I know it has been a little while since the last installment of Muscle Car of the Week, but do not fret, it is back with a vengeance. The car featured this week is one that few people have ever heard of which is precisely why it has been chosen (much like many of the other cars featured). Many are familiar with the big block Nova’s of the late 1960’s with their 396 or 427 (Yenko/Baldwin Motion) V8’s, but how about a small block screamer that hauled groceries as well as ass in 1966? Hit the jump to read more.

The Nova was introduced in 1961 as a grandma-grocery-getter with a standard 194 cubic inch inline six that made 120 horsepower. Zero to sixty times were in the high 13’s (no that is not a 1/4 mile time, those took 3 minutes) making the new Nova nothing but a mouse motor-equipped POS. However, Chevrolet began to pep up the Nova as the 1960’s wore on and soon there were a set of small block V8’s that were available. It started when Chevrolet decided to give the Nova a little more bite for the 1964 model year by including a factory optioned 283 V8 that made 220 horsepower and could propel the sub-3000 pound car down the 1/4 in 18 seconds (still dismal but not as bad as 3 minutes right?).

1965 brought an even bigger V8 that was bored and stroked to 327 cubic inches and rated at 250 horses if option L30 was checked off and a large and in charge 300 if option L74 was desired. However, the biggest year for the small block Nova came in the year 1966 as the car was restyled with more chrome accents and grill change. The biggest news was the newly redesigned 327 that was coded option L79. The L79 small block 327 V8 was pushing a brutal 350 horsepower and 360 pound feet of torque. That power along with the light weight of the 110 inch wheelbase gave the Nova the ability to really snap your head back. The secret behind that large power for such a small engine was due to a reworked dual plane aluminum intake, high compression (11:1) pistons, hydraulic camshaft and a 600 cfm four barrel carburetor to suck large amounts of air into the engine.

The high performance 327 was installed in over 5,000 Novas in 1966 with many of them going straight to the drag strip where if some tuning was done, slicks and headers added, the little car could run in the 13’s. Sadly, the 350 horsepower L79 option was only available for the 1966 model year as the Camaro was introduced for the 1967 model year and thus took over the Nova’s place as Chevrolet’s small block muscle car. Although it was nixed for the 1967 model year, a few 350 horse 327’s found their way between the fenders of the Nova that year luckily, and if you ever have the chance to buy one I would definitely not pass it up. I would like to end on a little tip: if you see a 1966 Nova and aren’t sure if it is a L79 car, look at the air cleaner because if it has the dual chrome snorkels as the one in the picture above has, you may have stumbled on one of the rarest Chevy’s of the 1960’s. This is Big_Blocker hoping you enjoyed the newest Muscle Car of the Week. Looking forward to the car for next week, but what will it be?