I'm 60 and I'm a third generation retired GM employee. I knew at one time if you knew what boxes to check either before or during a production run you could get options that were being added or discontinued. Some plant managers would let all sorts of things slide back before the days of absolute inventory control. There were cars built with some really abnormal features.
From '66 to '70 all my friends either got drafted or enlisted. The ones that made it back wanted a new car. This Nova reminds me of my buddy who mustered out of the Navy in late '68 then hired in at Chevy engineering in Warren Michigan. First thing he went to the exec turn-in lot that had mules, one-offs for Milford testing, show cars, etc. He bought a '68 Nova SS 2-door that had a 350-350 hp Vette drivetrain, was Nassau blue with a finish that looked 3 feet deep & had only 200 miles. He found out it was a show car & paid $2,300. for it. He owned it for about 10 years. The big three back then had a lot of one-off special exec orders that weren't documented or a ready drag car, like a couple of all black '69 427 SOHC Mustangs I saw at the Ford Rouge when I was a Tool & Die apprentice at Dearborn Assembly in late '68. The build sheets said they were 6-cylinder plain jane notchbacks. Great times & memories.
In college, I drove an '85 Volkswagen Scirocco 5 speed Turbo. Yes, Volkswagen produced 52 turbocharged cars in 1984 and 1985, the majority of them Sciroccos. I bought one. This was a turbo system engineered by Jackman Racing, and it WAS covered under the original Volkswagen warranty. It used an IHI RHB5 non-intercooled turbo at 6 psi to take the engine from 90 hp to about 130 hp, and since the turbo was very small, lag was minimal and the car accelerated like a bottle rocket. The only problem: The dealer installed kit did NOT have any sort of flex pipe, so I and others that had these cars had no end of problems keeping the exhaust pipe from cracking. At the time, flex pipes were not easily available so I just had the pipe welded and replaced rubber hangers yearly. The kit was designed so VW could go racing, but rules changed and it wound up costing VWOA a ton of money~ But...These 52 cars were the first true 1.8t's. And collectable now.
THANK YOU PETER KLUTT…so tired of rarity claims based on presence of a tissue dispenser (or color combo). It’s the body/drive train combo that matters!
That combo did exist in 1970. Special ordered mine in 1970 with aluminum heads, M22 rock crusher transmission and 410 rear end. Dark Blue with Black buckets
Wow, thats 2 now that exist! I bet it ran pretty strong! What did it run you out the door? DId you know about the L89 or have to find someone and twist thier arm?
I bought a new Nova SS 396/375 HP on a factory order. I turned down the aluminum head option as it was an extra $400 some dollars and I was concerned about warped heads. The car was silver, black vinyl roof, black interior, Turbo 400, etc. Very fast street car and good looking. List was $3365 and got it for $2865 plus tax and title for cash. I found out a few years ago that that year they were actually 402 cubic inch. The one car I wish I had kept along with a 1963 BSA Gold Star I wish I had kept too.
@@terryoquinn8199None of us expected the life of those factory hot rods to be so short. And we didn't realize the low prices were also in a very short time frame. "Hell, we'll buy a bigger and badder one next year."
Based on the original price of the car, $400 for just the aluminum heads option back then would sound pretty outrageous, probably pushing sticker price to Corvette territory.
My Brother had a 1969 NicKy Nova SS in 1984 and I had a Dodge Dart GT 340 he would beat me 8 times out of 10. That car was a runner. Thank you for the video
@@kennethrine8171 Miss those days of street. People need to wake up and demand cars the same as the old day. Be awesome to see a Nova, Dart, Duster and some other s. That would meet the crash test standards.
I had 72 Nova back in Hight School, Lamar, class of 80. It was my first car. I bought it from my older brother with the sell of my Steer in FFA. It was definitely not a road racing car with drum brakes, had issues racing around Houston in it, only safe 10 to 20 hard fast stops in it until they were very spongy. That is why I learned how to do 180's in it. It was light, easy to make go fast, its a go fast straight line kind of a car...mine was a sleeper. Sweet 350 with mods and large exhaust which made it quite and you could barely here the cam we put in it. Todays kids are video games, we were car heads trying to go fast. And back then it was a camaro/mustang, cougar killer...yes I said Cougar. Back then those cars were versy fast compaired to everything else on the road. Lots on them were at "The Hole" in Houston. I miss those days. Tyrying get my son into fixing up his grandfathers truck he gave him, 2003 sliverado, 4.8 V8....there are some go fast things we can do to definitely make it funner to drive.
Seeing so many of these segments pertaining directly to the “aluminum head” BBC drives anxiety within. I grew up branded by Chevrolet. My father received a brand new 1966 Impala SS 390hp/427 for high school graduation. It was a well known car around our fairly large town while I was growing up. The old street racing stories I would hear were legendary. It was a unicorn car that would show up and whip the rest of the cars in the region and go back to the shop. It was heavily modified by the time I was old enough to recollect anything about it. Roll cage big tire car. Smoothed over firewall. My father had not realized just how rare those cars were going to be and grew ashamed about his choices after the fact. I loved the car. There was always new better built engine and transmission for the car in the mix until the market for these cars untouched was realized. After that it was taken apart in hopes of restoring it back original which was going to be major costly. The last engine he had built was a 427 with factory aluminum heads. It seemed like a unicorn engine. I grew up to work in the automotive machining industry. The local shops I worked in were full of men that had performed various machining operations on that engine over the years. It was built when I was about 14. The engine ran very little my father was skeptical about running it but would never explain why he had spent so much and stopped. We understood the situation with the car, but the engine was no doubt valuable. In 2000 I was employed by a machine shop specializing in large displacement BBC racing engines. The shop had been in business since 1962. So there were rather historical engine parts laying on shelves in that shop. A few sets of heads with Lee Shepherd’s stamp on the ends of them. One of them was a set of factory aluminum big block heads. I began inquiring about these factory aluminum heads with the shop owner. Explaining that my father owned an engine that had a set of these heads bolted to it. I was afforded the opportunity to learn a big history lesson and a very big lesson in metallurgy. I was urged to disassemble my father’s engine and do some checks on those heads. My Boss was adamant that those heads were too valuable to ruin by racing and that if they were still good they needed to be sold in leu of new aluminum castings better suited for performance. My father was reluctant but finally agreed. By then I was well versed on performance BBC heads. Could make them flow extremely well. Knew what was and wasn’t going to work. These aluminum heads were virgin. Never any port work. Just a basic old school 3 angle valve job. Factory guides that were still in great shape. No knurling or anything. My boss ran a hardness test on them and verified that those castings were very valuable and should be sold. I was allowed to clean them up. Flow test them, they were a mess for airflow quality. They simply did not perform well at all. 315cfm. I could get oval port heads to easily flow 330cfm. So the decision was made to make place these heads on the market. Around 2004-5 those heads sold for over $2000.00. That would buy about any conventional aluminum big block head on the market at that time. I was happy. I began looking at all of these old factory aluminum cylinder heads on these shelf. The Reher Morrison set with Lee Shepherd’s stamp on the ends as well as several other sets of these heads. Another key detail in that time was the man working with Lee Shepherd porting heads at Reher Morrison came to work in the shop with me. Older fellow with a ton of knowledge. He was directly involved with those stamped Shepherd heads in the shop. We messed around testing those heads for fun and for a history lesson. I think they flowed 380 cfm with more welding done to them than anyone could imagine. Saving the main moral of the story for last. The major lesson of importance learned was heat treatment in aluminum and what happened when it was gone and what had to be done to get the aluminum head re heat treated. Short said the heat treatment to those factory Aluminum heads was terrible to begin with. The antimonies in those castings made it impossible for any quality heat treatment to work. They were going to be short lived under the best of circumstances. The normal thermal cycling of an engine running is going to take life out of these heads each time the engine is warmed up under normal conditions. All said and done my professional advice on these heads is to never use them. If you’re a numbers matching stickler and the car has to be original, then do not drive these cars with these heads on them. If you must drive one of these cars do yourself a favor and remove the numbers matching engine and put it on an engine stand sound and ready for the next owner. Build yourself a sound engine that isn’t going to be so costly if it’s hurt. These aluminum heads are nothing to take for granted. You can not see heat treatment going away. You can only perform a harness test on the deck surface of the heads and by then it’s over with in many cases. Guides and seats will fall out of these heads. Many of them already have.
Lots of things suck when getting old... like anything that doesn't hurt probably doesn't work. 😕 Cancer is a real bastard of a disease. My dad had it and passed back in 1987. I would not wish cancer on a stray dog, let alone a person. I still miss him and mom, daily.
LOL Now we are on internet TV watching - only difference is we are probably at work or looking at our portable pocket TV that happens to have a cell phone inside.
Beautiful car! Wish they still made them today. Cars today no class like the old cars. Today people only want pickups and SUVs. Today young adults are missing out on cool cars. Even a 76' Olds Cutlass Supreme was cool, just swap out smog motor and you have a good cars. I once had a 73' Grand Am 400 4 bbl two door went pretty good.
@@4NINETYSIX 1973 Grand Am did have a 4 door. Don't know if the 400 4 bbl and 455 4 bbl came in 4 doors. The 400 2 bbl had 170 hp, 400 4 bbl 230 HP 335 torque same as the 400 TA, 455 4 bbl 73' Trans Am 455 SD 310 hp. Let's what I remember. The best Pontiac V8 either the 421 HO and SD or 428 HO and SD.
I don’t know about that . Being a Mopar guy , I bought a Last Call edition 2023 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Jailbreak in Plum Crazy purple that I love ! 717 hp , buckets , twin scoops that function , auto with bump shift . It’s gorgeous and it will git on down the road too ! The rest , yeah , maybe . But this little darling looks the part and does the job . There’s still some hope !
@@terryoquinn8199 Cool sounds amazing. I just like those old cars from 62' to 74' . Trans Am from 69' to 78'. Camaro 70' 396 V8. I hope the gas V8 is around for a long time.
Been a fan for years! I was 16 in '70 Detroit with a good looking older sister. Alot of older guys treated me real good. One had a '70 SS 396 L-78 he paid $3k for New. On the pretense of me cleaning the Nova I would drop him at work and pick him up afterwards. It was Dyno Tuned and did you know a TH400 Shifts itself at 7,200 RPM? With a 3:55 and E-78 15's I Drove away from an LS-6's Smoke 😇
@stevenherbert4779- Th400s were governed to shift out of 1st from the factory @ 5,500 RPM, not 7,200 RPM. This was done in an attempt to keep big blocks from over revving in 1st gear. This could be done by pulling the column shifter down into low gear, and leaving it there, and when the RPMs reached 5,500, BAM, that TH400 would Bang second gear soo hard( if traction was available), it felt like everything was going to break! You then had to pull the shifter up to 2cnd gear to catch up, so then you would be ready to shift into 3rd gear. Now im not saying the tach didn't jump up to 7,200 RPM, immediately after it shifted, making it look like it shifted @ 7,200 RPM, as the power of that combo, and lack of traction, could just boil those tires @ will😎
I had a 66 satellite in high school, out ran, vettes, Camaros, mustangs all day long. The only car I had trouble with was an AMX with a built 390. It was half the weight of the shoebox satellite, it was quick. The satellite had aluminum fenders and hood cast iron 4 speed, Dana with posi and 4:10s. .030" over hemi two four barrels, hooker headers, direct connection cam. She was stout.
My friend bought one new in 1970 with a Turbo Hydromantic. L78. Was a sweet car. He eventually swapped out the 396/375 to his TOW car, a 69 Chevelle. He put a 427 in the Nova.
Found a Nova being parted out. It was a 70 SS with a 350. It was complete. He had put on an aluminum intake and couldn't get it started. I bought it for $700, restabbed the distributor, and drove it home! The car ran and drove great! It also had a 3:08 12 bolt posi. rear end! Mind you this was in about 1988. In those days it was just a car, and not overly valuable!
When the paperwork says it doesn't exist... I figure you have an uphill battle. Even if it has a pink ashtray. This guy has always given me "used car guy" vibes. I've watched him on several car shows going back to about.... 15 years!
@@paulsawczyc5019 Just seen a faked protecto plate yesterday from a classic dealer the repop build sheet was easy to spot also. No way they didnt know. SUcks people get ripped off anyways
My sister had a 1970 Nova with a stock 307 with the 2 barrel carb. Stock tires. Would never break the tires free unless the street was wet. That thing drove like today's electric cars though, I never lost coming off the line. It was fast!
I can only say that although my 1970 SS396 L78 was a nice muscle car and very fast, I spun a bearing and had the engine balanced and blueprinted , Bill Jenkins rebuilt the Holley 780 carb I did all the tricks allowed and legal for NHRA back in 1974 and to my surprise it landed me in A/S I was hoping for a much lower class as I didn’t want to run with Hemi’s or 454 chevelles etc, but I won A/S and went 4 rounds before I ran to far under the national record for that year, I was running 11.90’s with those m&h street tires but eventually ran 11.17 121 mph with Goodyear slicks and 5:13 moroso gears, I miss that car and kick myself in the ass for selling it😢
When I moved to the US back in 1972, my friend brought one brand new for about $2800.00 with $125.00 a month operating cost per month in Philadelphia, PA. I love Chevy Nova over Japanese made car Dutsun, Subaru or even Honda back then.
I've only seen one of these in my life back in 89 to 93 in north miami guy use to drive it. often and it was gorgeous black on black paint & had corvette rally's on it and yes it was a 396 / 4 speed SS original. very statuses presents that nova was going down the road. 😍
One of the guys in my car club has a car like this, He has a 73 Plymouth Duster that's Vitamin C Orange (Go mango) with a White Vinyl Top White side stripe and White interior with a 318 and automatic on the collum Trans. When he took it to a Mopar Expert and he ran all the numbers he told him he wanted to get with Chrysler Corp to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was, Chrysler denied the car existed but he sent them a picture of all the plates and sure enough.... They did in-fact build it.
My first car was a 70 nova that had a 230 straight six with a power glide transmission. Wish I still had it. It ran strong and hard, so much so, many thought it was v-8. Cutter & Ms C
According to an early article that I recall there were 7 2002 Thunderbirds made with manual transmissions and two with retractable hard tops. I wonder if they met the grim compactor.
kid I went to high school with had a yellow SS 396 4 speed Nova with a tan interior. it was just a 7 or 8 year old used car. class of 1978. lots of great cars in the school parking lot. I drove a Ram Air III 4 speed GTO Judge. my good buddy had a 67 442.
We had one just like that in my home town that was brown, 4sp. 396 big block hood louvers and sounded just like that one, the guy worked for Ontario Hydro back then as a nuclear operator.
a guy near where I grew up (rural SW Ohio) had two big block Nova’s… a 68 396 and a 69 427…. I had never seen one before and liked the tach in the center of the gauges. They were rolling chassis and don’t know if he had the drivetrains or not..??
Yrs ago went to Tennessee on vacation and there sitting with grass around it was a early blue on blue nova with the 396 badges in front of an old small shack in the mountains
Living in these times, if we only knew back then what these cars were. I had a 72 maverick 3 in the tree and literally beat this car up off road and everything. God I wished I had it now
The L89 was available in the 1970 Chevelle until New Years. The 1970 L89 has the low rise intake manifold that is designed to fit the 1970 L78 Camaro. The L89 was not available in 1970 Camaro. The 1968 and 1969 L89 have the high rise intake manifold. My uncle had a Nova that he put a factory assembled second design L88 427 in. The L88 had an assembly date of January, 1970. Not factory installed, but a complete, factory assembled L88 engine, from January, 1970.
I'm 72 now , the RPO L89 was a 427 435 hp available 1967 - 1969 in Corvettes it is a 427 RPO L71 with aluminum cylinder heads I believe Only in Corvettes The 396 375 hp RPO L78 was in Chevelles and Camaros unless this one is a COPO car which not many in the day were even aware of new one to me!
Well, my brother bought a new 68 Camaro RS SS with all options except auto trans incl. factory L89 aluminum head 396. It was dark green with houndstooth int. It sucked a valve, twice. Couldnt have been many of those. I was 13 yrs old.
I bought a 74 Nova , shorten up both bumpers , added a small block 327 , 11 inch clutch, M-21 Muncie 4 speed trans, 12 bolt posi , Numbers Matching ? NO ! But don't care ! I can Guarantee i will have just as much Fun in mine , painting mine black too but more like the Death Proof car ! I remember you 15 to 20 years ago on those Hot Rod shows , I wondered what happened to you ?
though I’m pretty sure they didn’t offer it, the LT1 would’ve been an ideal mill for this car. Big blocks didn’t belong in these, Camaros or Vettes, IMO
@@bobthbldr3 good recall. Yenko drew from the line in the BeachBoys song, “you don’t know what I got”, because big block 396 guys were soon left in the dust of these small block Novas with the misleading 350 badge in their front corner. 😆
My first car was a 72 with a built 350 four bolt main. I found out afterwards the transmission was worth more than the car. It had a Muncie M22 rock crusher close ratio four speed.
You right about nothing matters except drive train. I have a 69 impala custom, nothing special for people, as there's tons of them out there. Except for my 69, I purchased back in 95 from the original owners. I drove for a bit, and parked it in 2001. Pulled back out about 8 months ago, started the restoration, come to find out it has a 400 trans, 12 bolts possi mated to number matching high output 350 which were for vettes. I didnt rebuild the engine, just had it ckeaned, painted and resealed.. dyno tested..wopping 430 hp.. i have all the paperwork from new. I have a good freind who did his research and confirmed cars a copo.. any hoot.. been offered 80k for it, which ive agreed to.. not bad for having purchased it 15 hubdred.. restoration costs 34k.. not bad profit
L89 was 396ci/375hp but, its the L78 BASE 425HP WITH ALUMINUM HEADS. I ordered one in late 68 early 69 ....somewhere near there ....I thought I was going to get home but I didn't make it and I lost my $200 deposit!! That was a lot of money to lose at that time...... I ordered the 69 Chevelle L89.......396 was was advertised to be 375 horse but it was really the 65 mystery motor which was 425 horse and debuted in the 1965 Corvette....but now had the aluminum heads as an option. ........any L89 is RARE!!!
Don't know why Novas are so popular. Every Nova from start of production to finish goes down the road sideways that I've seen/dog tracks/. Friend of mine's dad bought a new 1968 & it did it. Car didn't hang around long. Another friend had one & his did it too. A 1972 model. They did not pull to one side or the other & all parts were in great shape. We used to call them Sideway Sams.
GM made 4 of the same back then. Buick Appolo, Pontiac Venture, Oldsmobile Omega And the Nova. And if you ever drove behind any of them you would notice none of them drove straight. 1 pot hole and the rear twisted.
Doesnt vin wiki do this? My buddy has a couple 69 novas, and one of them has that saginaw shifter. I think they suck too compared to the hurst. The saginaw shifter assembly mounts to the crossmember, which i think is its downfall, that when anything flexes, it shifts terrible.
Why does it have 396 badges? If its all original, an L89 is the 435hp 427 engine that was in the Corvette until 1970, when the 454 took its place. Also, where does the 560hp rating come from??? The only 427 that approached that actual 560hp rating was the L88 or the ZL1. Something isnt adding up here....
@@sublime929 excuse me ?. You sound pretty clownish come to mention it!! Let me ask ya, what have you accomplished in life?? My bet is an internet queen.
I'm 60 and I'm a third generation retired GM employee. I knew at one time if you knew what boxes to check either before or during a production run you could get options that were being added or discontinued. Some plant managers would let all sorts of things slide back before the days of absolute inventory control. There were cars built with some really abnormal features.
From '66 to '70 all my friends either got drafted or enlisted. The ones that made it back wanted a new car. This Nova reminds me of my buddy who mustered out of the Navy in late '68 then hired in at Chevy engineering in Warren Michigan. First thing he went to the exec turn-in lot that had mules, one-offs for Milford testing, show cars, etc. He bought a '68 Nova SS 2-door that had a 350-350 hp Vette drivetrain, was Nassau blue with a finish that looked 3 feet deep & had only 200 miles. He found out it was a show car & paid $2,300. for it. He owned it for about 10 years. The big three back then had a lot of one-off special exec orders that weren't documented or a ready drag car, like a couple of all black '69 427 SOHC Mustangs I saw at the Ford Rouge when I was a Tool & Die apprentice at Dearborn Assembly in late '68. The build sheets said they were 6-cylinder plain jane notchbacks. Great times & memories.
LMC going the extra mile for a customer! GL with your search!
That customer must have dropped BIG bucks with LMC for them to do a video like this.
I loved this show and was so into these cars and remember these episodes.
What a fantastic factory black example of Nova SS! Guys thanks for giving a second birth to the most beautiful and rare cars in the world!
In college, I drove an '85 Volkswagen Scirocco 5 speed Turbo. Yes, Volkswagen produced 52 turbocharged cars in 1984 and 1985, the majority of them Sciroccos. I bought one. This was a turbo system engineered by Jackman Racing, and it WAS covered under the original Volkswagen warranty. It used an IHI RHB5 non-intercooled turbo at 6 psi to take the engine from 90 hp to about 130 hp, and since the turbo was very small, lag was minimal and the car accelerated like a bottle rocket.
The only problem: The dealer installed kit did NOT have any sort of flex pipe, so I and others that had these cars had no end of problems keeping the exhaust pipe from cracking. At the time, flex pipes were not easily available so I just had the pipe welded and replaced rubber hangers yearly.
The kit was designed so VW could go racing, but rules changed and it wound up costing VWOA a ton of money~
But...These 52 cars were the first true 1.8t's. And collectable now.
THANK YOU PETER KLUTT…so tired of rarity claims based on presence of a tissue dispenser (or color combo). It’s the body/drive train combo that matters!
Thers alot of scams that can fool the best. This car is no Yenko,,,gee.
That combo did exist in 1970. Special ordered mine in 1970 with aluminum heads, M22 rock crusher transmission and 410 rear end. Dark Blue with Black buckets
Special order only ?
@@terryoquinn8199 I believe so. I know it was an expensive option but the salesman said it was worth the cost
GM was 4.11 geared.Hard to explain the one point difference between mfgs.Those were light,last cars tho.
There 4/10
Wow, thats 2 now that exist! I bet it ran pretty strong!
What did it run you out the door? DId you know about the L89 or have to find someone and twist thier arm?
Had a friend in high school. He owned a 1968 Chevy II . 325 hp, 327, 4 spd, 355 pos. That car was quick.
I bought a new Nova SS 396/375 HP on a factory order. I turned down the aluminum head option as it was an extra $400 some dollars and I was concerned about warped heads. The car was silver, black vinyl roof, black interior, Turbo 400, etc. Very fast street car and good looking. List was $3365 and got it for $2865 plus tax and title for cash. I found out a few years ago that that year they were actually 402 cubic inch. The one car I wish I had kept along with a 1963 BSA Gold Star I wish I had kept too.
We had no idea and thought they’d be there forever !
@@terryoquinn8199None of us expected the life of those factory hot rods to be so short. And we didn't realize the low prices were also in a very short time frame. "Hell, we'll buy a bigger and badder one next year."
Based on the original price of the car, $400 for just the aluminum heads option back then would sound pretty outrageous, probably pushing sticker price to Corvette territory.
My Brother had a 1969 NicKy Nova SS in 1984 and I had a Dodge Dart GT 340 he would beat me 8 times out of 10. That car was a runner. Thank you for the video
@@kennethrine8171 Miss those days of street. People need to wake up and demand cars the same as the old day. Be awesome to see a Nova, Dart, Duster and some other s. That would meet the crash test standards.
must’ve been a 318 car cause no 396 is beating a 340 powered car
@@jesselent7894that Mopar or Nocar crack is powerful stuff
@@ChrisBrown-pz2gu never seen one beat a 340 car, especially stock for stock.
That car is just spectacular!
I had 72 Nova back in Hight School, Lamar, class of 80. It was my first car. I bought it from my older brother with the sell of my Steer in FFA. It was definitely not a road racing car with drum brakes, had issues racing around Houston in it, only safe 10 to 20 hard fast stops in it until they were very spongy. That is why I learned how to do 180's in it. It was light, easy to make go fast, its a go fast straight line kind of a car...mine was a sleeper. Sweet 350 with mods and large exhaust which made it quite and you could barely here the cam we put in it. Todays kids are video games, we were car heads trying to go fast. And back then it was a camaro/mustang, cougar killer...yes I said Cougar. Back then those cars were versy fast compaired to everything else on the road. Lots on them were at "The Hole" in Houston. I miss those days. Tyrying get my son into fixing up his grandfathers truck he gave him, 2003 sliverado, 4.8 V8....there are some go fast things we can do to definitely make it funner to drive.
Seeing so many of these segments pertaining directly to the “aluminum head” BBC drives anxiety within.
I grew up branded by Chevrolet. My father received a brand new 1966 Impala SS 390hp/427 for high school graduation. It was a well known car around our fairly large town while I was growing up. The old street racing stories I would hear were legendary. It was a unicorn car that would show up and whip the rest of the cars in the region and go back to the shop. It was heavily modified by the time I was old enough to recollect anything about it. Roll cage big tire car. Smoothed over firewall.
My father had not realized just how rare those cars were going to be and grew ashamed about his choices after the fact. I loved the car. There was always new better built engine and transmission for the car in the mix until the market for these cars untouched was realized. After that it was taken apart in hopes of restoring it back original which was going to be major costly.
The last engine he had built was a 427 with factory aluminum heads. It seemed like a unicorn engine.
I grew up to work in the automotive machining industry. The local shops I worked in were full of men that had performed various machining operations on that engine over the years. It was built when I was about 14. The engine ran very little my father was skeptical about running it but would never explain why he had spent so much and stopped. We understood the situation with the car, but the engine was no doubt valuable.
In 2000 I was employed by a machine shop specializing in large displacement BBC racing engines. The shop had been in business since 1962. So there were rather historical engine parts laying on shelves in that shop. A few sets of heads with Lee Shepherd’s stamp on the ends of them. One of them was a set of factory aluminum big block heads.
I began inquiring about these factory aluminum heads with the shop owner. Explaining that my father owned an engine that had a set of these heads bolted to it.
I was afforded the opportunity to learn a big history lesson and a very big lesson in metallurgy.
I was urged to disassemble my father’s engine and do some checks on those heads.
My Boss was adamant that those heads were too valuable to ruin by racing and that if they were still good they needed to be sold in leu of new aluminum castings better suited for performance.
My father was reluctant but finally agreed. By then I was well versed on performance BBC heads. Could make them flow extremely well. Knew what was and wasn’t going to work.
These aluminum heads were virgin. Never any port work. Just a basic old school 3 angle valve job. Factory guides that were still in great shape. No knurling or anything. My boss ran a hardness test on them and verified that those castings were very valuable and should be sold.
I was allowed to clean them up. Flow test them, they were a mess for airflow quality. They simply did not perform well at all. 315cfm. I could get oval port heads to easily flow 330cfm.
So the decision was made to make place these heads on the market. Around 2004-5 those heads sold for over $2000.00. That would buy about any conventional aluminum big block head on the market at that time. I was happy.
I began looking at all of these old factory aluminum cylinder heads on these shelf. The Reher Morrison set with Lee Shepherd’s stamp on the ends as well as several other sets of these heads. Another key detail in that time was the man working with Lee Shepherd porting heads at Reher Morrison came to work in the shop with me. Older fellow with a ton of knowledge. He was directly involved with those stamped Shepherd heads in the shop. We messed around testing those heads for fun and for a history lesson. I think they flowed 380 cfm with more welding done to them than anyone could imagine.
Saving the main moral of the story for last. The major lesson of importance learned was heat treatment in aluminum and what happened when it was gone and what had to be done to get the aluminum head re heat treated.
Short said the heat treatment to those factory Aluminum heads was terrible to begin with. The antimonies in those castings made it impossible for any quality heat treatment to work. They were going to be short lived under the best of circumstances. The normal thermal cycling of an engine running is going to take life out of these heads each time the engine is warmed up under normal conditions.
All said and done my professional advice on these heads is to never use them. If you’re a numbers matching stickler and the car has to be original, then do not drive these cars with these heads on them.
If you must drive one of these cars do yourself a favor and remove the numbers matching engine and put it on an engine stand sound and ready for the next owner. Build yourself a sound engine that isn’t going to be so costly if it’s hurt.
These aluminum heads are nothing to take for granted. You can not see heat treatment going away. You can only perform a harness test on the deck surface of the heads and by then it’s over with in many cases. Guides and seats will fall out of these heads. Many of them already have.
You guys are and have always been a cut above others in this game…IMHO 👉🏼👈🏼
Godspeed from the States🇺🇸
Thanks cousin Dave!
My uncle has owned a '70 Nova SS L78 4 speed since 1971.
As he has cancer, he might actually sell it now, growing old sucks..
The only thing worse than getting old, is...not. I'll keep your uncle in my prayers, and I'll be wishing the best for him and your family.
Here in Canada my cousin had a 70 SS 4 speed ,,,but here they only had 350's not 396. Maybe this guy thinks those are rare too...lol.
@@babbalonian2 My uncle lives in BC, he is Canadian. The original owner live local to him.
@@awilson2385 Agreed. The alternative is worse!
Lots of things suck when getting old... like anything that doesn't hurt probably doesn't work. 😕
Cancer is a real bastard of a disease. My dad had it and passed back in 1987. I would
not wish cancer on a stray dog, let alone a person. I still miss him and mom, daily.
Holy crap ...... was I watching you on TV 20 years ago??
LOL Now we are on internet TV watching - only difference is we are probably at work or looking at our portable pocket TV that happens to have a cell phone inside.
Beautiful car! Wish they still made them today. Cars today no class like the old cars. Today people only want pickups and SUVs. Today young adults are missing out on cool cars. Even a 76' Olds Cutlass Supreme was cool, just swap out smog motor and you have a good cars. I once had a 73' Grand Am 400 4 bbl two door went pretty good.
People these days dont have class either especially women
WOW !
Imagine if the Grand Am was a four door !
Probably could have beat Ram Air IV GTO'S !
@@4NINETYSIX 1973 Grand Am did have a 4 door. Don't know if the 400 4 bbl and 455 4 bbl came in 4 doors. The 400 2 bbl had 170 hp, 400 4 bbl 230 HP 335 torque same as the 400 TA, 455 4 bbl 73' Trans Am 455 SD 310 hp. Let's what I remember. The best Pontiac V8 either the 421 HO and SD or 428 HO and SD.
I don’t know about that . Being a Mopar guy , I bought a Last Call edition 2023 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Jailbreak in Plum Crazy purple that I love ! 717 hp , buckets , twin scoops that function , auto with bump shift . It’s gorgeous and it will git on down the road too ! The rest , yeah , maybe . But this little darling looks the part and does the job . There’s still some hope !
@@terryoquinn8199 Cool sounds amazing. I just like those old cars from 62' to 74' . Trans Am from 69' to 78'. Camaro 70' 396 V8. I hope the gas V8 is around for a long time.
Been a fan for years! I was 16 in '70 Detroit with a good looking older sister. Alot of older guys treated me real good. One had a '70 SS 396 L-78 he paid $3k for New. On the pretense of me cleaning the Nova I would drop him at work and pick him up afterwards. It was Dyno Tuned and did you know a TH400 Shifts itself at 7,200 RPM? With a 3:55 and E-78 15's I Drove away from an LS-6's Smoke 😇
"TH400 shifts itself at 7200 RPM"...fricking hilarious! No offense, brother, but no one's sister would have been THAT good looking!
Skills my friend skills. “Personality”.
@@badgerbait8351 Grind the governor weights and it will , but you'll be putting the V-belt back on every time you do it .
@stevenherbert4779- Th400s were governed to shift out of 1st from the factory @ 5,500 RPM, not 7,200 RPM. This was done in an attempt to keep big blocks from over revving in 1st gear. This could be done by pulling the column shifter down into low gear, and leaving it there, and when the RPMs reached 5,500, BAM, that TH400 would Bang second gear soo hard( if traction was available), it felt like everything was going to break! You then had to pull the shifter up to 2cnd gear to catch up, so then you would be ready to shift into 3rd gear. Now im not saying the tach didn't jump up to 7,200 RPM, immediately after it shifted, making it look like it shifted @ 7,200 RPM, as the power of that combo, and lack of traction, could just boil those tires @ will😎
I had a 66 satellite in high school, out ran, vettes, Camaros, mustangs all day long. The only car I had trouble with was an AMX with a built 390. It was half the weight of the shoebox satellite, it was quick. The satellite had aluminum fenders and hood cast iron 4 speed, Dana with posi and 4:10s. .030" over hemi two four barrels, hooker headers, direct connection cam. She was stout.
My friend bought one new in 1970 with a Turbo Hydromantic. L78. Was a sweet car. He eventually swapped out the 396/375 to his TOW car, a 69 Chevelle. He put a 427 in the Nova.
I bought mine new it was a 1970 Nova SS L78 cortez silver with a black vinyl top. Sold it 2 years later. Now I have another 1970 Nova. Love um.
I think the 70 Nova is the best looking of all of em. Enjoy =)
Back in the COPO area, you could order what ever suit your fancy.
This same car in red and white and black and white. At gateway classic cars in Dallas. L89 other has a ls7 with a 2 liter supercharger 840 horsepower
Found a Nova being parted out. It was a 70 SS with a 350. It was complete. He had put on an aluminum intake and couldn't get it started. I bought it for $700, restabbed the distributor, and drove it home! The car ran and drove great! It also had a 3:08 12 bolt posi. rear end! Mind you this was in about 1988. In those days it was just a car, and not overly valuable!
When the paperwork says it doesn't exist... I figure you have an uphill battle. Even if it has a pink ashtray.
This guy has always given me "used car guy" vibes. I've watched him on several car shows going back to about.... 15 years!
Definatly hard to miss that car , i really live novas of that body style . Good luck finding it.
Maybe an early 70. Built in 69 and GM had an L89 left over from 69? Very cool!
You gotta be really, really careful about fakes - I would not risk paying 1/2 million for a car that you can "build it yourself".
@@paulsawczyc5019 Just seen a faked protecto plate yesterday from a classic dealer the repop build sheet was easy to spot also. No way they didnt know. SUcks people get ripped off anyways
I loved the Nova when in HS 70-72. Always wanted one but never bought one. I did own a Ford Torino in the mid 70’s and it was a fun one.
My sister had a 1970 Nova with a stock 307 with the 2 barrel carb. Stock tires. Would never break the tires free unless the street was wet. That thing drove like today's electric cars though, I never lost coming off the line. It was fast!
Love those 70 Novas ❤️
If they built them today I would buy one!
My brother had a 70 4 speed hurst ,350/350 pod traction bought it new . Tubs of drag trophies. Great car.❤
I always preffered the looks of the Novas over the chevelles.....that one is a beauty!
I can only say that although my 1970 SS396 L78 was a nice muscle car and very fast, I spun a bearing and had the engine balanced and blueprinted , Bill Jenkins rebuilt the Holley 780 carb I did all the tricks allowed and legal for NHRA back in 1974 and to my surprise it landed me in A/S I was hoping for a much lower class as I didn’t want to run with Hemi’s or 454 chevelles etc, but I won A/S and went 4 rounds before I ran to far under the national record for that year, I was running 11.90’s with those m&h street tires but eventually ran 11.17 121 mph with Goodyear slicks and 5:13 moroso gears, I miss that car and kick myself in the ass for selling it😢
Great channel
Great, rare car and restoration.
My brother had a 70 with a 4 spd and 12 bolt rear-end but someone had blown up the 396 and put a really built 327 in it. It screamed !
Beautiful in black. I had a 69 that went from blue to black then back to blue. Great cars. Soooo much fun.
When I moved to the US back in 1972, my friend brought one brand new for about $2800.00 with $125.00 a month operating cost per month in Philadelphia, PA. I love Chevy Nova over Japanese made car Dutsun, Subaru or even Honda back then.
That Nova is gorgeous.
Nothing better than a nova!
What a fantastic car - love the video!!!
I've only seen one of these in my life back in 89 to 93 in north miami guy use to drive it. often and it was gorgeous black on black paint & had corvette rally's on it and yes it was a 396 / 4 speed SS original. very statuses presents that nova was going down the road. 😍
What a rare car. For sure it still exists in perfect condition. Only someone who would protect it would ever buy such a car.
One of the guys in my car club has a car like this, He has a 73 Plymouth Duster that's Vitamin C Orange (Go mango) with a White Vinyl Top White side stripe and White interior with a 318 and automatic on the collum Trans. When he took it to a Mopar Expert and he ran all the numbers he told him he wanted to get with Chrysler Corp to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was, Chrysler denied the car existed but he sent them a picture of all the plates and sure enough.... They did in-fact build it.
WOW !
I bet that it was the toughest car in 3 states .
That 318 with the column auto could probably beat 440 six barrels and Hemis !
@@4NINETYSIX nah just rare, it's literally a 1 of 1 and not 1 or 250,000.
My first car was a 70 nova that had a 230 straight six with a power glide transmission. Wish I still had it. It ran strong and hard, so much so, many thought it was v-8.
Cutter & Ms C
Yeah right ! Many people thought it was a V8, not no Straight 6 !
Always enjoyed your work 😊❤!
Brings back fond memories. When I was 16 i bought a 68 nova Chevy ll for 50$ had it years sold for 225$. Mint body 😅
According to an early article that I recall there were 7 2002 Thunderbirds made with manual transmissions and two with retractable hard tops. I wonder if they met the grim compactor.
kid I went to high school with had a yellow SS 396 4 speed Nova with a tan interior. it was just a 7 or 8 year old used car. class of 1978. lots of great cars in the school parking lot. I drove a Ram Air III 4 speed GTO Judge. my good buddy had a 67 442.
My first car was a 73 nova hatchback crager wheels 350 v8 4 speed burgundy. Bought in 1979 for 700 with 33k miles
When I got back from the corps I bought a Red nova ss 350 four bolt mane . Great car
that nova is a beauty.
I had One 1970 Nova 396 bought New ...from Polar Chev. 1970....in White Bear lake,Minn. A black one. Back in the DAY.😮
The Nova was sold back too the dealer as to many speeding tickets. In Winter of 1972 😢
We had one just like that in my home town that was brown, 4sp. 396 big block hood louvers and sounded just like that one, the guy worked for Ontario Hydro back then as a nuclear operator.
a guy near where I grew up (rural SW Ohio) had two big block Nova’s… a 68 396 and a 69 427…. I had never seen one before and liked the tach in the center of the gauges. They were rolling chassis and don’t know if he had the drivetrains or not..??
I wish I owned that car.
My high school friend had a red 70’ 396 L89 nova he purchased when we were in high school.
Yrs ago went to Tennessee on vacation and there sitting with grass around it was a early blue on blue nova with the 396 badges in front of an old small shack in the mountains
Long time no see, you and your son were really great to see at Barrett Jackson, thumbs up, great video
can't believe a car like this changes owners in secret
Wouldnt Mecum know ? They sold it. Or at least let you know who bought it when they sold it?
How do you know Mecum sold it brah?
@@juansaladzar Because its listed on their website as sold
@@juansaladzarYeah Brah !! Try Reading Comprehension Brah !!😊
@@Troy_nov1965
prove it put the link up here if you’re not lying brah 🤥
@@MichaelAguilar-vj2nr
prove it, where is the link brah?
Try the Brother's Collection in Washington State
Living in these times, if we only knew back then what these cars were. I had a 72 maverick 3 in the tree and literally beat this car up off road and everything. God I wished I had it now
Absolutely agree!
But who knew that they'd be "building" such terrible peices of 💩 today?
🤙🏽🍻
Hopefully the car remains stateside and not in Dubai with a Bengal tiger laying on the hood
Lol I know if I had oil money there wouldn't be anything left that I wanted.
I had a 1971 SS Nova 350 4 speed silver with black stripes loved it bought it brand new from major chevrolet 3100 $ out the door .
The L89 was available in the 1970 Chevelle until New Years. The 1970 L89 has the low rise intake manifold that is designed to fit the 1970 L78 Camaro. The L89 was not available in 1970 Camaro. The 1968 and 1969 L89 have the high rise intake manifold. My uncle had a Nova that he put a factory assembled second design L88 427 in. The L88 had an assembly date of January, 1970. Not factory installed, but a complete, factory assembled L88 engine, from January, 1970.
I'm 72 now , the RPO L89 was a 427 435 hp available 1967 - 1969 in Corvettes it is a 427 RPO L71 with aluminum cylinder heads I believe Only in Corvettes The 396 375 hp RPO L78 was in Chevelles and Camaros unless this one is a COPO car which not many in the day were even aware of new one to me!
I have seen this car in Warroad Minnesota in a collection owned by BM @ "the shed."
I’d be happy with one that just looks similar to this with any running engine.
Even that would be out of my budget.
Well, my brother bought a new 68 Camaro RS SS with all options except auto trans incl. factory L89 aluminum head 396. It was dark green with houndstooth int.
It sucked a valve, twice.
Couldnt have been many of those.
I was 13 yrs old.
Is a over run 69 that was built in early 70?
I recall they had smallish mufflers or resonators in front of the rear axle and before the transverse muffler
I bought a 74 Nova , shorten up both bumpers , added a small block 327 , 11 inch clutch, M-21 Muncie 4 speed trans, 12 bolt posi ,
Numbers Matching ?
NO ! But don't care !
I can Guarantee i will have just as much Fun in mine ,
painting mine black too but more like the Death Proof car !
I remember you 15 to 20 years ago on those Hot Rod shows , I wondered what happened to you ?
though I’m pretty sure they didn’t offer it, the LT1 would’ve been an ideal mill for this car. Big blocks didn’t belong in these, Camaros or Vettes, IMO
I believe Yenko Chevrolet used the COPO ordering systems to get LT1's in Novas around 1971 maybe. I think they called them the "Yenko Duece".
@@bobthbldr3 good recall.
Yenko drew from the line in the BeachBoys song, “you don’t know what I got”, because big block 396 guys were soon left in the dust of these small block Novas with the misleading 350 badge in their front corner. 😆
Awesomeness ❤😮
My first car was a 72 with a built 350 four bolt main. I found out afterwards the transmission was worth more than the car. It had a Muncie M22 rock crusher close ratio four speed.
You right about nothing matters except drive train. I have a 69 impala custom, nothing special for people, as there's tons of them out there. Except for my 69, I purchased back in 95 from the original owners. I drove for a bit, and parked it in 2001. Pulled back out about 8 months ago, started the restoration, come to find out it has a 400 trans, 12 bolts possi mated to number matching high output 350 which were for vettes. I didnt rebuild the engine, just had it ckeaned, painted and resealed.. dyno tested..wopping 430 hp.. i have all the paperwork from new. I have a good freind who did his research and confirmed cars a copo.. any hoot.. been offered 80k for it, which ive agreed to.. not bad for having purchased it 15 hubdred.. restoration costs 34k.. not bad profit
Saw that car in downtown Dubai ! Sheik Alibaba was doing donuts !!
Backyard barn finds had said 1 of 1 Chevy nova about a yr ago
L89 was 396ci/375hp but, its the L78 BASE 425HP WITH ALUMINUM HEADS. I ordered one in late 68 early 69 ....somewhere near there ....I thought I was going to get home but I didn't make it and I lost my $200 deposit!! That was a lot of money to lose at that time...... I ordered the 69 Chevelle L89.......396 was was advertised to be 375 horse but it was really the 65 mystery motor which was 425 horse and debuted in the 1965 Corvette....but now had the aluminum heads as an option. ........any L89 is RARE!!!
I remember a 68 I drove, lumber wagon suspension 😂
So cool!
Don't know why Novas are so popular. Every Nova from start of production to finish goes down the road sideways that I've seen/dog tracks/. Friend of mine's dad bought a new 1968 & it did it. Car didn't hang around long. Another friend had one & his did it too. A 1972 model. They did not pull to one side or the other & all parts were in great shape. We used to call them Sideway Sams.
What r u talking about???😮
Disagree I owned a 1970 Nova 396 , 427 heads and it drove straight as a arrow.
The thumbs up count 375! Hope it stays there.
Wont be hard to find, it'll be sitting in a collection somewhere
Hope you find it
You could get the L89 in the 70 SS Camaro right? So why not in the SS Nova?
GM made 4 of the same back then. Buick Appolo, Pontiac Venture, Oldsmobile Omega
And the Nova. And if you ever drove behind any of them you would notice none of them drove straight. 1 pot hole and the rear twisted.
So does that protecto plate say it has the L89 aluminum head or just a L78 car ?
If I remember correctly the Protecto Plate just showed the VIN and not any option codes at all.
I have one of those with a hatchback it came with a 307, I dropped in a 350
Doesnt vin wiki do this? My buddy has a couple 69 novas, and one of them has that saginaw shifter. I think they suck too compared to the hurst. The saginaw shifter assembly mounts to the crossmember, which i think is its downfall, that when anything flexes, it shifts terrible.
Them nova kick some bootae .
Why does it have 396 badges? If its all original, an L89 is the 435hp 427 engine that was in the Corvette until 1970, when the 454 took its place. Also, where does the 560hp rating come from??? The only 427 that approached that actual 560hp rating was the L88 or the ZL1. Something isnt adding up here....
I want that car.
I wish I Knew. Thank you.
I read about it in hemmings muscle cars.
Someone probably put an LS in it and LED exterior lights. Let us pray that didn't happen
I have triples of the road runner,triples of the barriuda, and triples of the nova.
Is there a finders fee ?
I had a 72 which I sold for my wedding , and everyday I punch myself in the face!!!
Call Dennis Collins. He knows lots of the collectors. He can help put the word out in USA
Collins is a clown, stay off of the tv
@@sublime929 excuse me ?. You sound pretty clownish come to mention it!! Let me ask ya, what have you accomplished in life?? My bet is an internet queen.