Chevrolet Nova 1972 – Classic American Muscle Car

Chevrolet’s 1972 Nova SS came with exactly one engine, a 200-horsepower 350 small-block, making this claimed 700-horsepower supercharged build a completely different animal from the factory original. It was also the last year the Nova SS carried real weight as a factory performance package, since the big-block option had already disappeared the year before. Somewhere between 12,309 stock Novas built in 1972 and whatever’s boosting this one, a whole lot of extra horsepower got added.

Badass looking supercharged 700hp Chevy Nova!!

“Badass looking supercharged 700hp Chevy Nova!!” is quite a leap from what actually rolled off the assembly line in 1972, when Chevrolet’s Nova SS came with exactly one engine option and a lot less bark than that. This was also the last year the Nova SS mattered in any real sense, which makes the gap between the factory number and whatever’s making 700 horsepower under this hood even more interesting.

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The Last Real Nova SS

For 1972, Chevrolet limited the Super Sport package to a single engine, the L48 350 cubic inch small-block with a four-barrel carburetor rated at 200 net horsepower, enough to run 0-60 in a little over seven seconds and clear the quarter mile around 15.5 seconds. Chevrolet built 12,309 Nova SS models that year, up from 7,015 the year before, but 1971 had already been the last season a factory big-block was available in the Nova, which is why serious collectors consider the 1972 SS the end of an era rather than the start of a new one.

From 200 Horses to Boosted Monster

Whatever combination is under this particular Nova’s hood clearly left the factory 350 far behind, and a supercharged setup pushing anywhere near 700 horsepower puts it in territory the factory small-block was never built to survive, let alone reach.

That contrast is exactly why the Nova has become such a popular canvas for builders: it’s small, light, and cheap enough to find, which leaves plenty of room to chase numbers Chevrolet’s engineers never had on their radar in 1972.

Builds like this one are exactly why the early-70s Nova has become such a fixture on the pro touring and supercharged small-block scene, a car light enough to make big power feel even bigger, wrapped in a body that still reads as a classic the moment it rolls into a parking lot.

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