Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[MossRoad]

My dad's 70 was misty turquoise. I've always liked that color.

 

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My dad's 70 was misty turquoise. I've always liked that color.

Me too. As a matter of fact, I would take a 396/375 hp Nova over the 428 Cobra jet I had. Lot less trouble to go as fast.

 

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I'm taking it back to the original color, Cortez Silver. When I bought it, it was a Chevy maroon color. While working on the doors, there were layers of a light metallic blue over the original silver.
And sorry, but it originally had a vinyl top, which amazingly was still on it after the paint color changes, which I am going to replace.
Here is a picture of it when I bought it.
View attachment 761929

Here is a picture of another Nova the same color as I'm going to paint mine, with the (gasp!) black vinyl roof.

View attachment 761931

Actually the silver/titanium color was one of my color recommendations. The other was the deep green GM used at the time.
I know you're stuck with the vinyl but I know of no better deterrent to NOT put one on than the silver Nova example you show.
It looks like a Ford Pinto to me.

 

[BravoXray]

Me too. As a matter of fact, I would take a 396/375 hp Nova over the 428 Cobra jet I had. Lot less trouble to go as fast.

Not sure if I posted a picture of it before, but here is a picture of my '69 Nova SS L78 (396 375hp). In a Corvette, the same L78 was rated 425hp, but only 375hp in a Nova, Camaro or Chevelle.

 

[BravoXray]

Actually the silver/titanium color was one of my color recommendations. The other was the deep green GM used at the time.
I know you're stuck with the vinyl but I know of no better deterrent to NOT put one on than the silver Nova example you show.
It looks like a Ford Pinto to me.

Here is a Cortez Silver one without the black vinyl top.

 

[goeduck]

Plenty of snort at 375 hp and looked better than a Corvette in my opinion. And I like Corvettes.

 

[BravoXray]

Plenty of snort at 375 hp and looked better than a Corvette in my opinion. And I like Corvettes.

It was tuned up pretty good too. The heads, manifold and headers were port matched, distributor was recurved, 3 angle valve job, 2" primary headers, Crane valve springs, CD ignition box and the 3310 780cfm Holley was rejetted and converted to mechanical secondaries. Later on I put a pair of L70 MT tires on back and swapped the 3.55 gears for 4.56 ones. Fastest car I ever owned.

 

[goeduck]

You da man! Looking forward to the end product!

 

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Not sure if I posted a picture of it before, but here is a picture of my '69 Nova SS L78 (396 375hp). In a Corvette, the same L78 was rated 425hp, but only 375hp in a Nova, Camaro or Chevelle.

View attachment 762090

All one had to do was put headers on this thing, 4.30's or 4.56's out back and you were easily in the 12's just like the Cobra Jet.
If the car magazines ran the Nova with this combo instead of the weak gearing out back, they would have sold a ton more.

 

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Here is a Cortez Silver one without the black vinyl top.

View attachment 762091

Yea!. Do that so people don't mistake your Nova for a Pinto
Do you know the reason car manufacturers put red line tires on their muscle cars?
If you recall the cheapest muscle car ever (Road Runner), Mopar was attempting to keep the cost down as much as possible. They put dog dish hub caps on steel wheels.
They looked at it and said "doesn't give us the image we want". Rather to bear the additional cost of styled wheels, they thought a red line around the tire would procure what they were looking for for nominal cost.
Thus the red line tire took off and became synonymous with performance.
Theoretically, red line tires with styled wheels is redundant.