As if muscle cars from the sixties weren’t stout enough on their own, dealerships like Yenko Hi-Performance in Pennsylvania, Baldwin-Motion out of New York, Dana Chevrolet in California and Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago upped the ante considerably by placing special customer orders under Chevy’s COPO system for out and out hot rods! Special orders could be placed with the Central Office Production Order system (COPO) under code number 9562 for Camaros. Yenko then would receive a factory crate 427 big block and dealer-install it into a no frills package adding suspension updates and special sYc designations. That stood for Yenko Sports Car. Yenko’s little beastie pumped out 450 raging horse power and was a legendary street and strip fighter par excellence.

Danbury has taken the ’69 Camaro to its ultimate rendition with this monstrously good looking piece. A natural in Hugger Orange, they perfectly added the black Yenko arrow logo and twin broad hood stripes and fashioned the side stripes that traverse the front fenders and widen into the rear spelling out “Yenko/SC” before the stripe climbs up to the tail’s spoiler. The chrome metal foil work on the badging is exceptional. Infinitely scaled, we see the “Camaro” script on the top of the nose, top of the read deck lid and “Camaro” and Yenko’s patriotic logo on each front fender side. “427” badges straddle the hood bulge and additionally, the rear end carries a “Yenko” badge and “427” over a super cool license plate frame that exclaims, “Hi-Performance Yenko” and “Canonsburg, PA” surrounding a “1969” plate. Even the mag wheels have the Yenko branding on them in tiny miniature. Sitting on a flat surface, the model exudes a body builder’s physique, pumped up and glistening. The beefy suspension allows the car to sit pert and ready for action, the tires, large for their day, hint at the extra grunt that they had to deal with. The paint shines like the car was just washed and waxed. DM has always been good with paint. But even though of somewhat older tech, the model comes across as today’s personification of precision diecast engineering. Just check out the chassis. Every cable and brake line one could imagine is built into this diecast. The steering functionality and front working suspension are right up to date. Tire patterns are faultlessly reproduced and the build execution is awesome.

The interior is slick. Jet black, it features a distinctive tach mounting, low and accurate to the real car, a gauge cluster separate to the dash gauges and the black-balled shifter knob and lever that came with the Yenko Camaro. Fabric belts and the sYc logo prominent on the seat headrests round out the proper interior effect. The trunk is devoid of mats yet features the splatter paint that Chevy really used in this car. There’s a spare mounted over tire tools. The engine compartment is the mainstay of this Yenko bad boy and DM did justice to the 1:1. You simply have to check out the brake master cylinder hold-down clamps. All other associated plumbing and wiring are flawlessly applied as well. DM realistically simulated the coiled fluid lines and replicated the mass of hoses and wires and hood air induction system lines.

This is a legend in automotive history and now a legend in diecast Camaro replication. If you ever lusted after the precision of the CM Camaro but disliked the somewhat unconventional scale of 1:20, this is your quintessential Camaro. The Thrillometer ranks this baby as a 9.95!

-Tony Perrone