Stories get interesting when the plot deviates from an expected script. In automotive stories this can happen when a brand tries to sell a car that it probably shouldn’t. Here we have such an example: When Chevrolet dressed up its compact Nova in an attempt to step a few rungs up the Sloanian Ladder. This foray into Buick territory wasn’t exactly successful, but in retrospect it makes for a head-scratchingly interesting story. Instead of a concours d’elegance, this car ended up being more like a concours de minimis.
Our story starts with Chevrolet’s compact Chevy II, introduced for 1962. While largely billed as “modern basic transportation,” a top-of-the-line Chevy II model, called Nova, added some sophistication into the mix, with nicer trim, a more comfortable interior and special identification. This proved successful; Novas captured over a third of total Chevy II sales that first year, and never looked back.
In 1969 the Chevy II name was dropped, and Chevy’s entire compact model range became “Nova.” Through the early 1970s, Novas still functioned mostly as basic transport, but customers could still spec a little more ornamentation. “Custom” interior and exterior packages, offering somewhat nicer surroundings for a modest cost, became popular choices for Nova buyers.
The Custom option packages were popular enough that Chevrolet made this a separate Nova series for 1973. For between $150 and $200, Nova Custom buyers received deluxe trim, additional sound insulation, upgraded upholstery and other niceties. In 1973 and ’74, one-third of all Novas were Customs… pointing the way to a more heavily optioned future.
For 1975, the Nova line received new sheetmetal, and Chevrolet created a top-of-the-line version called the LN (for Luxury Nova). LNs didn’t replace the Custom series, which remained, but rather “out-Customed” the Custom, upping the ante with even plusher upholstery, color-coordinated interior trim, and thicker carpeting. Exterior enhancements included additional brightwork, upgraded bumpers, pinstriping and a half-dozen LN badges. LNs also featured special wheel covers with body-colored inserts that (were supposed to) give the Nova that elusive Mercedes look.
So the Nova LN was a Chevy with fancy trim – kind of like a Buick. Which was a bit odd because Buick also had an X-body car that was remarkably similar. As did Pontiac… and Oldsmobile. These models all had overlapping price ranges, and similar equipment.
Officially, GM’s upmarket X-cars were seen as competitors to Ford’s Granada and its Mercury Monarch clone. But certainly GM knew that its model overlap cannibalized its own sales. Such overlap made little business sense, though without it, we wouldn’t have the joy of examining a fancy Chevy that tried to out-Buick Buick. So let’s dive in and look at the Concours.
Nova’s LN was rebranded as the Concours for 1976. Maybe Chevrolet felt that a French name was more suggestive of luxury than two seemingly random letters? Whatever the reason, Chevy reached into its recent past for this moniker, since the Concours name was also used on a few late-1960s Chevelle models.
For 1976, the Custom ceased being its own model series, and instead reverted to option packages like they were before 1973. Another change in Nova’s model shuffling was that the Concours was made available in the hatchback body style, which was unavailable on ’75 LNs.
Source of production numbers: www.novaresource.org
All of this shuffling makes gauging the success of these various upmarket Novas a challenge, but the above chart gives a rough representation. While in 1973-74, the Custom made up about a third of all Nova sales, as the decade wore on, customers seemed less inclined to think of Novas and Luxury in the same thought. For the following three model years, sales of the Custom, LN and Concours combined accounted for only 23 percent of Nova sales.
This likely surprised the folks at Chevrolet since the Great Brougham Epoch was in full swing by then, and it must have seemed that anything with a vinyl roof and a stodgy name would sell. But even great epochs have their limit, and this was one such example.
That brings us to our featured car – one of 39,272 Concours sedans manufactured for 1977. Incidentally, this car was officially just “Concours.” The Nova name was nowhere to be seen, though since the car was 99.9% Nova, its lineage was impossible to conceal.
Though the 1970s are often viewed as the American car industry’s nadir, GM’s X-body design was well executed. With decent proportions and no exaggerations, this was a sophisticated-looking design for its day. Road & Track said of the Nova sedan that its greenhouse looked as if it came straight from a BMW Bavaria. Novas handled well, too, since the ’75 models debuted an upgraded front suspension borrowed from the Camaro. If there was a problem with the Concours’ design, it was one of ubiquity. Chevy sold an average of 300,000 Novas each year during the 1970s, so it wasn’t unusual to see multiple Novas on a city block.
Like many cars of this era, this Concours displays an interesting mixture of options, suggesting a custom-ordered vehicle. The most noticeable option here is the Cabriolet roof, a $150 option that bought a heavily-padded vinyl quarter roof, as well as some additional bright moldings and a unique side window.
In this car’s case, the white roof was matched to Firethorn metallic paint and a matching Firethorn interior. Buying a 1977 Nova brought a mind-boggling array of color options. Fourteen exterior paint colors, 7 vinyl roof colors, and 5 interior colors could be mixed and matched in myriad ways. I would never have thought that a dark red car with a matching interior and a contrasting white roof would look attractive, but whoever ordered this Concours did a good job.
This car also sports the optional Rally wheels, which serve as a visual counterpoint to the broughamy padded roof and Concours brightwork. Surprisingly, wire wheel covers weren’t offered on the Concours – they became available on Novas for 1978, after Concours departed the lineup.
Only a sharp eye can spot the changes between the various LN and Concours model years. Chevy’s marketing folks anticipated some cynicism by writing in the 1977 Concours brochure that:
“…in the continental manner, styling changes this year are subtle rather than extreme.”
Aha… just like those classic-looking BMWs! The copywriter who coined that phrase deserved a raise. For those who are curious, a redesigned hood ornament featuring a stylized “C” was one of those subtle changes. As was a redesigned grille. According to Chevy’s flowery prose, the grille’s thin vertical slats produce “an illusion of massiveness.”
At the car’s other end, the tail light design happens to be the easiest way to definitively identify the ’77 Concours – these three-section tail lights were unique within the Nova species.
The original owner specified vinyl upholstery, rather than the knit cloth that most Concours featured. Although a one-piece bench, the Concours provided a folding armrest unavailable on regular Novas. Also, from this angle we can see the Concours-specific “simulated butterfly walnut” on the dash, door panel, and steering wheel.
All Novas received a redesigned instrument panel for 1977 featuring round gauges instead of the previous creeping-needle speedometer. Only Concours, however, featured a steering wheel color-keyed with the dash.
In back we see minimal legroom for a family car (the short seat cushion gives the illusion of space, but passengers’ legs knew better). Otherwise, this was a pleasant place to be. Concours such as this one received simulated wood, as well as softer plastic trim in the rear seating area than their Nova counterparts.
Concours drivetrains were identical to those in Novas. A 250-cu. in. 6-cylinder engine came standard, though our featured car was built with the optional 305 V-8. Developing 145 hp., this was better suited to the 3,500-lb. X-body than the 100-hp. six. Customers who wished to splurge on power and gas could opt for a 350 V-8 that brought another 25 horsepower.
The Concours’ standard suspension was pretty good for its day, and sport and heavy-duty suspensions were also available. Both came with front and rear stabilizers and upgraded shocks.
One option worth some attention here is the forced-air rear window defogger, which can be seen on the rear shelf in this image. This consisted of a covered fan in the center of the parcel shelf that cleared mist from the window, and was a $48 option in 1977.
As is probably clear by now, Concours’ appeal was rather shallow. Offering just a veneer of embellishments tacked on to an otherwise ordinary car, it earned the phrase de minimis used in this article’s title.
Overall, the Concours was neither a success nor a failure. Its two-year life span, and relatively modest capture of total Nova sales attest to customer ambivalence. Chevy likely had grander expectations, given that offering upgraded trim levels was generally a successful sales tactic at the time. Then again, maybe GM executives realized that Chevy didn’t build a better Buick than Buick did, and that this car competed with other GM products rather than expanding the company’s base. Whatever the reason, the Concours quietly departed the scene after 1977.
Trim upgrades didn’t quite vanish in the Nova’s two post-Concours years. The Custom returned as a separate model, largely carrying on the Concours’ mission, though without the hood ornament and some other features. Even this didn’t quite hit the market’s sweet spot; the 1978-79 Custom achieved a slightly smaller proportion of total Nova sales than did the Concours.
On the whole, the story of Chevrolet’s Concours is barely remembered. Not frugal enough for a Chevy, nor fancy enough to be luxurious, and ultimately not a better Buick than Buick itself. Perhaps Chevy shouldn’t have made this car, and instead kept its Nova focused on the thrifty compact car market. However, that storyline wouldn’t be nearly so interesting for those of us who stumble on one of these cars a few decades later. While there wasn’t much actual luxury substance to this car, the Concours de Minimis, was certainly fun to admire.
Photographed in Falls Church, Virginia in July 2023.
Related Reading:
1977 Chevrolet Nova Concours: Proof That Sizzle Trumps Steak by Paul Niedermeyer
While trying to steal a sale from Buick doesn’t make much sense at the corporate level, each brand was still pretty independent in those days and more importantly so were the local dealers. Your neighborhood Chevy dealer wanted those sales & if they came at the expense of the Buick guy down the road, oh well.
Indeed, the Concours probably wasn’t dropped to clear the path for the B-O-P compacts, which themselves reached down into the Chevy market with strippo base models with taxicab interiors, but so it wouldn’t take any marginal sales away from the new, downsized ’78 Malibu.
Good point – the divisions acted like siblings… in the same family but rarely in agreement. The parent company really should have stepped in here. I had thought about graphing the price overlap, but that effort was a bit overwhelming. Nlpnt’s comment above regarding the BOP stripped-down models (treading on traditional Chevy territory) made the distinction between these models exceptionally blurred.
No doubt a reaction to the Granada, but Lido got the jump.
Even if the total numbers for the Nova were still good, Lido got customers to pile on the options and extras which go directly to the top and bottom line.
IIRC, the back seat on these NOVAs were very short as well.
Great find, Eric, and almost there…. I’ve been searching the web now for years looking for my Mom’s car that I borrowed to take to my senior prom way back in 1978, but it’s always close but no cigar…
In 1977, my Mom, tired of driving our huge ‘73 LTD, wanted a nice smaller car. So Dad went shopping. He’d always liked Chevys, but since we had a Ford at the time, we went and test drove a Granada. We were underwhelmed.
Next it was off to Luby Chevrolet, and there, sitting right on the showroom floor was a 2-door Concours, in Firethorn Red (like my Dad’s ‘66 Impala which my Mom also liked). It had the 305-V8, matching red crushed velour interior, and the best part, NO vinyl top (we were kind of over that look by then on certain cars… like a NOVA!). This car also had the stylized Concours wheel covers instead of the rallies.
This thing was beautiful, and my Dad, who up to that point had never bought a car off the showroom floor, bought this one.
The handling, the performance, everything about it was well loved by all of the drivers in the house. For a Malaise Era car, it was very nice to drive and even had a little scoot.
That waterfall grille and the three (instead of 2) taillight setup had us referring to this car as our Li’l Caprice.
My Mom STILL talks about that car. When I bought our Soul Red Mazda CX-5, her first comment was, “It’s the same color as my Nova.”
Wow – I didn’t realize your family owned a Concours. And without a vinyl roof too! That couldn’t have been too common.
I think the three taillight design on these cars makes a big visual difference.
Agreed… and while I’m no Peter Wilding, I built a model kit back then of a ‘77 or ‘78 Nova… one of those kits you could configure different ways, and it had the waterfall grille, even though it was likely a ‘78 Nova Custom….
There was no 3 taillight setup (I don’t think the ‘78 or ‘79 Nova Custom had the Impala/Caprice like set up in reality either).
So I made a “Custom” third light for each side with some balsa wood and painted it. It looked just like our car when I was done, minus the hood ornament and Concours wheel covers (the model – Revel I think – came with the Rally wheels).
I even went to the Chevy dealer to get a spray can of Firethorn Red to make the model car the exact same color.
I wish I still had that model.
From memory, full vinyl roofs almost disappeared on coupes in the mid-late 70s, but I’d love to know actual numbers. I once thought the ’72 Eldorado started the landau fad, but the ’70 Hurtz Grand Prix had one first, though not with opera window or from the Pontiac factory, and the ’73 Colonnade coupes made them ubiquitous.
Did the ’75 Nova sedan’s styling development precede the first Seville’s or follow it? Did the Camaro’s front suspension require the pronounced, wider front track on both?
I read somewhere that the LN seats looked much better than they sat.
You can put lipstick on a pig 🐖 💋, but it’s still a Pig! All dressed up Iike Mules in buggy harnesses! IMO both apply here. Never liked small POS like this. NOVA interest at all. 😉 But WOULD consider Granadas upscale brother, The MONARCH. 👑, before moving on to VERSAILLES! These peasant cars are revolting! 😄 😁 🤣 😂
Shame isn’t that so many peons could only afford a car like this if they wanted a dependable new US car… let them eat cake!
I will say that there’s just a tiny whiff of BMW E12 (early 5 series) coming from the Concours in that “Word Class Luxury Compact” ad. Well, maybe that’s just because the photo has it parked somewhere in random Northern Euroland (or a movie set I suppose).
I’ll also comment that the vinyl roof on your subject car seems to have held up quite well for something getting on to a half-century old. Perhaps it’s all of that extra padding that protected it. That thing is approaching Stay Puft Marshmallow Man levels of white puffyness.
I love that ad – I have no idea whether it was shot on location, or in a studio, but the background is a real place. It’s the old Market Square in Rothenburg, Germany.
A comparison of the Ad shot, and a Google Panorama shot is below.
I agree that the the vinyl roof here is in remarkably puffy condition!
If the landing party from the USS Enterprise wanted to blend in on the picture on the right, they should’ve beamed down wearing period accurate clothing… just saying… 🖖😉
And we know just what’s going to happen to the guy in the red shirt…. 🙂
Here you go…a little later in the episode.
(Patterns of Force. ToS. S2E21. 1968)
At the time, I didn’t look deeply at the X cars because they truly were ubiquitous. I did think the hatchback coupe was innovative, but that’s about it. I rode in any number of these cars and they were adequate transportation. I didn’t go in for the brougham style, but I thought the padded vinyl half roof with the squared-off side windows improved this car’s looks.
I remember the LN version well; it seemed like a valid attempt at Eurostyle, better than the Granada. As for the Concours? That seemed like a recycled Chevy trim package name and totally unmemorable. By 1977 or so, in my home town, these Novas were mostly seen in 4 door form with dog dish hubcaps and a uniformed police officer behind the wheel. I recall one or two brief conversations with their drivers, by the side of the road 😀.
My cousin Nancy bought one of these (a ’75 4 dr) as her first car out of college when she got her first teaching job. I think her salary was around $6k a year. Her Dad my uncle had a ’70 Nova 4 dr as his daily driver. Both were 250/six automatic, base models, hers was metallic cocoa brown with brown plaid cloth seats, a plain Jane car. It served her well for almost 10 years when it went to her brother for another 3 or 4 before it finally succumbed to NY rust.
I didn’t realize (or remember) that the Concours model got the triple taillight treatment, whereas lesser Novas had just the one red lens per side. A nice throwback to the Biscayne/Bel Air vs. Impala/Caprice treatment of years prior. A quick internet search reveals that inboard taillight was actually operational too, not just a reflector or dummy lens. I would have thought by that point the bean counters would have insisted on the latter, nice that a proper lamp actually made it to production.
I always liked the European-inspired styling of the 1975-79 X-bodies, but absolutely loathed the 1968-74 generation, most of which I knew as very basic and cramped, rather crude devices populating my late 1970s high school parking lot. A greater change wrought by new sheet metal had never before been achieved, in my not-so-humble teenage opinion.
My part-time job in high school was at the local library and I remember being impressed with the head librarian’s blue 1976 Concours coupe when she gave me a ride home on rainy days. The front seat was comfortable, and I fortunately never sat in the back, which looked cramped with the front bench pushed all the way back (she was very tall, nearly 6 feet). The interior was nicely finished in a fuzzy fabric compared to that of vinyl-line lesser Novas, though the workmanship was suspect, as many of those fancy chrome moldings and emblems were affixed to the car crookedly and misaligned with other trim pieces.
About the same time, a friend’s father was driving a fully-loaded Mercury Monarch, the very plush interior of which put that relatively restrained Concours in the shade in terms of luxurious appearance and appeal. The Monarch had a similarly cramped rear seat, but the upright and boxy roofline made the headroom back there passable.
A minor nit: the 1962 Nova didn’t come standard with a larger engine; just like the rest of the line, it came in either 4 or 6 cylinder versions.
It’s pretty obvious why the Nova LN was pulled after a year and replaced with the Concours: both were of course a response to the success of the Granada. But the Nova LN had two major shortcomings: it still used the Nova name, which was of course by then very much associated with an economy (or sporty) compact. Also, the actual trim package was a bit over the top, with those MBZ-style wheel covers and velour upholstery. It simply didn’t catch on; it’s important to keep in mind that the great majority of Granadas weren’t actually the highest trim versions, and were mid-range in their interior appointments. The LN overshot the mark.
The Concours was created to fix all the of Nova LN’s shortcomings: it ditched the Nova name altogether as well as the affected wheel covers and high-end interior and of course the “Luxury” name. Its interior was just a nice vinyl, and it had sportier wheel options. In essence, the Concours was exactly to the Nova that the original Nova was to the Chevy II: an nicer trimmed version. Same idea as the original Bel Air, Impala, and hundreds of other Detroit higher trim versions.
As to calling the Concours a relative failure, I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion. It was just a cheap to make higher trim Nova. Its percentage of the total Nova line sales were probably quite similar as to the original Nova sales of the Chevy II line. Sure, the Nova/Concours was not going to really ever beat the Granada at its game, because its styling and image were not fully competitive, so Chevy did the best they could with the Concours after realizing the LN was overkill.
As to the various divisions cannibalizing sales with these luxury-compacts, you seem to imply that GM headquarters was orchestrating all of this. The divisions made these decisions, as they had been since almost forever. The Buick Special in the ’50s ripped hard into Chevrolet and Pontiac territory, which vaulted Buick into the #3 sales slot. You think this was coordinated by GM headquarters? Buick had a huge amount of independence, as it was by far the most powerful (political) division. And meanwhile Chevrolet’s ’55 Nomad was priced as high as a higher-trim Buick Century. The Slonian Ladder was created in the 1920s when the automobile market was vastly less compressed as it came to be in the ’30s die to the Depression. And the ladder just kept collapsing further, the ’61 compacts being a key step. A base Buick Special was a drab, cheap stripper compact. And a Monza or Nova were nicely trimmed bucket seat compacts.
These trim levels and such were never coordinated by GM headquarters. The 14th floor didn’t care less if the GM divisions stole from each other, as long as Ford and Chrysler didn’t steal from them, cumulatively. That was in essence the whole GM strategy in the golden post war era: build as many variations of the same basic body in each class to simply overwhelm the competition, with the key differentiator being style and brand image.
Obviously this strategy started to fail once GM’s market share began to fall. But then we’ve covered that here many times.
Thanks for the correction on the Chevy II engines – I’ll amend the text.
I like these cars. From the pics shown is this article, that blue 1975 LN with the color coordinated caps is my favorite.
The Nova was always a bit dowdy in my mind, so higher trim sales were a bit more challenging for this car. Nova gas milage was nothing special, may as well upgrade to the Chevelle if you were going to spend more.
A moderately equipped downsized 1977 Impala represented a terrific value against a loaded Concours, and the 1978 Malibu Classic and base Monte Carlo mostly meant game over for upmarket Novas.
A deluxe Nova was a cramped compact car that struggled to beat mid and full-size full economy in its final years.
My parents shopped the ’76 Nova Concours (as I think it was called that year); it was nice, but my least favorite of the three main cars were considering. The back seat (where I usually sat) was short on legroom, and you could tell the car was an older design despite being on its second major facelift (i.e. the pushbutton door handles). Chevy wasn’t trying to steal sales from Buick; it was the popular new Ford Granada, billed as a semi-luxury car, that was freaking Chevrolet out, and don’t forget the Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare were new that year too, more luxurious and up-to-date than the still-made Dart and Valiant, and they were quite popular until people learned of their quality-control problems. Ford kept the older Maverick around through 1977 along side the Granada. For ’77, the Concours series was separated from the Nova completely, with its own brochure and everything, hoping it wouldn’t be associated with cheap Novas. It didn’t work so well. After pushing the Concours more and more upscale, they dropped it altogether in 1978 as they didn’t want it to upstage the (rather plain) new downsized Mailbu. BTW, my folks decided against the Aspen and Granada as well as the Concours, opting instead to wait a few months for the much-hyped downsized ’77 Caprice, supposedly a full-size interior in a mid-size package just slightly larger than the three we looked at. The new Caprice was seriously impressive, and we later drove all the MG B bodies then ordered a Pontiac Bonneville Brougham that was likely nicer to drive and ride in than a Concours, Granada, or Aspen/Volare, and not much bigger.
I don’t care for the landau roof and opera window on this Concours though. I don’t mind these features on cars designed for them, like the Chrysler Cordoba, but it looks like the afterthought it is on this car.
In my observations its probably too little too late to even separate the Concours name from the base Nova because the Nova name for budget minded compact car shoppers were usually associated with mass-produced cheap compact entry level cars. If Chevrolet had the wherewithal, they could have introduced the Concours name much earlier like when the Novas were redesigned for 1975. In addition, this range would only carry the Four Door Sedan and the Two Door Cabriolet Landau Coupe. Nova Custom would carry the Two Door Standard Coupe and Four Door Sedan while the base Nova would have the Two Door Standard Coupe, The Two Door Hatchback and the Four Door Sedan. The reasoning also for the Concours separating from the Nova name was probably Chevrolet would like to make the Concours a stand alone offering much in the same way the Caprice Classic were to the Impala even though the body and chassis were essentially the same.
They were gearing up for another round of new alliterative names: Concours, Citation, Celebrity, to add to Camaro, Corvette, and Caprice Classic and replace Corvair and Chevelle.
Who told the four divisions to name them N O V A? Were they built in individual plants or all together by Chevrolet?
Hindsight tells us that this was a better car than the Granada in many ways, but not in the most important way – Where the Granada was very new and bore no resemblance to the Maverick, a fancy Nova was still a Nova to the public. The Dart SE and Valiant Brougham suffered from the same problem.
What a great find! I can’t recall the last time I saw one of those.
My buddy bought a new optioned up Concours sedan in ’76 or ’77. It was black, with a black vinyl top and a bright red velour interior. He told me that he chose it because it looked like a Cadillac Seville. I didn’t see anything wrong with that. It was a nice car but a bit cramped in the back seat. It was much nicer than the stripper VW Dasher that he had previously. That thing didn’t even have tinted glass!
If as the writer suggests that the 1970s were the American manufacturer’s “Nadir”, what did that make the 1980s and 1990s?
I owned two of them in the 80’s, both 4-doors, one in triple red with the inline six, and one in silver with black roof and interior and the 305. Here in the Netherlands they were pretty rare cars, and we only got the fully optioned Concours models. I really liked them, and the red one specially was a looker, having the ralley wheels in red with chrome inserts.
My Nova experience started when Grampa traded his 56 Belair for a 62 Chevy ll with the “frisky” 194 3-speed. Mom would borrow it when our 63 Belvedere was in the shop. Very basic for sure! When Grampa needed a new car about 15 years later I told him no stick shift Novas where on the lot of the Chevy dealer l was working at he said”I am too old to learn to drive an automatic ” I was discouraged from helping him get a new car due to his age. Later a friends mom traded an automatic 71 Pinto for a 73 Nova Custom 307- turbo- hydramatic; a huge step up for her! A classmate had a 75 Nova LN 262 , a nice if not overpowered car that was a noticeable step up from the 73. Another Friend put a 350 with a Vega 4-speed I gave him in his girlfriends 77 hatchback he also installed an interior from a wrecked Concours – now that was a nice car! The later model Vega trany actually held up behind a ” built” 350 BTW. It’s not surprising that Nova sales would fizzle out with the arrival of the similar sized 1978 Malibu.
Firethorn Red interior and exterior……fade to pink.
(*It actually was a sharp -looking color when new)
The weak point over time for this generation Nova was the velour interior, which didn’t hold up for very long. The vinyl choice really has held up well in this example. It also is very luxurious, when compared to the cheap door cards and plain bench seats of the earlier and stripper Novas. The LN and Concours may be lipstick on pigs, but the cars dressed up rather nicely, given the humble origins. The Camaro-derived front subframe and suspension also made a heck of an improvement in near-the-limit handling, versus the prior iterations.
While engines went down in power and got more finicky from the pollution controls, the brake and chassis engineers at GM, during the ‘70’s, made quite a successful effort at getting big American iron to handle and brake relatively well. Much better, overall, at speed, than the Fords or the Mopar contemporaries.
There is an orange example of one of these, dead in our hangar. Owner think he will eventually get it back on the road.