The Supercar Registry Bulletin Board: Jeff-San's Awesome 1969 L78 Nova!

Sometimes when you stop looking, good things tend to find you. As a case in point, I have recently purchased a 69 Nova SS L-78. How it found me is another story. I received a call from one of my good car buddies, he was at a show in Half Moon Bay, Ca. standing in front of what he was describing as a lo-mileage original L-78 Nova that was for sale, and whatever happened , he needed me to see it for myself. The car was driven in by a guy in his late 50's and he told my buddy that he was into Hot Rods and modern muscle and if this car was a 4 spd he wouldn't even think of selling it. He also said he bought the car from a 20+ year owner in his 70's that restored planes but had the early onset of Dimensia and his wife just needed to start selling off his toys. When I get a lead like this, the normal course is that the car disappears quickly or turns out to be a turd when you looked a little closer.

The car went unsold on Sunday as no one was drawn to it by it's burnished brown, " Plane Jane " appearance. I made the call Sunday night as I promised and made arrangements to come see the car on Tuesday. I was subconsciously hoping the car would be sold out from under me to aleviate a wasted trip for a car that I really didnt want. On the other hand, the car sounded too good and deserved a look. On the hour and a half drive up to see the car on Tuesday I was thinking about all the reasons I shouldnt be attracted to this car. When I pulled up to his driveway, the garage door was open and I immediately knew I was in some serious trouble. He had a lift in his garage and it was ready for my inspection. I had mental notes from Tom Williams who had given me tips on another L-78 that I had chased down and passed on 2 Summers ago ...kinda funny as I can memorize #'s and codes from 2 years ago but I cant seem to remember what I had for lunch the day before.

this is what I found as I crawled under and around the car:

- 69 Nova SS 19,101 miles
- mostly original paint
- Burnished brown/ blk vinyl top
- deluxe blk bucket seats
- console automatic
- L78 396/375 #'s match motor ( JL )
- automatic tranny...C X code ( Yellow Tag )
- big Harrison radiator
- orig core support
- ZE code on the rad tag
- 4346 Holley carb with idle stop and tranny solenoids and brackets still intact
- BT 3:55 12 bolt
- no tach or gauges
- mint floor pans, trunk, orig weather stripping
- original carpets
- SS wheels
- a partial build sheet showing the L-78 option on line 2 that the current owner had stuffed into the owners manual
- full tinted windshield
- blk/gold plates

I may have forgotten a bunch so I've included a few pictures to share my find. I know it's not perfect but I think it's as close to an original no excuse, survivor car that I've seen in a long time. I'm pretty sure the car was Hot Rodded back in the day as I can see a spot in the trunk where and electric fuel pump was probably mounted. The car is also running a set of headers and the intermediate pipes appear to be factory originals. When I bought it, the owner had a sliver of an L-78 build sheet which showed L-78 under the second line but in noway did it tie it to a body sequence number or vin that was on this car. I took the leap of faith and bought the Nova feeling comfortable that the car was a tue L-78. The seller answered all of my questions and bent over backwards to shed light on all that I questioned. As soon as I got the car home I spent the next 2 lunches at home in the garage looking under the seats, under the dash and eventually I started looking at the back seat. My daughter wanted to go for a ride but the car had the seatbelts stuffed down the crack. When I took the back seat out, I could tell that they had been stashed there for quite awhile as the tags looked like new with the exception of picking up some of the stickiness from the sound deadener. As I looked closer, I could tell the outer tabs holding the seat had never been messed with so I decided to carefully pull them back and then unscrewed the last 2 screws and guess what? I took a few pictures to document what I found, as I found it. It was hog ringed in the upper passenger side, mint but slightly brittle. I scanned it when I got back to work. Tom W helped me decode what was on the doc.

here is what he told me:

Car built 3/18/69

Willow Run plant

288100….. is body sequence #....this should match the cowl tag

733…..deluxe black vinyl buckets

61B…burnished brown black vinyl top

A01…tinted glass all windows

A02...tinted windshield

A39…Deluxe frt and rear seat belts

A51…front strato buckets

A85…Deluxe shoulder harness

B80…roof drip moldings

CRD…???

C08…vinyl roof

C50….rear window defroster

D33….outside remote control mirror

D55…floor console

L78…396/375hp SHP

N10...dual exhaust

ZJ1…custom interior package

I hope you enjoy the pictures and I welcome any and all constructive criticism. My goal is to keep this car as original as possible and enjoy it as it was inteneded. if anyone knows of this car or it's past history, I would love to hear from you. I have a past registration from 1989 registered to an R. Henderson in Vallejo, Ca. As clean as the car is, I believe it's always been a Ca. car or a least a Western states car

thanks for looking,

Jeff

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Bruce
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