1969 375/396 Non SS Nova?

[bkhpah]

I just picked up the December 07' Muscle Car Review Sunday. On the cover is a good looking white/blue 396/375 1969 Nova. But I noticed the car does not have the SS grill emblem, hood louvers, or the SS tail panel trim. According to the story wrote by Paul Zazarine this is one of a "handful" of NON SS 396/375 Novas. This is a first for me. I have never heard of a NON SS 396. Anyone ever hear of such an animal?...BKH

[JRSully]

I was wondering that as well, didn't the 69 Yenko Novas come to him as SS cars.? I would have figured he would have that deleted prior to delivery if it all possible

[tsq396]

It may have been possible they did have 1970 402bb malibus that were non SS if my memory serves correct.

[Stefano]

I have never seen an L78 non SS Malibu/Chevelle? Any out there?

[Mr70]

I think tsq396 is referring to the LS-3 equipped Malibu.

[Mr. Chevy]

I have never heard of this, but I guess anything is possible when you ordered these cars back in the day.. Maybe somebody wanted the ultimate sleeper look with the L78 engine option and ordered it that way?? Unless specially ordered this way, I don't think Chevy ever made an L78 nova that did not have the SS option or goodies..

I do know of a local car (69 Nova) running around that the original owner's son now owns. He stated that his father special ordered the car with all of the SS options minus the hood louvers and badging. The car has the original hi-po 350 in it that would have came in the SS models. This car was special ordered this way from a local dealership here in Ohio and is the "real deal".

Rich

[bkhpah]

The Yenko Novas were all SS cars...BKH

[67BelAir427]

I just picked up the same issue and had the same question. Did such a beast exist?

[71-LS6]

My father in law, ordered one brand new to use as a "tow vehicle" for his drag car. He's told me the story 5-6 times now. I'll see if I can get a picture of it.

[71-LS6]

[ QUOTE ]
My father in law, ordered one brand new to use as a "tow vehicle" for his drag car. He's told me the story 5-6 times now. I'll see if I can get a picture of it.

[/ QUOTE ]


Okay, I finally tracked down the old man on Christmas eve, he's got some pictures of the car, but says it will take weeks to find them. Here's what he remembers;

He wanted a cheap powerful dual purpose car to flat tow his dragster and to run errands in. He had some incidental connections with a couple of big time chevy racers, so he knew what he wanted, a 375 hp 396 ci Nova.

I think he said his car came from Van Chevrolet in KC?

It DID have the louvers in the hood, but he wasn't sure if it had SS badging, so I'm guessing it was probably an SS and he just didn't remember the emblems.

The car was a bench seat 4spd.

The only other thing that seemed strange to me (I know nothing about Novas) was that the car was delivered with an open rear end. A week after he got it, he lost a street race to his buddy's 440 powered GTX. He said he was just a little pissed about that, because he knew his car weighed less. He went back to where they started the race, and noticed that one of his rear wheels had been spinning the whole way.
He put a posi unit in the car ASAP and according to him, he handed that GTX it's ass.

When I find the picture I'll get it posted.

Merry Christmas to all