The Chevrolet Nova’s economy car image should have made it the ultimate “sleeper,” a car that catches unsuspecting street racers by surprise by being faster than it looks. By the time Hot Rod Magazine got their hands on a Nova SS with a solid-lifter L78 396 for a drag test, however, the word had been out for quite some time.
Car and Driver found that out the hard way in their August 1968 issue, borrowing an L78 Nova with the intention of using it as a “sleeper” on the notorious Woodward Avenue in Detroit. In their words:
We weren’t on the Motor City streets 10 minutes before we began to suspect that the Chevy II wasn’t a sleeper after all…Several times in the course of making our way across town we found ourselves first at the light beside a mag-wheeled Super Car containing two or three young males. The reaction was always the same. All eyes instantly checked out the 396 beside the side marker light on the front fender. Then back to the rear wheels to see if we were running slicks. Finally a quick glance at the Chevy II’s driver to see what kind of a guy would drive such a serious car.
My introduction to the brutal L78 Nova was in this 1985 edition of Petersen’s Musclecar Classics, which I bought as an eight-year-old from a long razed mom-and-pop pharmacy not too far from my house. I still have it, although it’s a little worse for wear.
In it is a reprint of a 1969 Hot Rod Magazine drag test of an L78 Nova. It brings up a good point: none of Chevy’s sales materials listed a 396 option; you just had to know it was there, and as it turned out, plenty of people did. The article’s title, “13-Second Grocery Getter,” pokes a little fun at the fact that the car should be fairly innocuous, but clearly the word was out. Steve Kelly, the article’s author, said:
Chevrolet may not admit they build the engine to general audiences, but every informed hot rodder knows about it. NHRA knows about it too, and the combination Chevy II and 396 engine is stock in their book.
Here’s the specification page from the 1969 Nova sales brochure. Nope, no 396—the 300-horsepower 350 is wrongly labeled as the top engine option. Was Chevy trying to keep the combination quiet to keep the insurance folks from getting too nosy about the big-block Nova?
While Car Life was well-known for its trustworthy testing dynamic, running cars as they would have been delivered to new buyers, Hot Rod tested cars as a speed-demon kid might have the day they took delivery. They yanked power steering belts, adjusted tire pressures, power shifted (if the car was a manual), and sometimes mounted slicks. They weren’t above rejetting carburetors for conditions if they had the time and the jets. Where Car and Driver (whose own testing procedures seemed off-the-cuff at times) was able to eke out a 14.5-second quarter mile at 101.1 miles per hour, Hot Rod managed a best of 13.87 at 105.14.
Kelly did mention something that was also brought up in the Car and Driver road test: If you’re looking for a sleeper, the exhaust noise of the L78 alone would give you away. Kelly called it “a delightful resonance.” Car and Driver said that it was “a super low pitched rumble, sort of syncopated, that sets serious cars apart from Cadillacs and 6-cylinder stones.
One thing the Nova wasn’t good at was sipping fuel, obviously. Hot Rod was a little miffed that they didn’t get the 4.10:1 rear axle ratio they ordered (their test car has 3.55s), but they figured that “the 4.10 gear would have blown mileage figures out of reason.” As it stood with the 3.55s, their average was 9.94 miles per gallon.
Almost any road test highlights something we take for granted: new cars tend to be screwed together a little better than they used to be at the factory. Almost every period road test complains of wind leaks, water leaks, poor fit and finish, and rotten states of tune. The Nova seemed to be devoid of those issues except for a little too much noise from the engine fan, but Steve Kelly did complain about front seat legroom, a common issue in my experience on 1960s General Motors cars. He mentions that Fisher Body would be right in taking a common sense approach to seating, as Mustangs and Cougar owners could adjust their seats to almost touch the back seat, and that “that better idea isn’t licensed.”
One thing that many technical-minded folks might miss in a modern road test is the thorough specifications bar, which tells the reader everything from test weight to the diameter of the shocks’ pistons. The as-tested price of this none-too-lavish Nova was over $3,800 out the door, a not-insignificant amount for what Hot Rod labels (in a tongue-in-cheek manner, of course) a grocery getter, although they did mention that “it could have been down to $3,100 by forsaking power steering, radio, and a couple of other add-ons.” But would you want to?
Returning to the 3.55:1 gear in the back of Hot Rod’s test car: The Nova’s factory specifications show that it was the standard ratio (and the deepest one available). That does not mean, however, that more performance oriented gears weren’t available by special order; 1969 was an era where a buyer could usually spec out their car as they liked it.
While this 1968-model Chevy II Nova (the “Chevy II” moniker was dropped for 1969, by the way) has the 350-horsepower L34 396, the picture still shows us how much room Chevy left in the engine compartment for their big-block Rat Motor (I refuse in this case to call it a Rat Engine). Power front disc brakes were standard on the Nova SS, which takes up a little room on the driver’s side, but Chevy’s bolt-on front subframe was definitely a “better idea” for the muscle car era than were Ford’s shock towers, even if it meant that Chevy’s “compacts” would weigh more. The 396 was more than capable of dealing with the Hot Rod test car’s 3570-pound test weight.
Car and Driver gave the Nova’s appearance a backhanded compliment, saying that “it’s not too bad. It’s got the current swoopy GM lines with kind of a half-hearted fastback and what looks like too little front overhang. Something like a drag race funny car.” And that’s about the best way to put it. To me, the thing that Nova’s designers got right in 1968 was the stance—it had comparatively little front overhang combined with the period styling tradition of a generous rear overhang. It might not make sense on a six-cylinder base model, but when you have one of the hottest not-sleepers on the road, the drag car look is just right.
Related Reading
Drag Strip Classics: Dog Dish Afternoon, Part I–1969 Chevy Nova 396 and 1969 Plymouth GTX (by me)
I wonder if Hot Rod and the others have even tested back then the Yenko Nova with its 427ci V8 engine? https://www.hotrod.com/features/1969-yenko-427-chevy-nova-muscle-car
Summer of 1969 I went to Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove Wisconsin a few times. That is when I discovered these 396 Nova’s. They were plentiful and pretty much cleaned up. At that point I had never seen or heard of one.
I only recall seeing one more in the wild. SS350 was fairly common.
My neighbors, when they were dating back in the late ’60s, said they’d race from town to her house a little ways out in the “country.”
His car was a ’69 Trans Am Ram Air III with a four-speed, and hers was a ’68 Nova SS with a 350 four-speed. Pretty cool car couple back then.
I had no idea you could get a four cylinder Nova. That would have been a barn-burner.
My sister bought a new ’70 Nova and I went with her to the dealer to buy it. There was a 4 cylinder Nova in the showroom with a semi-automatic Powerglide transmission called the Torque Drive.
My dad bought a 64 nova with the 4 cyl/auto then bought a 71 Nova with the 6 cyl. I got my learners permit in the 71. Light green metalic. Nice car.
Great shots taken in the staging lanes of the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags in what must have been 2014 or so. We’d like to invite Aaron65 back this fall to find his next muse! You will not find a more interesting event ..
No need for the invite, Rhett…I’m a spectator almost every year. 🙂
Imagine running groceries with this? Go out for eggs, arrive home with an omelette.
This style Nova seemed omnipresent on local roads when I was a kid to the point they went from innocuous to invisible.
If I were car buying age back then I would’ve probably went for the Dart GTS 440, rare though they were.
Much enjoy the magazine ads that make your car run faster (Speed-O-Motive) or look faster (California Mustang).
Today, just using the wrong light bulb will void the warranty.
I was thinking the same thing about the ads; it’s too bad we don’t still have a “PAW automotive” for cheap engine parts and remanufactured heads, etc.
There were 2 of these around our local street scene, one of them was one of the very few cars to handily beat my well sorted out V-8 Vega. I was getting 13.30s at just over 100 mph with open headers and “strip” jetting and ignition curve in Spokane, so maybe knock off half a second and a couple mph in street trim. By the end of the quarter mile we had marked out on a (then) quiet country back road there was a full car length of daylight between us and he was pulling away fast. I was impressed. Cost me 100 bucks to find out though….
My buddy and I had a little side hustle building V-8 Vegas in basic form for maybe 1000 bucks, selling them for 1500 and financing our hot rod hobby. We decided to build our own big block Nova and see if we could make any money at it. Long story short, the car was a little faster but it cost a lot more so we only did one. Finding the parts to build a true L-78 was already difficult and expensive even in the early ’80s so we started with a basic 325 horse 396/TH400 and built from there. With a 3.73 axle we saw 12.90s at around 106. Since we were using a basic bench seat 2 door sedan with no hood scoop and nothing to indicate what was under the hood it was a decent sleeper. It didn’t take long for the locals to catch on, which made it easy to sell at a (small) profit but it was fun for a short time.
Years later I did acquire an L-78 long block but I never did anything with it and ended up selling it to a work mate. Made more money from that than all our V-8 Vegas put together!
As an old fart that lived through this fabulous era, this brings back memories. Working at a GM heavy truck dealership in Vancouver in1969, one of the techs purchased a bench seat Nova with this L78 engine and a 4 speed. Car was extremely quick, as was the ’69 Z28 belonging to an apprentice. The local A&W was populated with Roadrunners, a Hemi Coronet, Cutlass W31, and a few Darts and Swingers with the 340 which were all very quick.
Love this website.
Imagine what a dork you’d feel like after buying a brand new shaker clad 74 Ventura based GTO and getting absolutely obliterated at the stoplight by one of these 5 year old 396 Novas that looked basically identical.
Well, a 1974-model anything would get destroyed by a real 1969-model muscle car, except maybe a Super Duty Firebird. The Ventura GTO did pretty well for a 1974 model, but yeah, I don’t think the owner of a 396 Nova would even look twice at it in 1974.
Then, the owner of the 1974 GTO would do some later upgrades to create a “Phantom 1974 GTO 455”. 😉
I’m sure someone did. Or maybe they used a base Ventura and really messed with everybody until the word got out.
I still have my ’72 Nova I bought new in August of 1972. The stock 307 was ok,but within 8 months I’d added fuelie heads, a TRW TP151 cam and a Rochester fuel injection system. I could easily outrun any stock big block muscle car and most small block cars at the time. Next came a 4 speed (it was 3 on the tree), a 12 bolt and then in the summer of ’76 a 400 small block, a TH400 automatic and a device few if any knew about…….a turbocharger. Eventually the car got twin turbo’s and now it is in my shop being rebuilt again.
Very nice ;
I’m sure not overly practical for daily driving & grocery getting though .
I remember when these Novas were all the rage with the local Hot Rodders .
I loved my several earlier Novas, they were light and nimble and with the i6 they went just fine and outran many V8’s in the mountains .
-Nate
(The following comment is a combination of conjecture and bits and pieces I’ve garnered along the way.)
I believe that the 396 does not appear in the Nova brochure because you could not order the 396 in a “regular” Nova. You could only get the 396 in a Nova SS, which Chevrolet considered to be a distinct and separate model. The Nova SS *may* have had its own brochure, but I haven’t seen it.
At one time, I contended that the 1969 Nova had the widest spread of available engine displacements, from 153ci to 396ci. Many people corrected me by reminding me that the Nova range only offered engines from 153 to 350, because the Nova SS wasn’t the same as a Nova. Splitting hairs, maybe, but the facts (as Chevrolet sees them) remain the same.
The brochure page I posted mentions that the 300-horsepower 350 came in the Nova SS only (and wasn’t available in the base Nova), so Chevrolet addressed that part of it anyway.
Ah, okay, thanks. I obviously missed that part.
The SS was not a separate model; it was an optional package available on the Nova coupe. And the 396 engines were not in the brochure because Chevy did not want too much attention to the fact that they were offering this. This is all spelled out very clearly in the beginning of the actual review, that the L78 is not listed anywhere but if one asks nicely, Chevy will build one for you.
I’ve just experienced the CC effect.
Yesterday while stopped for fuel there was a bunch of cool old cars pulled in. One was a dark blue Nova with white stripes with Yenko S/C on them. And boy did that thing sound mean when it pulled out. Definitely no SBC. And now I read that a base 396 is how fast? Wow!
A friends family had a 1966 Malibu SS396. They could not keep the front end aligned and I don’t believe the car was driven especially hard. Their mechanic told them that the 396 was just too heavy for the front suspension and this was a common problem. I wonder if the same was true of the Novas?
I can’t imagine anything in the front end of a Malibu that would inherently go out of line unless it was a super lemon or someone didn’t tighten things down enough. The caster and camber are adjusted by shims, and the upper and lower control arm bushings are of a solid design. The steering linkage is straightforward.
The same design was used in Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, and Buicks, whose engines in some cases couldn’t have weighed any less than a big-block Chevy. Interesting, but we’ll never know why your friend’s family car did that.
Can’t imagine how heavy, cumbersome the front end would be. All that weight, all those cubic inches.
It’s such a good looker!
On the Nova’s factory specifications sheet above, note that the 396 is too large for the engine bay to accommodate air conditioning. Talk about “big block” V8.
I don’t think that had anything to do with the size of the engine compartment; AC wasn’t available with the L78 in any platform. I’m not sure about the 350-horsepower version though.
The April 1969 Nova price list says “air conditioning not available” for both 396 engines.
I wasn’t clear; I didn’t know if AC was available with other Chevrolets that had the 350-horsepower 396.
Oh, sorry, I missed the context. AC was available on the Chevelle SS 396 with the 350 hp L34 in 1969.
I wouldn’t say Chevrolet was all that quiet about 396 Novas; they had magazine advertising specifically for them:
Now picture a Falcon with a 427 in it. No boat anchor 390 out of a Galaxie. No offense but the 390 isn’t a performance engine in my book considering I have two FE engines.