1969 Nova L78/L89 question

[kwhizz]

The Black 70 had 074 heads on it...….. And, there is a much easier way to tell a real L-89 Nova apart from the others..... LOL..... This is one of those you had to be there stories... while looking at the Black car back after it was completed at the Nova Nationals.... Legendary Motor cars in Canada built the car and the owner put it in for Judging...
The Judge (can't remember his name, but he is a expert in the 68-70 Nova world) went to the owner and told him it would probably be a good idea to take his car out of the Judging area as it probably wouldn't get 900 points, the owner pulled the car out and wasn't too Happy ( I don't think he was a real car guy anyway) and parked it in the Show area...… There was me and about 6 of the members here that were walking thru area looking at the cars (I had the Gold 70 L-89 Clone car there) …… we stopped to look at the Black car and were talking about the engine.... The owner was sitting behind the car and heard us...… He wasn't too happy and told us what is our problem.... All you have to do is look at the distributor cap..... It's Brown.... "Only L-89 cars came with Brown Caps"......LOL.... There'[s a lot more to the story but it would take pages to tell it all...… So......Just look at the Cap color...… End of Story !!!

[L78steve]

Was the Black 70 clearly a re-stamp? I realize it cant be real but how are they all so convinced its is? POP? Paper?

[kwhizz]

All the owner had was a POP He had a display board in his trunk with a picture of it..... LOL...…. GTO Don was with us that day..... He was looking at the picture of the POP and noticed the address on the POP was right down the street from where he lived..... He had never seen the car...… There's a lot more !!! Enough for now

[92646]

There is also the story of where the date coded 074 came from. L89 Novas have a special place in Ken's heart. He built the best L89 clone I have seen. It was better than the other Novas that were represented as real.

[70 Forest Green Zee]

Originally Posted by 92646

There is also the story of where the date coded 074 came from. L89 Novas have a special place in Ken's heart. He built the best L89 clone I have seen. It was better than the other Novas that were represented as real.

I agree, Ken's 70 Nova was one of the nicest Novas I've ever seen....been scratching my head ever since he sold that one as to why he'd ever let that one go. All of the cars he's ever built have been spectacular!

[m22mike]

I was there with Ken that day and when the guy said all L89's had the brown cap is when I walked away...
I will say this the car had a awesome black paint job, but 074 heads ??
Gosh, that's already been 10 years ago !
Mike

[iluv69s]

If I recall, the stamp on the 70 Nova looked really good according to some folks. ( But there are virtually almost undetectable restamps out there) But, Wasn’t part of the issue with the 70 car about GM never making open chamber pistons in 1970 for 074 heads?

If memory serves me!

[kwhizz]

Originally Posted by iluv69s

If I recall, the stamp on the 70 Nova looked really good according to some folks. ( But there are virtually almost undetectable restamps out there) But, Wasn’t part of the issue with the 70 car about GM never making open chamber pistons in 1970 for 074 heads?

If memory serves me!

Correct!

[Igosplut]

I remember years back when one of these claimed L89 70 Novas popped up there was a member here (don't remember the name) that had been a salesman at Scuncio back then, that said he tried multiple times to order aluminum head Novas for 1970, and Chevrolet would not build them.

[JoeC]

Bob Johnson was the hi po salesman at Scuncio in RI

there was a gofundme to help him out as he was/is having health issues

https://www.gofundme.com/tjkj522w