Well, I'm finally getting around to the Canadian delivered red L78...this car has a real interesting story. The car is truly the essence of a pure muscle car...no fancy options, bench seat, rubber floor mats, 4 speed, steel wheels with dog dish caps and a solid lifter big block under the hood.
I actually followed this car for several years before I was able to purchase it in 2004...but, before we talk about all that, lets travel back in time about 44 years to Dick Irwin Chevrolet-Oldsmobile in North Vancouver, BC. From what I have been able to learn the car was probably ordered as a stock unit by the dealership. The Fisher Body Build Sheet shows an assembly date of Dec. 23rd, 1969..with car being shipped on January 2nd, 1970. This info came from some of the extensive documentation we have for this rare car.
The car was prepped by the shop at Dick Irwin on January 9th, 1970..note the CKO code on the PDI sheet
The dealership applied a stock number to every vehicle they had...it was written with some kind of indelible ink on the firewall...C2353
The car was purchased by John Walker Beggs on January 10th, 1970...he traded a 64 Acadian convertible for the $4300 Nova...they gave him $606 for his old car...he put down a $10 deposit and financed the rest..try that today [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img] **these figures are in Canadian dollars
Here is a photo of Beggs when the car was new... note the antenna on the fender...not sure how that came about [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img] he also appears to have added some hood latches...
Now we move onto Mrs. Beggs...from what I have been told she was not a fan of the 4 speed and clutch and lack of power steering...and since we all like to keep our ladies happy..Mr. Beggs did some modifications. I am told he added power steering and replaced the factory 4 speed with a TH400 tranny to keep the lady of the house happy [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img] you can see the power steering pump in the earlier pictures. **the vacuum fitting on the intake manifold still has the outlet for connecting a line for the automatic..it is obviously blocked off now.
there is something interesting in this photo..the steel wheels almost appear to be black..not sure if they came that way or the original owner painted them....I've had discussions with other Nova folks about cars that came with black wheels..maybe the red doesn't show up in the photo??...hard to know for sure after 44 years.
For some reason in 1971 Beggs decided to get documentation from GM of Canada on his car...the info included the microfiche shown earlier along with a letter and hand written list of options.
So, now we move forward about 20 years to the time when the car finally changes hands...for the first time! It seems that a fellow named Frank Vanveen had know of this car since 1976 after responding to an local ad for some parts for sale. He tried to buy the car, but Beggs was going to "keep it forever".. Mr. Beggs finally gave in and Frank bought the car in April of 1990. Talk about persistence!! I believe that Mr. Vanveen's father may have worked at the dealership when the car was sold new...here is a photo of the car when Frank brought it home on April 14th, 1990. **note the silver painted wheels, blacked out rockers and hood latches.
The restoration process started shortly after arrival...here are some of the parts being worked on and Frank posing with his prized red L78
Frank also sent in for the GM of Canada paperwork..
The restoration was completed in 1993 and Frank made his debut at Super Chevy Sunday show
Frank owned the car until the early 90's and it was featured in an issue of Canadian Classics and Performance in June 2003...shortly after he sold it.
Well..the car ended up going to someone in Washington State for a short time and then to a fellow in California...and finally to Joe Grom at Chevy 2 Only. I bought the car from Joe in early 2004... it is a really neat muscle car and turns heads with that red paint. We took it to the Rhinebeck Car Show a few years back and won Best in Class...here is the car on display in the winner's area.
As you know from reading the earlier threads we recently installed the correct 731 plain jane black vinyl seats...these were missing from the original restoration.
So...there you have the story of the Red Nova...maybe you have room in your garage to carry on the story [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img] ...wilma
