68 Harrell Nova

[68SS396]

I have a friend who is the pres. of the local Nova club here that has a 68 Harrell converted Nova that is Fathom Blue. It is not one of the 50 gibb Novas but seems to be ordered with a 398 and then converted in or around 69 as it has the 69 Harrell emblems. This car has an alum. headed L-88 installed with a bench seat and column shift T-400. He has owned this car in this configuration since 1978 so I do not believe it is a fake. Any prior history or knowledge of this car would be very helpful.

[Dan 68 Chevy II]

Is the person Mark Fusco,in Glendale AZ.

[68SS396]

Yes it is Mark. He does not have much info on previous owners or docs as you would know from talking to him. He is very knowledgeable about Chevrolets in general and Nova's Especially.

[Dan 68 Chevy II]

Sorry it was Mark Fuss.All 50 cars had bucket seat interiors ,not bench.Colors were Tripoli Turquoise,matador red ,fathom blue and sequoia green.Build dates are 07A or 07B.Ray Morrison has a original 68 chevy II Nova 427 Dick Harrell car and is the original owner.I believe he has all 50 vin#'s for 68 Copo Chevy II Nova's.I've talked to both these guys.Email Ray with the vin# next time you see Mark's car and he could probably tell you if is.Ray's email [email protected]

[bbdon]

Mark Fuss? There are some older magazine features on the car. But not from before Mark bought it. I talked Novas with Mark for hours at the Mini nats a few years ago. Nice guy.

[68SS396]

Dan you are correct as to the Gibb Copo cars being all bucket seat/console cars, but as I stated in the first post this car of Mark's is NOT one of the 50. Mark has spoken to Ray Morrison many times. Mark also told me that the person who he bought the car from bought it in Oklahoma somewhere after finding it sitting behind a speed shop. I do not think Mark remembers the exact town so any help would be helpful. Mark has told me that he spoke to someone who worked directly with Dick in KC and he said that they did maybe 15 - 25 cars, many of these cars were sitting at the shop when they returned from race weekends with paperwork on the windsheilds for work to be done. Again any help anyone out there can provide will be GREATLY appreciated.

[68SS396]

Dan you are correct as to the Gibb Copo cars being all bucket seat/console cars, but as I stated in the first post this car of Mark's is NOT one of the 50. Mark has spoken to Ray Morrison many times. Mark also told me that the person who he bought the car from bought it in Oklahoma somewhere after finding it sitting behind a speed shop. I do not think Mark remembers the exact town so any help would be helpful. Mark has told me that he spoke to someone who worked directly with Dick in KC and he said that they did maybe 15 - 25 cars, many of these cars were sitting at the shop when they returned from race weekends with paperwork on the windsheilds for work to be done. Again any help anyone out there can provide will be GREATLY appreciated.

[68SS396]

Sorry about this double post.

[JoeC]

Scott's Nova site has some good info on the COPO Nova and on the SuperCar dealer Novas. He has two letters from Chevy about the 68 COPO car meeting the 50 car NHRA rule. That sure was nice of NHRA to make the 50 car rule. There may not have been any Hi Po COPOs, ZL1s, 1963 Z-11s or any of the other factory drag cars if it were not for this rule. This is one reason that it is difficult to believe Jim Mattison's theory that all the 68 Yenko Camaros were 427 COPOs. I would think that if 50 were built they would have made it legal to race in NHRA like the 68 COPO TH400 Nova. Scott also has an interesting story on the 1963 Fastback Nova built by Bill Thomas with Smokey Yunick motors.
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/S...ory.htm#Dealer

[Dan 68 Chevy II]

I am in the process of getting more imfomation on the Harrell cars,I'll let you know when I get it.By the way I'm very partial to 68 Chevy II Nova's ,since I have three 2 original big blocks ss with 4spd and the 3rd let's just say something special.One car I owned twice once in 1978 16000 miles and now with 37500 original miles,I'm the 3rd and 8th owner.By the way did you now the McGrober factory muscle cars are located in Phoenix Az. by a very wealthy attorney that at one time owned a NFL team.I was one of the lucky few to see these cars and actually talk to the 2 guys that work fulltime on restoration of these cars right at where these cars are kept.I'm personsl friends with Ozzie Virgil who lives in AZ.,use to be a catcher for the Philles.I Aizona very well.