2002 GMP 1968 Fred Gibb Chevrolet COPO Nova SS 396

GMP (Georgia Marketing Productions), based in Winder, Georgia, was started by Tom Long in 1991, first selling 1:64 NASCAR team transporters. Their highly detailed replicas now range from winged sprint cars to muscle cars to LeMans racers in a variety of scales. Most are limited in production and seem to hold their value well. I found my 1:43 1968 Fred Gibb Chevrolet COPO Nova SS 396 several years ago at a diecast collectible shop in town that has long since gone out of business.

Fred Gibb opened his Chevrolet dealership in 1948 to provide basic transportation to the people of LaHarpe, Illinois. But in 1967, when one of his salesmen, Herb Fox, bought a Camaro Z28 through his dealership for street racing, that began to change.

Eventually, Gibb and Fox hooked up with Dick Harrell, a previous employee of Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago who was then preparing Camaros for Don Yenko. Through his performance shop in Kansas City, Harrell created high-performance cars that Gibb sold through his dealership.

In 1968, Gibb realized there was an opportunity for the Chevy II in stock automatic racing classes. The Nova was available with the L78 375hp 396, but Chevrolet only offered the engine with a manual transmission. So Gibb used his contacts to order 50 Chevy II Super Sports with the 396 and a Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 automatic transmission through the Central Office Production Order (COPO) system – the branch of Chevrolet normally responsible for fleet purchases of police cars and taxis.

In addition to the Turbo 400 transmission, the COPO Novas were ordered with other performance features, included a heavy-duty radiator, 4.10-geared Posi-traction rearend, a floor-mounted shifter, steel wheels, power-assisted drum brakes and bucket seats.

Of the 50 COPO Novas ordered by Gibb, about 20 of them went to Dick Harrell’s shop where the 396 was replaced with a 427 and some were fitted with a Corvette-style “stinger” fiberglas hood.

GMP | #0495 2002 | 1968 Fred Gibb Chevrolet COPO Nova SS 396 | Matador red with Fred Gibb Chevrolet trim , opening hood | 1:43

Fitting for a model with such an incredible level of detail, this GMP model comes in a really nice clamshell case with a translucent plastic slip cover. It features vintage photos of Fred Gibb, who sold his dealership in 1984 and passed away ten years later, standing proudly next to his COPO Nova SS 396.

2012 Universal Hobbies James Bond San Monique Police Chevrolet Nova

I have only a few 1:43 scale models, but I do enjoy the extra level of detail that this larger (than 1:64) scale allows. I came across this Chevy Nova police car on eBay several years ago and snatched it up without really knowing what it was. (After all, how often do you see a model of a Nova in police livery?) I assumed I had found a unique toy that was made for a foreign market. Sometime after I had acquired the model, my wife and I bought the complete James Bond collection and watched them all. I vaguely remember getting excited when I saw a Nova police car in Live and Let Die, but still I didn’t make the connection.

As it turns out, beginning in 2007, Eaglemoss Publications in the UK released a monthly magazine called The James Bond Car Collection. Each issue came with a 1:43 diecast replica of a car from one of the many Bond films. Most of the models were made by Universal Hobbies; some later cars were sourced from Ixo. The car came in a diorama case with a molded base and a 2-dimensional scene wrapping around two sides of the case. Some models included supporting figurines or gadgets. The magazine included information and history about the real cars, with behind-the-scenes photos, interviews and anecdotes from the movie’s creators, actors and stunt drivers. The magazine and diecast diorama combination proved to be popular and continued for several years, with a total of 135 issues being released.

My Live and Let Die Nova is from issue #43. As much as I like the model, now that I know what it is I wish it was complete with the diorama case – which would have showed a scene from the 1973 film in which this San Monique police car chases Roger Moore’s Bond in an AEC double-decker bus.

I really like the clean look of the black and white fleet paint finished off with simple chrome hub caps and whitewall tires on this four-door third-generation Nova.

The model has nice details all around.

I also enjoy the wide-eyed stiffness of the police figures inside the car.

For a fictional island nation in the Caribbean, San Monique has a very nicely designed seal for their police department.

Universal Hobbies | 2012 | The James Bond Car Collection (Eaglemoss Publications) #43 Live and Let Die Chevrolet Nova | black and white, San Monique police trim, missing diorama case | 1:43