L79 1966 Nova SS – The Ultimate Sleeper
Before the new 1967 Camaros caught the attention of muscle car buyers of the era, Chevrolet fans could choose between the SS396 Chevelle or the 1966 Nova SS, two attractive performance options for bowtie buyers.
Consider: The SS Chevelle with the 375-horsepower big block weighed around 3,400-pounds with a price beginning near $3,000. The Nova, when ordered with the L79 327-cubic-inch/350 horsepower small block weighed 900-pounds less and was a few hundred dollars cheaper. Sure, the L79 Nova SS packed slightly less horsepower, but it was almost 1,000-pounds lighter, more affordable and didn’t have the appearace of a street brawler compared to the Chevelle.
How did buyers react? Of nearly 447,000 ’66 Chevelles sold, only 3,099 of the 375-horsepower SS models were purchased. Of the 163,000 Chevy IIs sold that year, 5,481 of the 350-horsepower small block models left dealerships.
Chevy muscle car shoppers that year knew a good performance package and desirable power-to-weight ration when they saw it. So did Iowa’s Tony Onstot when he bought a 1966 Nova SS with the desireable L79 engine option from famed engine builder and drag racer Charley Malyuke’s estate sale back in 1998. Malyuke had rebuilt the stout 327 and prepped the body for restoration before his passing.
Tony worked on the Nova off and on over the next 15 years before turning to the team at Dean’s Rods and Restoration in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to complete the build. Dean’s staff finished dialing in the metal and bodywork, and then applied the PPG Marina Blue paint before performing the final assembly on the compact rocket.
The heart of the Nova is the strong 327c.i. small-block V8 that features an 11:1 compression ratio, the famous “double hump” heads with 2.02-inch intake valves, and a dual-plane, high-rise aluminum intake topped by a 650-cfm Holley four-barrel carburetor. The engine had a hydraulic-lifter camshaft and produced 360 lb.-ft. of torque to pair with its 350 horsepower.
The L79 option included a dual exhaust system and front disc brakes to complement the drums in the rear. Full wheel covers fit on stock steel wheels with reproduction U.S. Royal whitewall tires. The matching blue vinyl interior features bucket seats, a center console, and a factory tachometer mounted under the dash over the console.
Like all L79-equipped 1966 Nova SS cars, Tony’s has a Muncie four-speed manual transmission and the standard 12-bolt rearend with 3.31 gears. Magazine road tests at the time reported that the L79 Nova in showroom-stock condition was capable of quarter-mile times in the low 15-second range. Other reports at the time showed improved quarter-mile times with a larger carburetor and performance tuning. No wonder they were such highly desired muscle cars – both then and now.
Photos by John Jackson
