Holiday L78 Nova Sale...Back Again!

[Damien]

Great story, Tom [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif[/img]

[WILMASBOYL78]

A little more history and info on this car...here is how it looked when we purchased it.



Some pics of the &quot;techy&quot; stuff...original underhood shot.



cowl tag...


engine bay as found...


291 heads...


photos from the 2004 Nova Nationals...


a few more from the 2004 Nats..


Gold Class Certification...


Front cover of Nova Times..


The boring numbers stuff...

Nova Info…The Marine Corps Nova

1970 SS 396 L78 Fathom Blue....402/375hp
M-21 close ratio Muncie trans P0B13 w/vin
3.55 12 bolt posi rear CBT 0223G 2 E
Black vinyl top...correct Levant material used
Deluxe interior...new carpet, seat belts, etc
Bucket seats....completely restored...inside/out
Console with gauges…6,000 rpm tach
AM push button radio...originally had a rear speaker ( I currently have one/not installed)
14 x 7 steel wheels...pained body color
E 70 x 14 white line wide ovals...repro Firestones w/matching spare
CE warranty replacement block...#3999290 dated E2572 4 bolt main hi-perf
291 heads dated early Feb/70...both dated the same 2/8/70
569 intake manifold
Correct TCS system
Correct Gardner exhaust system....deep tone system
Correct smog system from Bill Hodel....correct dated pump, check valves, new hoses/tubes, etc.
All under hood dated components are correct including:
837 alternator....9F17
811 water pump
2000 distributor....restored by Jerry McNeish dated jan. 8/70
4557 carburetor....show quality resto...dated Dec/69
660 t/stat housing
5 blade fan
Correct 3 core radiator w/ZD tag
293 coil
Original deep groove pulleys...no repros
I think the starter has the wrong date, but I have a correct dated 418 for the car
Brake booster was replaced w/reproduction...I have a dated original
Paint marks, spring tags, shock labels, etc…all done to original specs.
Almost all trim on the car is restored original or NOS replacement
T-3 headlites
Spiral shocks
All original body panels
All new dated glass
All new correct springs

Best In Show Nova Nationals 2004 in Atlanta….appeared at GM Carlisle Original Big Block display 2006, York US 30 Muscle car madness 2005, 2006….Cover feature car in Nova Times…work done by Wayne Bushey at NNN.

That's enough...wilma [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[SuperNovaSS]

Tom,

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. Any history on the gold and red cars? I would love to hear if you have a chance.


Happy new year,

Jason

[1970Bluel78]

Looks exactley like my old Nova. I too bought it from a guy in Brooklyn around 1973

[WILMASBOYL78]

Found a few more tidbits for the Marine Corps car....working on some stuff for the other two.

Here is a pic of ZD radiator tag, original clip for hose and HH spring tag


Some photos from the restoration...





Wayne Bushey delivered the car to our home in New York...Karen showing off [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/[/img]

[WILMASBOYL78]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SuperNovaSS</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Tom,

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. Any history on the gold and red cars? I would love to hear if you have a chance.


Happy new year,

Jason </div></div>

Jason...here is some more history...let's start with the Autumn Gold TH400 car.

I bought this car back in April of 2004 (almost 10 years ago) from another SYC member. The driveline was out of the car at the time...lots of parts in boxes and in the trunk. Very solid original car with great documentation...the car had an interesting history. If I remember the story correctly...the first owner ordered this car sometime in the early summer of 1970 from Reedman Chevrolet in Langhorne, PA and it was delivered August 5th, 1970. That is pretty late for a 1970 model year car...and while I'm not positive, it was probably one of the last L78 cars ever produced. All of the dated parts and cowl tag point to a first week of July assembly date. Here is how the car looked when I bought it...note the vintage McCreary tires...G60's on the front..and J60's on the rear.

***by the way...those 454 emblems on the fenders were installed by the original owner...seems he wanted a little more under the hood, so he installed an LS6 and gave the L78 a breather...that must have been some combo on street back then...all that power in a Nova [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/burnout.gif[/img]








The original core support and front end were vey solid...49k on the odometer...undercarriage had some surface rust...original F41 sway bar was intact...car had a Day-2 cover on the rear, air shocks and a trailer hitch!! I was told the guy towed a snowmobile trailer with this car...don't see that everyday.. an L78 and a sled [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif[/img]

The trunk was solid and the interior had a huge 8 track player w/FM convertor insert...the inside was a little funky, but overall in pretty good shape. I have since recovered seats, added a repro rug, removed the 8 track and cleaned things up.









Next post I'll get into some of the documentation and engine work I performed....wilma

[WILMASBOYL78]

Here is a little more info on the Gold car....documentation is extensive, POP, Bill of Sale, window sticker, PDI sheet, owners manual, copy of original title and registration and lots more.



The engine had been gone thru at some point, but I decided to have my shop check it out and take care of any issues. The motor turned out great...



Here is the dyno sheet...pretty impressive figures...434/torque...431/horsepower



This car was a highly optioned vehicle...19 factory options! Including the one year only Aux. lighting pkg that had the &quot;wiper fluid monitor&quot;






Cowl tag...



CTY code w/vin on the engine pad...



The motor looks right at home considering it's coming up on it's 44th Birthday [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif[/img]



There are lots more photos and details available if you are interested...just ask.

wilma

[SuperNovaSS]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

Jason

[WILMASBOYL78]

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 &quot;keep it forever&quot;.. 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

[bergy]

Thanks for posting the history of these great cars!