In The Beginning

[Chevelle SS 396 L78]

Originally Posted by ZiggyL78

......
So after I sold the SS I went looking for a new ride When I was in high school I would always see this guy in a black 68 Nova waiting to pick up his girl friend. It was a black on black bench with a 4SPD. It had tinted glass, dog dish hub caps and the optional chrome package. But no SS option. It had a serious idle and I thought it had a built motor. Turns out the car was dead stock except he had pulled off the resonators added dumps and a Hurst shifter. Compared to the Camaro it sounded amazing! I asked the owner if it was for sale? He said he had just setup a For Sale Ad for the weekend. ALL RIGHT!!! I bought the car for $1800. Some of my buddies said I paid too much until they went for a ride! I would wait for for a passenger to start talking and then hit it. If they kept talking I guess they weren't impressed. Most people didn't keep talking in this car. They usually pushed back into the seat and said HOLLY ****. I'd power second & third and that really woke them up. Don't forget it was early 70s and a lot of guys had never been in something fast. Most of them thought that there Dad's 283 Impala was a rocket. "Ya man.It spins THE TIRE in the rain."EmojiEmoji

Boy does that bring back memories! Did you ever do the cash on the dash trick? I won so much money...put down a $5 or $10 and bet the passenger he couldn't grab it when I shot out of the hole! I never lost! HOLY****! was a common response! LOL!

'67 Chevelle SS 396 L78, 4-speed (M20), 4.10 Posi:

[Bill Pritchard]

That's some stance on that Nova! Great stories, keep 'em comin'.

[Mr.Nickey Nova]

Did it have the L79 327 by any chance??

[ZiggyL78]

Originally Posted by Mr.Nickey Nova

Did it have the L79 327 by any chance??

Yes. It was an original L79. I can't believe I left that out.

It had a cast iron intake with a Quadrajet. I am surprised on how quick it was. I can't remember for sure what gear it had. I'm thinking a 3:55 or 3:73 with a Muncie wide trans.
I do remember that it had no problems on the highway. Well at least till I started screwing with it . When I took it to the spring shop the guy asked me how high I wanted the car to sit. Now don't forget I was a squirrely young kid just starting out. I told him as high as possible. I wanted to put a big tire on it and I knew the Novas couldn't take much of a tire with the stock wheel well. 2 days later I go to pick the car up. Not high enough. Spring guy says they can't make it any higher with stock springs. OK. New springs. 1 day later he calls me. The car is too high! I can't get the driveshaft back in! Awww. Sounds perfect to me. Turns out a driveshaft from a 55 Chevy goes right in. Every abandoned 55, 56, and 57 Chevy lost a driveshaft that summer. Next I pull the stock motor and off to the machine shop. Cam, headers and some head work with an intake & carb. 4:56 gears were next. Right at that time the car was no longer fun to drive. I had a box of universals and caps in the trunk. The car would drop a universal or the driveshaft every time if I powered a gear. I got pretty good at changing universals on the shoulder. Easy install as I didn't need a jack! lol. We never figured out the problem and I sold the car. Obviously the pinion angle was off a mile after the new springs.

[CamaroNOS]

Man those are some wicked skinny but tall bias ply skins on the rear.

Paul

[ZiggyL78]

Originally Posted by CamaroNOS

Man those are some wicked skinny but tall bias ply skins on the rear.

Paul

Did you notice the rear white wheels? That and white headers were big at that time.

[gtomike1967]

Great stories. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming! :-)

[msclassiccars]

Thanks for sharing!

The days of a '69 SS 350 Camaro with an Endura front bumper just being another used car on the front of a dealer, I wish I was around for that.

[67BelAir427]

Great stories Ken !
I met Matt Avery at the Solid Lifter Showroom in 2019. He was writing that article on the Black Panthers and I put him in touch with a friend of mine Bernie Coffey who was a mechanic at the original Gorries in 67. Bernie was able to share with him some of the stories of the dealership back in the day. Bernie recalls that the dealership had a multilevel parking garage and that many mechanics would stay very late on a Friday night as customers came in for a super tune before street racing. he says he can still recall the sound of the cars in the parking garage with open headers on a Friday night.

[ZiggyL78]

Originally Posted by 67BelAir427

Great stories Ken !
I met Matt Avery at the Solid Lifter Showroom in 2019. He was writing that article on the Black Panthers and I put him in touch with a friend of mine Bernie Coffey who was a mechanic at the original Gorries in 67. Bernie was able to share with him some of the stories of the dealership back in the day. Bernie recalls that the dealership had a multilevel parking garage and that many mechanics would stay very late on a Friday night as customers came in for a super tune before street racing. he says he can still recall the sound of the cars in the parking garage with open headers on a Friday night.

Hi Marc. Great stuff. You sure seem to know all the right people

I didn't know much about the Black Panther. I thought there was a dealership on Avenue RD that sold them and that was it. They weren't a big hit with the Harvey's crowd as everyone that came in had the 327 and was beyond slow. There was a rumor about a few that had the 427 but know one ever actually saw one. CU soon.