The lemons of 1970

[Keith Tedford]

I lived through those times and knew quite a few L78 cars. They didn't scare too many. The article is actually pretty accurate and comparable to other road tests of the time. Lean carburetion like #68 primary jets, retarded timing, street gears and no headers was a recipe for a slug. I doubt that that Nova in the article actually had factory polyglas tires. NO traction off the line plus the emissions stuff took their toll. Our L78 Chevelle will probably run mid 13s in its state of tune. Our 455 powered '72 Lemans will blow it away and I'm the guy tuning both. Would you believe 2 1/2 car lengths from 60-90 mph? A friend's '70 L78 Chevelle, with lots of tricks runs high 11s to low 12s. They can perform. All things equal, our COPO Chevelle was considerably quicker than either of our other 2 cars.