This Chevy Nova Looks Stock — Then You Hear the 700HP Supercharged LSA Scream

It looks like a plain, stock Chevy Nova — right up until the 700hp supercharged LSA under the hood lets out a scream. This unassuming compact hides a genuine monster, and the sound alone is worth the price of admission.

The Chevy Nova has always been the muscle car world’s best kept secret — the plain-looking compact that could embarrass cars twice its price when the light turned green. But even by Nova standards, this particular build from the Autotopia LA crew is something special. Hidden beneath the clean, almost factory-correct exterior is a supercharged LSA engine pushing somewhere between 650 and 700 horsepower to the crank — and a verified 557 horsepower to the rear wheels. The owner built this thing in his own garage, keeping the aesthetics period-correct while stuffing modern muscle where nobody would think to look. If you’ve ever wondered what the perfect sleeper looks like, this might be the answer.

About the Video

Autotopia LA is known for showcasing some of the most meticulously built driver cars in Southern California, and this 700HP supercharged Chevy Nova is exactly the kind of machine they do best. The video takes viewers through every inch of this garage-built street machine — from the clean, original-look bodywork all the way down to the heart of the beast lurking under the hood. What makes this video so compelling is the sheer contrast between how the car presents and what it actually does. This is not a show car. It’s a car built to be driven hard, every single day, without drawing unnecessary attention from anyone on the street.

The Autotopia LA host dives deep into the specifics of the build with the kind of genuine enthusiasm you only hear from someone who truly gets these machines. The LSA engine — famously sourced from the Cadillac CTS-V — was chosen for its factory supercharged setup and proven long-term reliability at elevated power levels, making it a logical (if brilliantly unexpected) choice for a period-correct Nova build. The owner describes it as “one mean street machine with old school period correct flavors,” and after watching this video, it’s hard to argue with that assessment.

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The Chevrolet Nova: A Muscle Car Legacy

The Chevrolet Nova has one of the most interesting evolution stories in American muscle history. It started life in 1962 as a budget economy car called the Chevy II, competing with the Ford Falcon for buyers who simply wanted affordable, practical transportation. By the mid-1960s, Chevrolet began stuffing progressively bigger engines into the lightweight platform, and by 1968 the Nova SS had transformed into a legitimate street weapon — available with V8s stretching all the way up to a 396-cubic-inch big block. The SS badge meant business, and hot rodders across the country took notice.

The Nova‘s secret advantage over flashier muscle cars was its size and weight. Lighter than a Chevelle and cheaper to buy and build than a Camaro, the Nova SS was the working-class muscle car that serious street racers quietly respected. A 396 big block dropped into a 3,100-pound Nova made for a terrifying combination on any stoplight. The 1969 and 1970 models in particular are considered among the cleanest, most aggressive-looking compacts General Motors ever produced, with crisper lines and a more purposeful stance that holds up beautifully decades later.

What’s remarkable about the Nova‘s legacy is how much it has grown with time. Cars that sold for $3,000 new now routinely command $35,000–65,000 at auction for clean SS examples, with exceptional custom builds pushing well beyond that. The platform’s mechanical simplicity — a conventional front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout with a solid rear axle — makes it ideal for the kind of modern engine swaps that turn heads at every car show. Which is precisely what this builder had in mind.

What Makes This Build Special

What separates this Nova from every other high-powered build you’ve seen isn’t just the power number — it’s the clear philosophy driving every single decision. The owner specifically aimed for “old school period correct flavors,” meaning the car looks entirely at home at a weekend cruise night and draws none of the wrong attention on public roads. The exterior, the suspension geometry, the interior details — all of it is dialed to maintain the illusion of a clean, well-preserved classic. Then you open the hood and the LSA supercharger gives it away.

The LSA engine, pulled from the Cadillac CTS-V platform, features a Roots-type positive displacement supercharger that produces that unmistakable high-pitched whine under boost — a sound that Nova fans will never forget once they’ve heard it. At 557 horsepower measured at the rear wheels, this isn’t just quick in a straight line; it demands real driver skill because the power delivery is immediate and completely unforgiving. It’s a builder’s definitive statement about what American muscle was always supposed to be: no apologies, no excuses, just pure mechanical honesty wrapped in the subtlest possible package.

Watch the full video above and let us know your thoughts in the comments.