í69 Yenko Nova Question

[Unreal]

I was in college in Pittsburgh in the late sixties. (HAIL TO PITT) I remember seeing ads for engines (and I think, wheels/tires) all the time. I just don't remember if they were sixes, small blocks or big blocks. I don't remember if they were short blocks, or entire engines. Must have been all that Duke Beer.

[Supercar_Kid]

Unreal, do you remember visiting any nearby Chevrolet dealers back in the day? Don Allen was (and still is) on the corner of Baum and Liberty in North Oakland/Bloomfield. They supposedly sold quite a few hi-perf Chevys back in the sixties, and still sell quite a few Corvettes. My father was also a student in Pittsburgh during this time and swears he recalls visiting Don Allen in '68 and seeing a whole showroom of what must have been specially ordered Hugger Orange Chevrolets. Camaro, Chevelle, Corvette, he claims there was even a Hugger Orange '68 Impala. Anyone else remember seeing any Hugger Orange cars during the '68 model year, or is this just a cloudy memory?

[JoeC]

is he sure it was Hugger Orange and not Omaha Orange? Omaha seemed to be a popular special order color in 68. Hugger has more of a red tint then Omaha

[Supercar_Kid]

Nope...he swears it was "Hugger." I've always thought perhaps he's remembering wrong, and they were really '69 cars that he saw in '68, but he says no. He was driving a brand new 68 Chevelle at the time so I know he knew what he was looking at. It's sort of funny because he said he hated the color when he first saw it, and it's since become one of his favorite Chevy colors, as it has with many Chevy enthusiasts. He claims to also remember when the '69 Camaro Pace Cars hit the showrooms and the new orange checked interior was enough to turn your stomach. Nowadays I can't think of anything more 60's than Hugger Orange houndstooth.

[Unreal]

Never hung out at Don Allen, but I remember it well. I was a Poncho guy at the time. A few years later, I went back for homecoming, and one of my fraternity brothers was the used car manager at Don Allen. I'll bet he saw a few supercars pass through his lot.
I posted a year or so ago about Pitt's road racer. The car showed up a couple of months later on Dreamcar Garage. I'd love to contact the current owner! Anyone know how?

[55chevy]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if a dealer would convert a car with 6 cyl vin because they may have legal problems with the insurance companys. The customer may try to get a 6 cly insurance policy on a hot rod V8 car. Insurance was a big problem in late 69-70s for young drivers of big block muscle cars

[/ QUOTE ] I always assumed that dealers ordered the L78 SS Novas to convert to 427s because it would've been the cheapest and easiest way to do it. Order the L78 package and you get all the heavy duty hardware on the car factory installed.. Swap in a short block, and bam.. SuperCar. ya think? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] It would've been a major booger to convert a 6 cyl car back then.

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