Their specialty was building and selling chassis / powertrain combinations that the manufacturer either couldn’t or wouldn’t build. They were also good PR for the manufacturer of whatever brand they were selling.
The more famous ones included Yenko Chevrolet, Baldwin-Motion Chevrolet, Nickey Chevrolet, Royal Oak Pontiac, Tasca Ford, and “Mr. Norm’s” Grand Spaulding Dodge. Yenko was dropping 427s into Camaros and Novas, if you didn’t want to go the COPO route. Baldwin / Motion and Nickey were shoehorning LT-1s into Vegas. Royal Oak was a regular on the street racing scene with its tweaked GTOs and Catalinas. Tasca was a regular sight at 1/4 mile dragstrips. Mr. Norm would happily sell you a Hemi Belvedere.
Who else has heard about these places? How much is true, and how much is merely legend?
I’ve researched these dealerships a little and seen more than a few authentic and survivor examples of the cars they sold—there’s probably a little rose-coloured glasses exaggeration going on when people reminisce about them, but by and large, they were legit turning out some incredible machinery.