I am not a real big fan of hot rodded cars, but must admit that some can look pretty good. For example: This circa-1970 Rally Green Nova I saw on the way out of Cambridge, IL last summer. As you might have guessed, it was the color that drew me in.
How many of these 1968-72 Novas have been painted red, orange or black? Most of them–at least most of the ones you see at shows. This color really enhances the lines of the Nova coupe.
The owner was more than happy to let me snap off a few shots. I explained about CC and that his car might show up on the site. That was last August.
Well, better late than never, and maybe a car like this will soothe those of you who have had enough Cinnamon Toast Brougham for breakfast…
Different shade of green but the spitting image of the 68 I had when I came back from VN. It or the 67 chevelle – one of them is the one I shouldn’t have let get away. I am a fan.
Very nicely done.
The wheels are just right and thankfully, the bumpers have not been painted.
Can’t agree on the wheels, I think they make it look like a Hot-Wheels car. I could never cotton to the trend of huge wheels on classic cars. Put a set of stock 15″ Rallys on it with some redlines and that would do it for me.
When I was a kid, the neighbor’s son across the street had one this color with a 396.
He was a real hard-core gearhead, crew-cut, unfriendly type. I remember it got stolen and recovered once, and in those days car theft was still a big deal. I remember when the cops sent the fingerprint guy over to dust it.
Those GM cars from the late 60s to early 70s are just magnificent in terms of style and were so much more advanced. Amazing. No company like them today.
My step father had a 70 in nearly that identical colour. He also had a bright orange one for parts. These pics bing back memories of that musty smell that cars from this era seem to aquire over time. I was happy when one day a datsun 510 apeared and the nova was never seen again. That smell just ruines a car.
A college friend had a similar car – only his was blue. Large tires in the back that scraped the fenders a bit.
I believe it had a 350 with the 4 barrel carb – and a 4-speed.
Most times he drove it like a grandma – puttering around.
Another friend and I would plead with him to open it up – when he did – I don’t think I have ever felt a car actually pick itself up like that and GO!
I owned a 1972 Nova coupe in a metallic brown color with off-white interior. 250 6 cyl, 3-on-the-tree, bought it the day dad retired in October, 1973.
Not to repeat what I’ve said about this car before, but it was the second car I never should have sold. The first was my avatar.
I posted a photo of my Rallye Green 1961 Bel-Air 2 dr. sedan the other day.
In the late 60’s, Rallye Green along with the Olive Green used by Pontiac were very popular colors on the compact and mid size cars.
Love the color (I don’t remember it as being stock) as it really brings out the car’s form. The wheels and tires are a bit out of character but not horribly so. I would have gone with period-correct Americans (a la Bullitt’s Mustang) but to each his own. Too bad Novas were such dogs to drive.
It was indeed stock, from about mid ’69 to maybe the end of the ’70 model year. There was a very mean L-78 running around my hometown in this color. One of the few cars I never could beat in a street race, and I was running 13.30s when we went down to Spokane. It wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as this one though.
Can’t say as I like the wheels either, Cragar SS/Radial TA would be my choice.
That aside, this car looks like one very straight and well built ride.
Nice car another one we didnt get due to local Holden production.
it’s funny, my favorite color for Chevies from this era is the bright metallic blue found on early Z28s. I still really like the metallic green and he gets points for not going too far with the wheels, although I prefer my Torque Thrust style wheels slightly smaller with matte grey centers.
Nice but I still would prefer a Panther Pink/Moulin Rouge A body.
JPC and BOC are going to beat me with torsion bars, but…this car looks better to me than any Duster. *ducks* I’ll take an A-body Barracuda notchback over either, ’65 Dart a close second.
And that’s “money green” to an old school Adidas fan. 🙂
There he is! Get Him! 🙂
Seriously, I have to admit that this era of Nova (which ended with the 72 model) was an attractive car. These always felt quite heavy, but that was GM’s genius: to make any car feel like it weighs 1,000 pounds more than it really did. At least it was genius back when “road-hugging weight” was a big selling feature.
Like anyone else growing up in the 80’s I had several friends with Novas.
What really struck me about them was that they looked great on the outside, but the inside was ugly. Steering wheel, door panels, dash was generic GM cheap plastic no better than our Vega.
I have to agree, Doug. I never saw a standard Nova with an interior that didn’t look dime-store. Only the Nova Concourse had a decent interior and even it couldn’t be described as plush.
Nice , clean & not over done. Looks great.
If I don’t wind up selling it first, I plan on painting my ’72 Ventura “Verdoro Green” ( a ’68 GTO color ). I’m also contemplating swapping the big n’ little Weld Racing wheels I have on there now for a set of factory Pontiac Rally Is ( like used on the ’65-’66 GTOs ) .
It’s amazing what a great color and a $10,000 paint job (am I lowballing it?) will do for a set of wheels and tires. Any number of wheel/tire combinations would look good on this car, including steel rally wheels.
Wow, change this to a base model, swap out the wheels, add a bench seat and give the paint some patina, and this would be a dead ringer for my Uncle Fred’s 1970 Nova. He always had a thing for Novas, and he bought this one in the mid-80’s. He swapped out the Six for a 454 V8 from a 1972 Impala. I wanted to get some pics when I was there back in September, but he had it put away in his garage and I didn’t want to put him out.
Maybe next time…
According to the color charts from tcpglobal.com, Rallye Green was only available in 1968 and 69 and was a Camaro color only. Back then, of course, you could special order practically color/engine/option, so it’s possible that that was the original color.
http://www.tcpglobal.com/aclchip.aspx?image=1969-chevrolet-pg01.jpg
Pity the poor ’68-’72 Nova. Even with factory big-block 396 (or even 427/454) availability, It just never seemed to garner the same legendary street cred as the earlier ’66 Nova with the Corvette L79 327.
For its first two years, the 3rd generation Nova was always in the shadow of the Camaro, then it lost out to the better looking, faster, and cheaper Duster 340 for 1970.
Duster 340s were Nova beaters.
Unless the Nova dude did major mods such as nitrous, etc.
Exceptions always occur due to numerous variables.
But… Mopar for the win!!!
This is most likely a 1969 or older model (1970 had vent panel in front fenders). The color is outstanding from the normal Forest Green of that era. I am very interested in finding this color (code) and willing to pay the owner for that information… does anyone know him?
Also, back in the 80’s I worked in a Plymouth dealership my buddy/colleague had a tricked out 340 Duster that my small block SS Nova would eat for lunch… At the REAL drag strip I would shot shift just to make him not look so bad… 11.245 @ 108 mph index
Beautiful Car, Rally Green was a 1968-1969 Paint Color for Chevy’s. The paint code for 1968 was J-J, for 1969 the paint code was 79-79. I have a 1969 Nova SS that is Rally Green and that is what is on the vin tag.
Marting McClure, where are you located?
Charlotte, NC
This is my car!!! Looks great