1967 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova SS: A Profile of a Muscle Car

One of the toughest little overachievers ever to harass traditional midsize muscle cars was the 1967 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova SS. Never a style leader, this was the compact for the serious enthusiast who wanted to go fast on guile and light weight.

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The Chevy II bowed for 1962, with Nova its deluxe edition. Super Sport standing came the following year as part of a trim package, and by '65, a 300-bhp 327-cid V-8 was available. A redesign for '66 replaced the nerdy box shape with huskier contours. Super Sports were back as two-door hardtops with bucket seats and a pair of 327s: One had 275 bhp; the other was Chevy's killer 350-bhp variant, the L79.

©2007 Publications International, Ltd. Strata buckets were standard SS seats. The four-speed was a mandatory $184 option with the 350-bhp 327; the tachometer fitted here is aftermarket.

When the Nova SS returned for '67, a base price of just $2,683 landed the 275-bhp 327, but the L79 was not listed as an official factory offering. A handful did make it into the '67s, however, bringing the two-year run to about 2200 L79 Chevy IIs. Besides Super Sports, the engine also went into Novas and base Chevy IIs.

These were the guerrilla fighters of the muscle jungle. A low profile and a high power-to-weight ratio were their secret. The Super Sport edition had some extra chrome, blackout trim details, and small SS emblems. But even with the slotted wheels of the '67 disc-brake option, a Nova SS by no means shouted "hot car." Hooked to the mandatory four-speed manual transmission and carrying just 10 pounds per bhp, the tough L79 would quickly wind to near 6000 rpm, catching the big-cube glamour boys napping.

'"The 350-bhp 327 in approximately Corvette tune, dropped into a Chevy II, didn't have the jukebox magic of a 409 or a 427," reminisced Car and Driver's Patrick Bedard in his 1990 ranking of the best all-time street racers. "Still, that combination made for one the sneakiest muscle cars ever built... You might not notice a Chevy II in traffic until he got half a car-length on you. Even in a boss machine, you might have to run 80 or 90 mph to get it back. That's how fast those Chevy IIs were."

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