Owning a muscle car is like owning a piece of history, with every body line reminiscent of an era long past. But for noted car collector and frequent contributor on The Block, George Lyons, his cars are more than just your typical Detroit muscle machines, especially the 1969 Nova SS Fast Track he scouted for over 15 years before purchasing. Becoming the first official owner of the Nova in 2009, Lyons has quite the story to tell about the prized muscle car and lucky for us, he recently shared it on The Block forum for everyone to enjoy.

The Fast Track name was a performance stamp put on a select few Chevrolets that were modified by the good men at Cordia Chevrolet dealership in Clymer, New York. A small-town dealership with big Chevy dreams, WJ and Jim Cordia modified Chevys throughout the 60s, making them into high-performance hybrid cars referred to as Fast Tracks. Not unlike Yenko, Baldwin-Motion or Nickey-modified Chevys, the Fast Tracks went on to be some of the highest performance Chevy muscle cars available at the time.

Lyons knew this and knew right where to find one of the nicest Fast Tracks to date- Cordia’s 1969 Fast Track Nova SS. As it turns out, Jim Cordia had bought the car brand new in 1969, naming the dealership as the owner. The car was quickly upgraded from a 396 L34 car to a 427-weilding beast. During it’s life at the dealership, the car was also fitted with a Ron Hutter-blueprinted 402 L78 engine with 11:1 compression, a Ron Hutter Corvette L88 engine with 12.5:1 compression and a 4150 Holley carburetor, and a custom 450hp Ron Hutter 454 LS6 engine, which the car still retains. The car also received Stahl headers, Stewart Warner gauges, Lakewood traction bars, Sun tachometer, and an L88 fiberglass hood with white insert that complimented the car’s side striping and Fast Track graphics.

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During Cordia’s ownership of the Nova, it was raced frequently in the early years, laying down 11-second passes at the local track. Cordia also street raced the car a bit before putting the car in semi retirement in the dealership’s showroom. It remained in the dealership’s procession for 40 years.

For the last 15 years that the dealership owned the Nova, Lyons continued to ask Cordia about buying the car, only getting serious about negotiating a price when Cordia offered to sell it to him in 2009.

In order to purchase the Nova, however, Lyons also had to buy a no-mile 1984 Camaro Z28 that Cordia had had for over 20 years.

A price was negotiated and Lyons became the first owner of the “new” Fast Track complete with it’s original paint. Lyons didn’t own the car long, however.

That same year, Lyons got to know Tony Lucas, an avid collector of amazing Chevrolets who showed interest in purchasing the Nova. After deciding that Lucas was the right man for the Nova, Lyons sold the Fast Track.

The Fast Track name and Chevrolets that were associated with it are pieces of performance history not to be forgotten. Thanks to guys like Cordia, Lyons and Lucas, at least one of these amazing performance Chevrolet muscle cars will be preserved for the future.