Last week Paul posted an article about the Chevrolet Nova and the Ford Granada. The article focused on how the hot selling Granada handily beat the Nova in the luxury compact market. Clearly, the American public at that time had more interest in the sizzle of the Ford Granada despite its lack of engineering prowess compared to the Nova. The Granada was just fancy new clothes over the ancient Falcon chassis, while the Nova was the opposite. The outside may have been a plain Chevrolet Nova wrapper, but it was built over top of one of North America’s best handling chassis of the time. When it came to handling performance, the Granada wasn’t even in the same league.
For the mid and late 1970s the Nova was undoubtedly the best in class handler, but it didn’t start that way. So, let’s do a bit of history refresher. The Nova was fully redesigned in 1968 and it shared much in common with the 1967 Camaro/Firebird (F-bodies). This included using a unitized body structure with a bolt on front subframe. This subframe used a short-long control arm suspension with the coil spring mounted on the lower arm, similar in design to GM’s body–on-frame cars.
A 1968-74 subframe. Note the steering linkage is mounted behind the front axle.
For 1970, the GM F-bodies were full redesigned. They still used a unitized body with a bolt on subframe, but the 1970 subframe and suspension was fully redesigned. The steering box and linkage were relocated to be ahead of the front axle, and the control arm geometry was heavily revised and improved. The result was the F-bodies were among the best handling cars of their time, arguable the best of the North American cars in the 1970s. The Nova, however, continued on unchanged until 1974, still using the older subframe and suspension with its antiquated geometry.
A 1975-79 subframe, note the new steering location in front of the axle.
For the 1975 model year the Nova was heavily revamped, and was updated to use the new subframe that Camaro had been using since 1970. The 1975 model year may have been one of the worst years ever for horsepower per cubic inch at Chevrolet, but at least the new Nova handled well to compensate for its lack of power. Along with the F-bodies and X-bodies, this same basic suspension geometry and control arm design was also used in GM Colonnade intermediates. This is why these A-bodies handled so much better than there much loved predecessors despite their extra weight and girth. This same front suspension was likewise the basis of the much lauded downsized B-body cars introduced in 1977.
The 1973 OPEC oil embargo had a big short-term impact on auto sales, but it also had some fleet managers starting to think about more fuel efficient options. The Los Angeles Sherriff’s Department (LASD) with its massive fleet of gas guzzling police cars was one organization that started to look at more fuel efficient options. John Christy, Executive Editor of Motor Trend Magazine was a Specialist Reserve Deputy with the LASD. He was also a big proponent of finding more fuel efficient and cost effective police cars, which he argued would save the taxpayers millions of dollars. He believed that a smaller more fuel efficient police car was a much better choice for police work. Consequentially, Christy acted as a consultant with the LASD to help design a vehicle test procedure that would identify the best police car to meet needs of LASD.
Intermediates like this Matador were used by the LASD up until the mid 1970s.
John Christy, LASD Lieutenant Bill Kirley and some GM engineers met and discussed the future of police cars. They agreed that it was time to move to smaller patrol cars. Christy ended up drafting a letter to Jim Williams of Chevrolet Motor Divisions Public Relations Department in January of 1974. He told Williams that Motor Trend was working in conjunction with the LASD to test the feasibility of using compact cars for law enforcement functions. His guidelines were that the car must be a 4-door sedan with a wheelbase of 96 – 112”, have a six cylinder or V8 engine with a maximum displacement of 350 cubic inches, an automatic transmission, front disc brakes and air conditioning. Any carburetion could be used but there needed to be a balance of economy and performance. Christy ended the letter by saying, “Due to the current energy crisis and the wide interest of government agencies and the public at large in energy saving alternatives, we feel that this program will have wide-spread impact and value for all concerned. May we count on your assistance?”
Chevrolet for years had offered police packages for their cars, but Chevrolet’s police packages were never as comprehensive as Ford and Chrysler’s. That fact was that Chevrolet really didn’t need those police car sales and only put in a half-hearted effort compared to the competition. Chevrolet police car sales reflected this, being dominated by Ford and then Chrysler. Nevertheless, after receiving this letter from Christy, Chevrolet decided to take up this challenge and put forth a real effort to make a good police car.
Chevrolet assigned two experienced engineers to lead the project. They were Jim Ingle, a suspension specialist engineer from the F-body program and Harry Hammond of Special Projects, who formerly worked on Chevrolet Taxi projects. The two engineers started out with a plain white 1973 Nova taxi cab. The 6-cylinder drivetrain was yanked and replaced with an L48 350-4bbl with dual exhaust rated at 185 hp (SAE net) and a specially tuned TH350 transmission. The taxi interior remained but they added a heavy-duty radiator and alternator, front disc brakes, larger drum rear brakes and a 3.08:1 limited slip differential. The Nova got some parts from the Z/28 parts bin including the dual snorkel air cleaner, the 4-spoke steering wheel, and the quick ratio steering box. The engineers tested several suspension combinations to find the best springs, shocks, bushings, anti-roll bars and eventually found a combination that made Nova handle well.
Once the car was complete, Ingle and Hammond drove the Nova prototype hard and fast from Detroit to California to put it through its paces. It performed admirably. The Nova prototype was tested in LASD’s tests with MT and it did exceedingly well. The LASD vehicle test used traditional police cars as the baseline. These cars were a Plymouth Satellite, Dodge Coronet and AMC Matador. However, the Nova wasn’t the only compact in the competition. Other compacts included a 350 powered Pontiac Ventura, AMC Hornet with a 232 six, a Dodge Dart with a 360, and a slant-six Plymouth Valiant. In addition, there was a specially prepared Volvo 164E that participated, a car that had an excellent track record as a police vehicle in a Europe.
The much more powerful Dart easily outran all the other cars, but wasn’t the winner as this test was about overall performance and functionality as a police car. Beside straight line performance the cars were scored on handling, braking, fuel economy, ergonomics, mechanical repair, major component heat test, and communications evaluation. When the overall test results were calculated the Nova came out as the best American car. The Nova virtually tied the Volvo, with the Volvo scoring slightly higher at 78.17 versus 78.14 points overall. MT said the Nova “does everything the Volvo does, though where the Volvo is mannerly, the Nova is Muscular.” In comparison, the traditional Plymouth Satellite, Dodge Coronet and AMC Matador scored 69.831, 68.503 and 67.672 points respectively, scoring significantly lower than the Volvo, Nova and Dart.
The surviving 1974 Nova Police car demonstrator.
The LASD was highly impressed by the Nova, and immediately placed an order for 11 1974 Nova police cars for further evaluation. The City of Fountain Valley Police also ordered 4 Novas. In addition to these 15 cars, there was one more Nova built for the Fleet Sales Manager at Chevrolet’s Los Angeles Zone Office to be used as a demonstrator. That car was later sold to LASD and put into police service. That demonstrator Nova till exists today, probably the only original 1974 Nova Police car to survive.
One of the first 11 1974 Chevrolet Nova Police cars received by the LASD.
These 1974 Nova police cars were essentially prototypes and they were a little on the crude side. Regardless, they were highly successful in field use and it resulted in Chevrolet making the Nova 9C1 a regular production vehicle available as a COPO vehicle for 1975. Unlike the full-size and intermediate size Chevrolet police cars, which could be ordered a la carte, the Nova 9C1 only came in one format: 4-door sedan, 350 LM1 engine, TH350 transmission, and 3.08:1 rear axle ratio. There were no wimpy six-cylinders or half-assed versions. Chevrolet specifically designed the Nova 9C1 as a complete package.
There were some changes for 1975 production from the 1974 prototypes. The 350-4bbl LM1 350 replaced the L48 used in the 1974 cars. The Nova 9C1 LM1 engine didn’t see any performance upgrades over the civilian version; however, it did have more heavy duty valve train components to cope with police service. The 1975 model year marked the first year that GM used the catalytic converter, so the true dual exhaust was no longer used. The Nova had “dual outlet” exhaust where a single exhaust pipe entered a transversely mounted muffler which had dual outlets. Like civilian models, the Nova 9C1 used GM’s new HEI ignition and the dual snorkel air cleaner was replaced with a new cold air intake setup.
For 1975 the LM1 used this cold air intake rather than the dual snorkel air cleaner of the L48. A 1977 Nova is shown.
Since California was a big market for these police Novas, the engine was designed to use the California emission package in all versions. Doing so allowed Chevrolet to better engineer the carb jetting, ignition timing, and camshaft profile to work well with the emissions package. This resulted in a much better overall engine, especially compared to so many engines where the California emissions package was just added on after the fact. The 1975 LM1 was rated at 155 hp (SAE net), which was a 30 hp drop from the 1974 L48 engine. Despite this big loss in power on paper the 1975 Nova 9C1 performed better overall than the 1974 car in the LASD police tests.
In addition to the mechanical changes, the redesigned body resulted in significantly improved visibility, a great asset for a police car. The total glass area increased, in particular the rear door window was larger and the windshield saw a 15% increase in size.
The Nova 9C1 would become LASD’s main police car for several years.
While the 1974 Nova police car prototype had good handling, it came at the compromise of a harsh ride. The 1975 Nova was redesigned using the formerly mentioned improved front suspension geometry. This improved suspension design allowed engineers to not only improved handling, but improve the ride comfort. Motor Trend even went as far to call the ’75 Nova 9C1 the first American car to have “European ride.” While, the handling was good, it was not quite in the same league as a Mercedes, in particular on rough roads where its leaf spring axle will hop about. Nonetheless, the point is, this suspension setup was a massive improvement over anything previously offered by the Big Three.
The Nova competed in the 1975 LASD test against the 401 powered AMC Matador and the 360 Powered Plymouth Fury. While acceleration wasn’t the quickest, it handily out braked and out handled the larger police cars. The Nova was also the most fuel efficient. The Nova was declared the overall winner and the LASD recommended that one-third of its 1975 fleet become Nova 9C1s. This was the beginning of the Nova becoming one of the most popular police cars for urban police departments.
That brings us to this MT article on the “Super Nova.” The Nova 9C1 was a hidden gem during the dark ages of the mid-1970s and MT knew it. Those looking for a true driver’s car in the 1970s from the Big Three were pretty limited. Those in the know could spec out an American BMW for a fraction of the price of the real thing. Of course, the Nova didn’t have the European cachet. And let’s also hope the buyer had no aspirations for a nice high quality interior, because the Nova couldn’t even compete with the Ford, let alone the Germans. Nonetheless, a true driving enthusiast could easily be satisfied with this little Nova despite its other shortcomings, if one followed the option check boxes that MT set out.
The Nova 9C1 continued in production until 1978, with a few changes occurring along the way. In 1976, the 9C1 package was also available on the 2-door Nova, and a new special police rear seat option for the 4-doors gave improved knee room and easier entry and exit. It continued to be the top performer on the LASD police tests, and in fact became the exclusive police car for LASD for 1976, 1977 and 1978. By 1978 though, other cars were catching up to the Nova. Chevrolet had its new downsized Impala, which was closing the gap between the former leviathan police cars and the compact Nova. While the 1977 Impala 9C1 wasn’t a game changer out of the gate, its performance was fairly close to the Nova. It also had fuel economy that was drastically improved over previous large police cars. Chrysler was also making a more competitive compact police car with the 360 powered Volare and Aspen. These Mopars performed and scored close to the Nova. Like Chevrolet’s B-body, these Mopars wouldn’t come into their own until the 1980s when they evolved into the M-body Dodge Diplomat and Plymouth Fury.
By 1979, the Nova 9C1 was gone, replaced by the new downsized A-body Malibu. While also a successful police car that became the LASDs next police car of choice, it certainly wasn’t the game changer the Nova 9C1 had been. Before the Nova, the vast majority of police cars were large cars that guzzled gas, and often didn’t have the brakes or handling to match their powerful engines. The Nova was arguably the best police package of the 1970s and it resulted in the LASD and many other police departments moving to smaller, more fuel efficient police cars.
The special rear seat option for Nova 9C1 created more room.
And so, while Chevrolet was revolutionizing the police car market, where was Ford? They were pumping out as many Falcon Broughams Granadas they could make, and handily beating the Nova in that sales race. However, a bunch of sizzle on an antiquated chassis does not make a good police car. Ford never offered any police package on the Granada, nevertheless, it didn’t seem like Ford had intention to take the compact police car market seriously. In fact, Ford didn’t offer any sort of compact police car until 1977 when it introduced a police package on the Maverick.
The police Maverick, which shared its same basic chassis design with the Granada, was far from a successful. Unlike Chevrolet who took the time to engineer a complete package for police duty, the Maverick was basically beefed up with the most heavy-duty items for the parts bin. It included heavy duty cooling, suspension, alternator, battery, and seat fabric. Ford reinforced the ancient Falcon chassis to withstand the police duty, knowing it wasn’t up to the task. Yet even with all of this, Ford still warned that the Maverick wasn’t suited for pursuit work, and was only intended for suburban assignments. The NYPD bought numerous Mavericks as detective units, and the Maverick couldn’t even handle that duty. They were nose heavy with a light rear end and had no limited slip option. This made it a car that suffered from poor traction and terrible handling. The cars were so bad, that the NYPD actually returned the cars to the dealership and demanded their money back. Ford cancelled the police Maverick before the end of 1977 model year.
Clearly, the old Falcon chassis was not up to police duty so Ford quickly replaced it with the much more competent Fox-body Fairmont. Despite this new modern chassis design and Fords extensive experience in the police market, the Fairmont police car was a half-baked effort that was a bust, unable to compete with Chevrolet’s offerings. The Fox body would eventually see success as a police car, most notably as the Mustang purist cars, but also later as the LTD in the mid-1980s. Even then though, the LTD wasn’t a well-balanced package, having woefully in adequate brakes.
So while Ford may have been cleaning up selling the sizzle of the Granada, Chevrolet was revolutionizing the police car market. The Nova 9C1 first of Chevrolet’s specialized police cars and unlike past Chevrolet police cars, it was a highly tuned package specially engineered for police duty. It was the beginning of Chevrolet’s future success with police vehicles that eventually allowed Chevrolet to become the leader in police vehicles during the 1980s, overtaking Chrysler products from their long reign at the top. Chevrolet would remain at the top until 1996, when the last Caprice 9C1 rolled off the line.
Images of tough looking detectives rolling up at Ford dealer with screeching tires and then throwing the keys to the fleet sales manager
. Who would be brave enough to argue. Seams Ford just couldn’t get the police market right.. 69 Mercury Montego with manual steering any one.MOPAR the 81 St Regis that couldn’t break 100mph.
I don’t know about the 1981 Dodge St. Regis (my department skipped that year) but the 1980 I drove on duty could get past 100… barely, at 102 on the calibrated speedometer. It had a 318 four-barrel. The 1979 had a 360 instead and was a decent performer, though my own favorite was the 1978 Plymouth Volaré with a 360. The R-body Mopars, which we added on to the California Highway Patrol’s order, were roomier and more comfortable than the Nova and wound up being more durable than the Novas that our neighboring agencies bought to LASD specs. By 1982, though, all of the state, local and county police cars were Dodge Diplomats.
Those were dark times, performancewise. Some agencies in CA removed the mufflers from their 318 R-bodies to gain a fraction better acceleration (or at least make the cars sound tougher). Difficult to imagine anything but the chassis of an R-body being more durable than a Nova, but you were there, so I believe you.
Removing the muffler from the 1980 Dodge St. Regis and Plymouth Gran Fury with the “pursuit” 318 4 barrel was a modification approved by the State. The CHP said it did add a tiny bit of performance and that the cars would still meet noise regulations, but I wonder whether that first was a claim made by the CHP to State officials over a cup of coffee and a donut!
My Chief and his brother were car guys. They had already removed the muffler. Also the first-gear lockout, a stamped metal piece that they threw under the passenger seat in case anybody wanted to put it back!
In the ’79-94 Sanow/Bellah police car book they did a bunch of things to make it run 117 mph on a level road. The actual speed of the slick-top ones was 114 mph. They even took off the air cleaner lid and/or installed upside down.
A full R-body in good shape would run 105-107 on a level road.
The R-bodies were obviously roomier than a Nova. They were fullsize cruisers in a different class all together, and would have competed with the Chevrolet Impala and Ford LTD. The M-body Chryslers did see much success in the early 1980s, but much of this was related to cost. By this time the Chevrolet, Ford and Mopar fullsize cruisers all performed pretty close to the same, but the Mopars were considerably cheaper. So why buy the more expensive car? Even the LASD, who pretty much used Chevrolet exclusively after 1976, used M-bodies in 1982. Of course the M-bodies had there own issues, with constant problems with torsion sag, and K-member failures that would lead to handling, braking and tire wear issues.
I think there was an issue with some departments? (LASD or CHP?) wanting their engines 350 cid or bigger, and WB of 114” or longer. The 318s and 112.7′ of the M-bodies were too small.
But for departments wanting JUST price, getting a 7/8-size police car (Dippy/GF) at 20% (?) cheaper prices than the Ford/Chevy options was good enough. And if you have to buy TONS of them (20-30 or more) than it makes sense…
Ford may not have gotten the compact police market right, but they did build decent police cars during this time. Ford’s full-size and intermediate sized police cars through the 1970s were pretty comprehensive packages, in particular the “Interceptor” packages. The Interceptor packages typically included the 429 or 460 PI engine which had a number of hi-po and durability upgrades, extra coolers, the stiffest suspensions with the biggest sway bars and heavy duty brakes. However, Ford wasn’t able to see that the police car market was shifting towards smaller more efficient cruisers which helped allow Chevrolet steal much of the market share. Notice in the 1974 MT test of compact police cars there wasn’t one Ford? Ford did eventually build a pretty good compact cruiser with the Fox-body LTDs but they still had undersized brakes.
My hometown switched to these Novas from a longtime Mopar base, mostly Satellites at the time, if I recall correctly. What was most distinctive to me were the wide-looking rims. All of a sudden, the cops were driving something that looked like it could go around corners. Ironically, the local regional park rangers, whose beat Including some wonderful twisty canyon roads, were stuck with the bigger old school patrol cars for a long time.
Apparently the LASD was not offered the Volare/Aspen E58 360-4, which had 220 hp in 1978. Did California actually use police cars that complied with emissions laws? the E58 offered to other police departments didn’t even comply with Federal requirements. It was also the engine used the L’il Red Express Truck without emissions controls for 1978, making it one of the fastest passenger vehicles offered to the US public that year. The 1979s were slower and cleaner.
The Malibu 9C1 that was a successor to the Nova 9C1, even if its name had been attached to a larger car when the Nova was offered, was praised extensively by Car and Driver relative to the civilian models it was based on. They detailed how one might find a Chevrolet fleet dealer who would be able to order one for a private buyer, provided they were to wait for Chevrolet to schedule a production batch for larger customers. The one caveat was that the civilian 9C1 would have a 305 ci engine instead of the 350-4 used in the police issue model. Putting 150 hp in the hands of the public in a 3,500 pound car would have been downright irresponsible!
Police cars in California had to be emission compliant. I make mention of that in the article, where I said GM specially designed all Nova 9C1s to meet CA emissions. This is why the R-bodies in California got stuck with 318s.
I have driven several GM A/G-bodies with 305 engines. They performed fine for their times, despite their 150ish hp. Early 80s Malibu 9C1s had 305s and they performed as well as the fullsize cruisers with the 350/351/318 of that same time.
There must have been some sort of exemption here in Canada, Vince. All the Impala 9C1 we got from the RCMP all had a 350, dual exhaust and air pump and no cat. The cars ran really well on that set-up.
I have driven the 9C1 with the 305. In most conditions, it felt just as fast as the 350 and used 20% less fuel doing so.
Len, I am not entirely sure what the laws were in Canada for law enforcement cars and emissions, but it does seem they were exempt to some degree for a number of years. Like I also mentioned in Daniel’s catalytic converter post the other day, Canada’s vehicle emission laws, for all cars, were considerably more lax than the US prior to 1988. The Caprice cruisers I worked on were later 80’s models with the LO5 350s. These had single exhaust and catalytic converters, but they were still fast for the times (they dominated MSP tests). I almost bought an ex-MTO Cruiser with the LO5 but ended up passing it because of what I deemed had too much rust. I am kicking myself for not buying it years later, as it really wasn’t anything that bad. Great story you posted below on the Nova 9C1 too!
One thing I noticed with the LM1s over the years–the ’77-79s were FASTER (117 mph) than the ’82s (107 mph). Even though they all had 165-170 hp. The ’81 was 114 mph, the ’82 was 107 mph, and the ’83 was back up to 115 mph.
Any ideas as to why the ’82 Chevies were slower than the others? Same 4-bbl. Rochester carb.
If I recall correctly, the MT article was called “You’ve Got the Wrong Car, Officer!”. When I first read it I was rooting for the antiquated Mopars (which couldn’t keep their end of the bargain in terms of handling, ergonomics, or stopping) and the Volvo (good car, too costly).
Fun post!
Good memory Daniel, and I am glad you enjoyed the post.
Good stuff, Vince. That Nova was a well turned out car.
The 1974 test is interesting. The 4 point difference between the Nova and Dart is swamped by the 8 point difference in the “Communications” category. Depending on what was evaluated under communications, the Dart may still have won on purely automotive terms.
Despite the points total, the test shows that while the Dodge is clearly a faster car, the Nova has better handling, better braking, and better fuel economy. So even if the communication category is nixed, the Dart still is not as well balanced as the Nova. Christy and the LASD were coming to the realization that a good police car is more than just all out performance, which is why they swooned all over the Nova.
Little late to the party. What blows my mind as much now as then, as to the performance of that Volvo. My 16 year old self always saw Volvos as slow cars. I know it’s injected, but it’s still a 3 liter pushrod six again much bigger V8s.
I agree the Volvo 164E was very impressive in this test. The Nova was quicker at accelerating at the lower speeds, but the lighter Volvo pulled harder at the high speed acceleration. Some of this is likely due to the power delivery of each engine. The Volvo was also able to just beat the Nova through the quarter mile. Handling and braking between the two cars were very close. Volvo’s experience in building police cars shows through on this test. Overall, they were very closely matched.
Interestingly it seems that the 1974 Nova performed relatively poorly in terms of acceleration compared to the 1975 car, which had the weaker LM1 engine with more restrictive exhaust. Yet the LM1 hit 60 mph in 9.0 secs, considerably quicker than the ’74. While the ’75 seems to lose some of it’s edge at higher speeds, it still is quicker than the ’74 and it also has better handling and braking. But the ’75 Nova still loses out to that ’74 Volvo at the higher speeds.
This same thing happened years later. In the Michigan State Police tests, they included a Volvo 850T in 1996 and 1997. In 1996 the car performed okay, easily beating the 4.6L CVPI, but was considerably slower than the Caprice 9C1. However, 1997 was a different story. Despite the Volvo being the same car on paper, for 1997 it performed much stronger. It was pretty darn close to the 1996 Caprice times, with the Caprice having the advantage at lower speeds, and the Volvo at the higher speeds.
In the town of Warr Acres, Oklahoma where I grew up, the police department had 3 or 4 of these 9C1 Nova’s. They were pretty quick, and I remember when they would set up radar on the street a couple houses down from where a friend of mine lived, you could plainly hear the Nova bark consistent 2nd gear scratches as the officer speed off to apprehend his target.
I read that exact MT article and I drooled all over the Nova 9C1.
Many here would know my family was in the (awful) taxi business. Dad came across a Nova 9C1 for taxi duty. Even as a teenager, I warned Dad that this was not a good car for taxi use.
I had one good drive in it, over the mountainous Malahat, on the way to Victoria. It was the best handling and fastest car I had ever driven. The low end torque of the LM 1 made the car feel much faster than it was. However, in 1978 a 0-60 time of 10 seconds was considered quite good. Heck, a 390 Ford from 1966 was no faster and drank a lot more fuel.
Remember I told Dad it was a bad idea to buy a Nova 9C1 for taxi use? The car was totaled on its second shift. The driver gunned it at a light, lost control and hit a post.
Then it was an ex-9C1. I do recall we kept the engine and transmission.
GM should’ve slipped some of the departments who’d been using these a few Citation prototypes as free loaners, get some heavy-duty real world use before unleashing them on the public. Maybe things would’ve gone better if they had.
When you asked about doing a Vintage Review of this car, I assumed the article reprint and a bit of commentary. I should have known better. 🙂
This is now the definitive article on the subject!
Thanks Paul. I thought the review played off nicely off your article the Nova and Granada, highlighting the Nova’s attributes. However, I wanted to expand a bit more than the MT article covered to explain the history of the Nova 9C1 as I think the story both interesting and significant.
Great job Vince, thank you!
A classic curbside classic!
The NYPD had a few Novas. Most NYPD police cars were Plymouth Furies in the late 1970s.
Out in Suffolk County they had the mid-size Mopars also, but in the late 1970s they started going to Dodge Aspens, and by the mid 1980s, Long Island and NYPD seemed to be all Plymouth Fury or Dodge (both of them updates of the Aspen/Volare).
The subframe pics were a great visual.
Incidentally, in “Fort Apache, the Bronx”, Paul Newman drives a 75-78 Nova sedan, base car.
Actually the NYPD had the 1976 Pontiac Venturas not the Novas AFAIK.
Sigh, I wish I could buy a NEW Nova.
I was subscribing to MT at that time and remember that article well. As a 14 year old it sounded great…however, it doesn’t surprise me a bit as an adult that the Grenada way outsold the Nova…handling is way, way overrated for anyone who isn’t a weekend racer. Cush and comfort is much more useful in normal driving. It is only pushed now because with the downsizing and global car designing rather than designing a car for smooth American roads, handling is what they can do.
Smooth American roads… yes, another quaint reminder of a bygone era.
No such thing in Michigan
On the prairies, full sized cars were still favored by the RCMP. In Sask, they were always a mix of Ford, Chevy, Dodge-Plymouth and the odd Pontiac.
I saw one 4-door Nova in RCMP livery, never saw it again. I assume it was some type
of test vehicle. The Nova would have been better suited for the west coast.
However, the drug squad did use 2-door Nova 9C1s. They were easy to spot even without the disguise antenna on the passenger front fender. Being savvy car guys, we all knew no normal GM car had an external antenna back then.
They had that hunkered-down fat-tired look that was referenced in the above article. The 2-door Novas gave way to 2-door Malibus, which were even easier to spot thanks to the dual exhaust.
There’s an article about a guy who has the original ’74 Nova 9C1 somewhere; he takes it to shows. He even has documentation of him meeting with others from LASD and Fountain Valley PD (11 prototypes).
https://www.stevesnovasite.com/threads/1974-nova-9c1-cop-car-only-survivor-of-17-built.635105/
I’ve owned a couple of Novas in my life – the 2nd one was a 1973 2-dr hatch, not an SS, but underneath I ordered ALL of the good stuff…..3.42 & G80 “trailer ratio”, F41 suspension, disc brakes, HD cooling etc. Had the 7″ wheels, 350-2v. TH350, which I put a shift kit in. Loved the car, but rust came way too soon around the hatch & tail panel. Traded for a 77 Caprice as our sons got older & bigger. But my BEST ever buy, which I’m still driving for nearly 10 years and over 100K miles, is a 2011 Caprice PPV 9C3 “detective” model. LS power, 6-speed auto, every comfort, carpet, and HD stuff where it counts. Bought the car “used” from a dealer in Atlanta that wanted out of the fleet/Law Enforcement market. It had 23 miles on it when I test drove it!
Hi Vince and all, great article with fantastic details about the Nova 9C1 history. I own four original Nova 9C1’s, more recently I purchased the 1978 Black 2 Door Coupe with the 9C1 package (this car was a winner at the 2014 Nova Nationals and has comprehensive original documentation). As of this post (March 17 2024) I’m having one of my 9C1’s restored by “Three Rivers Wrench” on YouTube if anyone is interested in checking that out. It is an original Los Angeles County 9C1. Lastly, I lead up the Facebook group “Nova 9C1 Police Cars” and invite anyone to join and see all the information and vintage photos there. Thank you!