Always liked these little first-gen Novas....

I always liked that body style. The 66 and 67 were slightly more aggressive looking than the 65.

I owned one for about nine months. We did some body work, painted it, did mostly new trim pieces and put in the engine and rebuilt transmission from a much later Formula. Never did any interior work to it and it was visually rough. I drove it for maybe five months and sold it to a guy for decent a chunk of profit.

I bought mine as a roller from a buddy that had it for a while as a project car, but ended up getting a super sweet little 1965 which is what he wanted. It wasn't fast or rumbly at all, but it was really quaint.
 
Built allot of these in the eighties, the suspension, brakes and limited slip rear differential from the Nova station wagon (and no, they’re not the same) made a big difference driving this car when putting in a 327/T-10 combo. So many people built up these cars instead of buying a junk car....
 
I had the earlier version, (square taillights). Body was rock solid, no rust anywhere. No motor/tranny or interior. I should of NEVER got rid of it.
 
Small light car with plenty of room under the hood to stuff just about anything in there. Gotta love 'em!
 
The car the OP posted is a 2nd gen Chevy II/Nova.
  • 1st gen was 1962-1965
  • 2nd gen was 1966-1967
  • 3rd gen was 1968-1974
  • 4th gen was 1975-1979

There was a so-called 5th gen in the 80s but it was based on a Japanese Mitsubishi and is usually not included as a real Nova by the afficionados. I posted my '65 earlier. It is the Johnny Lightning Nova from the "Muscle Car USA" series. My car is pictured on the packaging.

Here's my '65 SS. It is a 1st gen.....

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Here's my '65 SS pictured on the Johnny Lightning packaging. It is the Johnny Lightning Nova.

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I've had several 63-67 models over the years and still have two - a 1964 Nova SS pro street car that I have owned since 1982 and the 1965 that I have owned for almost 20 years now. I also had a 1966 drag car and a 1963 sport coupe along with a 1965 4-door. I am a charter member of the largest Chevy II/Nova club in the world NNN (National Nostalgic Nova) and a longtime member of Steve's Nova Site (the largest nova forum).

What can I say? I like Novas!

National Nostalgic Nova: http://www.nnnova.com/default.asp

Steve's Nova Site: http://www.stevesnovasite.com/index.php
 
My neighbor had a Chevy II and all it had was a straight six still still cruised alright though. I had a 75 Nova with a 350 and even with all the smog crap on it I could still smoke the tires. The NH winters and road salt finally ate it up bad enough I had to junk it.
 
Was never a big fan of those 75-79 Novas but I used to have a coworker that had the ultimate sleeper Nova. I think it was a '77 that was orange (not a good orange) and had a tan interior (not a good tan) and brown piping. (Brown is never good.)

On the exterior, he just made sure the inside stayed dry. It had dorky looking wheels but the observant eye would notice tires that were a bit larger than stock.

The engine wasn't too crazy but it had about 12.5:1 compression and an aggressive cam and ran on 115 octane that is widely available near some of the tracks here in Indy. It hooked up very well. It ran high 11s at IRP and was a bit traction limited.
 
There was a so-called 5th gen in the 80s but it was based on a Japanese Mitsubishi and is usually not included as a real Nova by the afficionados.[/QUOTE said:
Those were Toyota Corollas, not Mitsubishis.
 
WTF was the deal with the post-`69 Novas that made them look like they were "crab-tracking" as they went down the road ? If you were ever driving behind one, it was usually glaringly obvious, like the rear axle was tracking about 4 or 5 inches to the right of the front wheels....
 
All this love for this cute little auto that literally means "No GO" in Spanish.

That blue one that MuchoReverbo posted is stunning.
 
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