[9C1Beater]

Jon, thanks for the advice...much appreciated. The car obviously had the hood repainted (and poorly) at some point during its time with the LASD, and it's the biggest drawback to its appearance. I have the money for a paint job, but I think it wouldn't generate much more interest (and it might actually generate less...it's a flip of a coin).

The engine is badly in need of a rebuild as it smokes for 10 minutes upon startup, then most of the smoke goes away except under full throttle applications (it still easily turns the tires over, but I don't want to damage the engine, so those are few and far between). The compression runs from 110-85, and I know the rings are shot. The car was built with an L48 (shown on the build sheet), but somewhere along the way it picked up the Z28 heads, a lumpier cam that sounds just like an L82's, and the beefy harmonic balancer. Harry said that Rick Mahoney was well known among the Chevy higher-ups for doing mods to the Zone Office cars, and thinks he had a buddy (service manager Bill Johnson) at Arrow Chevrolet (the LA dealership that Rick liked to have his cars delivered to...this car was delivered there), do some mods to the car to make it quicker...adding Z28 engine parts would've accomplished that task. California was very sticky about changes to engines due to its strict air quality standards (even back then), and installing a Z28 engine at the factory would not have been allowed (that engine was not certified for use in a Nova, and it would've been cost-prohibitive for GM to do so). The '70 Z28's LT1 was installed in Novas to create the Yenko Nova through the COPO ordering process, but that was no longer allowed by 1974. I think Rick found a way around it by having the parts installed at a Chevy dealership and then keeping quiet about it. His number one goal was to get the LASD (and other Socal law enforcement agencies) to buy Nova cop cars instead of the Dodge Coronets, Plymouth Satellites, and AMC Matadors they were used to buying (all powered by 400-401 cubic-inch engines...4-door muscle cars), and knew he needed something that would generate some thrills with the cops going on demonstration drives...what better way to do that than with a high-rpm Z engine?

It's a shame that the car doesn't generate more interest, but it's really just emerging from its 31 year slumber, and I have only had it to a couple of shows. Phil Borris at the SCW tent at Carlisle said it would probably be welcomed at the MCACN, and I will try to get it to Chicago for the 2019 show next Nov. Most Nova people don't really understand the historical significance of the car and only make comments about the seemingly incorrect parts on it (like its air cleaner), not realizing that it's a COPO and that's why its odd parts are there. It has received very few comments on here, probably due to its 4-doors (just a guess).

Best regards,
Alex Manz