The small block Nova SS I recently bought was a pretty well known street car around the Cleveland area throughout the 70's and 80's. A few members here knew the car quite well and it was great hearing the anecdotes of the car running up against Hemi cars on the streets of Ohio back in the day. While not a 396 car, it was a small block car that was lightened with everything in the front end removed for weight loss. This included the inner fenders, firewall pad, complete heater core assembly, wipers and any vacuum lines with canister being shed. It then got a transplanted 327 with tunnel ram that was pretty stout. The car was tied together back then with vintage frame connectors, slapper bars and 8" slicks on Cragar's before the rear was outfit with 5:13 gears.
No wonder it was coined "A wickedly fast street car" back in the day. Here's a shot of it from back when the O/O built the car. Most of it survived intact and represents itself being well preserved today. As we speak it's getting it a minor makeover and drive train freshening.