1970 Canadian L78 Nova..

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

RE: 1970 Canadian L78 Nova..

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

Original owner John Beggs...

POP

Canadian Paperwork

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Oh wow, traded in a 64 Acadian convert....

StriperSS · Poncho Master!

I remember going to that dealer in February when the 70 Camaro and Corvette were unveiled. They had lots of muscle laying around then.

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Was a radio standard equipment? I see it has an antenna but no radio listed. I would have thought it would be an extra cost option?

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

Carl Stevenson wrote:
Was a radio standard equipment? I see it has an antenna but no radio listed. I would have thought it would be an extra cost option?

If you look at the sales order you will note it says.."add clock and radio"

Not sure if the windshield antenna was standard if the vehicle had no radio...that would explain the fender mounted unit..?? Car now has newer windhshield with built in antenna....reception is so-so blankstare

They also added a rear defogger at some point..must have been done at the dealership..it has the factory switch and correct unit in the package tray.

wilma

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Ah, I see that now that you mention it. It must have been right around then they went to windshield antennas?

Yes, I think on Canadian cars an accessory defogger may not have been all that unusual. My 66 Pontiac has one, all look correct but not on the original paperwork at all.

69 Nova SS · Addicted!

My Nova was canadian sold, and has no rear defogger at all. It makes me wonder why canadian sold cars didn't have defoggers as standard equipment. Less weight I guess = go faster biggrin

StriperSS · Poncho Master!

Canadian cars were more stripped than US cars, and I think it was because we were a thriftier nation. None of my dads cars were anything special, and options were a waste of money in his opinion.

Taylor55 · Poncho Master!

There are 2 1970 Nova SS cars in Timmins a maroon one with a turbo 400 and a blue one with a 4 speed. Both cars have had ground up restorations and both now have 427 engines. The cars are owned by brothers and have been in the family for years. I went to pick up the maroon one when it was purchased in Toronto from a police officers son in early 70's. The son was not to happy about selling it as his dad forced the sale. Back then the car only had 18,000 miles and still has less than 30,000 now.

Al

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

Canadian Poncho wrote:
Oh, there are lots with that kind of money. I have a customer with a Viper, V10 Ram, Long Horn Ram ($80k) plus many other cars and he just ordered a Yellowjacket SRT Challenger..

It must be nice..... probably a firefighter or policeman from London

65 SD L79 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Tom, what do you know about smog on these cars? Seems the BB to SB , Auto to 4speed and American to Canadian cars did and did not have smog confuse

-- Edited by 70 SS ACADIAN on Wednesday 14th of March 2012 08:05:09 PM

65 SD L79 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

WILMASBOYL78 wrote:
We have two 1970 TH400 L78 Novas in our stable...I understand many folks prefer the 4 speeds...but, if you've never driven the TH400 version, you are missing something big. The transmissions are HD, hi-shift point units with 6 lug convertors and special internals...you literally can't break them.
The 1968 L78 Nova was the first GM vehicle to have the TH400 mated to a solid lifter motor...the 50 Gibb COPO Novas were a terror with that setup. The combo is very reliable since all you have to do is leave it in "D"..the tranny does all the work for you. The trans. will up-shift at approximately 6200 rpms and in some models as high as 6800 rpms on its own...
You rarely see a warranty motor in an automatic L78 car...since there is no manual shifting, over revs and missed shifts are eliminated.
Here are some photos of our TH400 L78's...the black one is setup with lots of Day 2 goodies and we run it at the drags at least once a year. The gold car is a former street racer from north Philly that is a survivor vehicle...ps...the gold car is for sale

yes, I have driven a few automatics. A friend had a 70 that was only a couple of years old and my brother had a 69. Both were colum shift power nothing cars. Just rather have a 4 speed. When I went looking for a 69 Vett all the 4 speed cars were hammered and the autos in great shape. I bought a 350 4spd car for the same money I could have got a 427 400hp Auto in mint shape

70 nova.jpg

gparis7 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Love these BB Novas.

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

70 SS ACADIAN wrote:
Tom, what do you know about smog on these cars? Seems the BB to SB , Auto to 4speed and American to Canadian cars did and did not have smog

-- Edited by 70 SS ACADIAN on Wednesday 14th of March 2012 08:05:09 PM

As far as I know, all of the solid lifter hi-po cars had smog starting in 1968 in the US (except CA, which started earlier)....the 68 & 69 4 speed cars, including the lower performance L-34 and L48 cars also had smog....some automatic cars had smog as well...in 1970 the smog was only on the hi-po stuff, except for CA...some folks tell me that in 1968 the Cdn. cars did not have the smog, but by 69 they did...smog was not listed as an option..so original owner/survivor cars are the only source for the answers...some of the user groups have collected their own info from known cars....factory assembly manuals amy provide some clues, but they are not always 100% correct....hope this helps.

wilma

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

Did some cleanup on the Red Canadian today...she is now in my shop for the new seat covers and detailing.

65post · Poncho Master!

Has anyone seen the 68 chevy 11 L/78 in the Canadian trader?

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

65post wrote:
Has anyone seen the 68 chevy 11 L/78 in the Canadian trader?

Can you post a copy or link to the ad?? Thanks...

ps..a little more Dick Irwin stuff..

2drpost · Uber Guru

65post wrote:
Has anyone seen the 68 chevy 11 L/78 in the Canadian trader?

huh? there's a '68 L79....

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Chevrolet/Nova/WINNIPEG/Manitoba/8_11882205_/

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

Been busy with the red car...seats are out being done. We did a full detail on the car today...cleaned her from front to back. I found an interesting thing on the exhaut system...all of the hangers and clamps say "Canada" on them. I was going to replace the clamps with new shiney pieces..and decided not too. Thought you northern folks would like to see them "as is"...I may clean and paint them...but, I think they need to stay with the car.

wilma

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

A few more pics...keep in mind this car was restored about 20 years ago..I think it still looks great.

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

Last ones...

Elroy · Poncho Master!

real purdy ! Canadian muscle at its best !!

65post · Poncho Master!

69 belair wrote:
65post wrote:
Has anyone seen the 68 chevy 11 L/78 in the Canadian trader?
huh? there's a '68 L79....
http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Chevrolet/Nova/WINNIPEG/Manitoba/8_11882205_/

That is the one.Sorry getting on in years and the eyes are starting to go.....

WILMASBOYL78 · Veteran Member

Making progress on the new interior...got the seats back from the shop this week..they really came out nice. I hope to have them in tomorrow..more pics then.

wilma

-- Edited by WILMASBOYL78 on Sunday 22nd of April 2012 06:10:17 PM