... and in order to complete the thread drift— my dad ordered and received a 1976 Nova Concours with that very “police interceptor” package. My buddy and I put headers on it a few years later. It was the very definition of “stupid fast”. On the (very rare) occasions when my dad let me borrow it, I abused that car as only a 17-year-old young man can.
I can tell you this— I found out pretty quickly (and much to my dismay) after getting my license that dad’s Nova with the cop engine was faster than my own 1968 Firebird. Once I found that out, I immediately pulled the engine out of the Firebird in an effort to rectify the situation. I’m not sure that even after a couple of years of my best white-trash gear-head efforts, and the application of several thousand dollars of my hard earned money transferred to Summit Racing, that I ever succeeded.
Dad had that Nova for 10 years, and I’m pretty sure it was as fast when he sold it as it was the day he brought it home.