It was a Yenko Nova, the product of a Pennsylvania race car driver who pulled stock Chevrolets from the assembly line, pumped them with power and released them in very limited numbers.
"Guys like me, just driving the streets, could have a performance car," Ives said. "And I could afford the insurance."
He walked away from the car lot grinning. After 35 years, he's still grinning.
The car has recently undergone a four-year restoration. It's as bright and shiny as new. And it will be featured with about 200 other vintage Chevrolets on Saturday at the Spring Dustoff car show in Smithfield.
In case of rain, you can peek inside the trailer that transports "Blue Thunder." Ives doesn't take the car out in the rain. And it's not for sale.
"It's a trailer queen," said his wife, Margie. "It used to carry us. Now, we carry it."
There were only 175 of the Nova Deuce LT-l's made. Colonial Chevrolet had 12, and that was only because Josh Darden, who owned the dealership at the time, was friends with Don Yenko, whose father owned Yenko Chevrolet in Canonsburg, Pa.
Was it fast? "What do you think?" Ives said, grinning as he recalled Saturday nights on lonely back roads. "In the quarter mile, there was nothing else out there that could catch it."
The "mini muscle car" got about 10 miles to the gallon, but so what? Back then, gasoline was about 35 cents a gallon.
Ives drove the car for 20 years, on family trips, back and forth to work. Finally, in 1990, when it began to get a little temperamental, the Yenko was retired to a shed.
Four years ago, at his wife's urging - threatening, maybe - the restoration began. It started at American Legends in Norfolk and was completed at Jesse's Rod Shop in Chesapeake.
Ives spent countless hours painstakingly researching correct replacement parts and color of parts for the car. Many of the parts are original.
It still gets about 10 miles to the gallon. Ives uses premium gas, adds an octane booster and a lead substitute and drives it every week or so for at least a few miles.
Only 71 of the original Yenko Novas are still around; only 12 are still with their original owners.
Ives said he believes there may be one other car similar to his in the state, but he's uncertain of its condition.
He's tracked one Yenko that was on the same car lot in 1970 as his "baby." It was purchased by a Navy man, he said, and driven to Nevada. The man who bought it, Ives said, now lives in Minnesota, and it has been restored.
The Yenko brothers stay in touch.
"His still has the Colonial dealership badge on it," Ives said, "but I have the original sales papers on mine."
The Smithfield car show is sponsored by the Virginia Chevy Lovers Club, and the event celebrates 50 years of Chevy V-8 power.
Registration at the show will benefit local fire and rescue squads and Boykins Tavern, an authentic 1700s tavern at the Isle of Wight Courthouse.
There's no charge for admission. Vintage Chevies will be spread across the historic town.
If it's not raining, Ives' Yenko will be prominently displayed.
"This car is better now than it was when I bought it brand new. It's part of my past, part of my youth."
Reach Linda McNatt at (757) 222-5561 or
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