrolet dealer is waiting for you...
One of those "It's not my cup of tea, but I'm glad it exists" cars, I'd say.
Today the Yenko brand -- and the subject of this PH article -- is strictly a licensing arrangement. It has nothing to do with the work of Don Yenko (who's no longer with us) or his considerable achievements in road racing.
Speaking of which...
PH is the ideal place to mention the car which propelled Yenko's initial success. Consider this: an air-cooled six-cylinder engine mounted in the rear... and the whole thing engineered and built by Americans for a mass-market consumer. That was the Chevrolet Corvair -- the platform for the Yenko Stinger.
This homologation project saw 100 cars transformed in only two weeks (to qualify for racing). The car was profiled by Jay Leno, who, in my opinion, misprounces the Yenko surname. But there we are.
Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTGayn3Y800
Most people buying it will buy it for bragging rights. Very few will actually be able to exploit a RWD car with 1000bhp.
As for the price? Ridiculously low for how much power it is. Great for the consumer, but they could charge 5 times the price and still sell them all. Surely this just lowers the value of the car?
Bring that over here on our roads, and a 300bhp hatchback would leave it for dead.
Most people buying it will buy it for bragging rights. Very few will actually be able to exploit a RWD car with 1000bhp.
As for the price? Ridiculously low for how much power it is. Great for the consumer, but they could charge 5 times the price and still sell them all. Surely this just lowers the value of the car?
Bring that over here on our roads, and a 300bhp hatchback would leave it for dead.
If anything, they will only get more commonplace
If anything, they will only get more commonplace
In our lifetimes there will always be regulatory waivers or opportunity thresholds for low-volume production.
And on the mass-market side, hybrid versions have been all but mooted for upcoming iterations of the three Yank muscle cars as well as Corvette.
Once a hybrid powertrain is installed, it's easier to fulfil certain (but not all) obligations for emissions and fuel economy -- even with a V6 or V8. Total mass and packaging of internals might become concerns, so there's challenge and reward for engineering teams that are clever.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/11/21/hemmings-...
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