This Nova listed here on craigslist in Minneapolis, Minnesota was stored from 1971 until recently. From the pictures, it looks to be in perfect condition. The seller claims it only has 5700 miles are asking $27,500. That’s a lot of money, but perhaps someone might pay that much. It’s a 6 cylinder automatic without even a radio. The seller didn’t provide a picture of the engine and that makes me wonder. Making an engine look right is much harder than detailing the outside of the car. They don’t say if it runs or what mechanical or restoration work might have been done to it.
The inside looks nice, but should the end of the bench seat be squished like that?
This Nova looks perfect on every corner. If this was stored for 46 tears it was stored very well. As the seller suggests, this Nova has some interesting possibilities, including transplanting an LS. It would be interesting to see what proof they have for their claim. Is anyone else even a little bit skeptical?
the bottom cushion on the front seat looks like a recover job, that is what causes the squished look
Below door trim was not available in 1968. Had to be installed, not factory.
Afraid you are mistaken.. According to the GM Heritage Center – RPO ZJ2 coupe custom exterior package. Go to this link refer to page 50. It isn’t letting me post the pic of it
https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/docs/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits/Nova/1968-Chevrolet-Nova-Coupe.pdf
Wow! Amazing conditon. No metion of which engine it has. I am assuming an inline 6, but these could even be had with a 4 cyl. Love the “Hemisfair 68”
worlds fair plates. I like the green, and can tolerate the gold but I don’t think they really go well together. Still a very nice car.
What 4cyl did Chevy have in 1968?
153 4 cyl
Seems to be way overpriced, but that’s just me
Seems too perfect.
Would make a good SS clone. I’d drop in a nice 383 stroker with a 5 or 6 speed for good highway driving. After market AC is a must.
the 68 only SS has so many one year parts that it would be hard to accurately clone one, but I haven’t been looking through catalogs in many years so maybe that has changed. I can believe the mileage as I was given a 68 about thirty years ago and the interior was identical in wear, and color, like a step back in time, but mine had the deluxe steering wheel. also has the proper chevyII emblems front and back plus a 68/9 front bumper. looks right to me but the price is about 10k to high IMO. still a nice car!
Ad says 6cylinder automatic.
Nice car – grandpa did a good job – hope he kept the paperwork and didn’t throw out the trunk mat
craigslist ad is from minneapolis, minnesota but map is of des moines iowa.
draw from that what you will.
personally, i like the color combo but i am not rocking the price.
Nice Nova but too much $$$ for a 6 banger / auto IMHO.
My high school girlfriend circa 1976 had one of these-a ’70 in a really eye-catching blue, Rally wheels and a black vinyl roof. Looked as good as this one but much prettier. Sadly, it had the 305 and it was a pig! Dunno what the problem was with it but it got about 12-14 mpg tops! But I must admit, it drove and rode quite well and the back seat was a perfect fit at the drive-in where we never really watched very much of any movie anyway!
snuffy it was probably a 307
305 or 307,I think he was more interested in the back seat than the engine!
The last car my grandfather ever bought – Right down to the steelies and the split-bench, although his did not have the lower-body moldings… With an in-line and an automatic, wouldn’t this be considered a “Chevy II”? For some reason, even though it said so on the sides, We always called his a Chevy II, not a “Nova”.
68 was the last year of a Chevy11. Nova was a trim level in 68
Great color, would go well with some Magnum 500s.
I would say it is worth 1/3 of the asking price though.
These did have four-cylinder engines available, can’t imagine they would be any fun, but it would be interesting to build this out with a modern GM turbo four.
We saw this car on the Hot Rod Power Tour last year. It is a very nice survivor. The owner spent a lot of time cleaning up the paint. We drove along with him and his buddies for a while from Brenham, Texas to LaGrange, Texas in our 36,000 mile ’70 Chevelle.
Rob – had a blast cruising with you. I sold the Nova in this article to the guy who has it up for sale now. I enjoyed looking at your car too!
Too much money and no pics of the engine, speedo or trunk. Skeptical. But nice car. If you’re going to sell it for that price, those pics better be a plenty!!!
Like so many of these super low-milers… if it isn’t brown, it must be green.
Looks pretty nice though. Look at how straight the bumpers and grille are. I’m not so sure there’s a real issue with the seat. The dash and door panels look great. I agree, though, about the lack of enough pictures, especially underhood.
ALL YOU DUMB DOPES STOP-this is a rare base boring car that needs to be left exactly as found-it can only be stock and original once-!
you want to build a car – go find a toilet out there and start with that pilr of dag waste-
That’s correct leave it to a Chevy guy to f@$k this car up with a swap !! The reason it’s even worth anything is it’s originality!! Whoever buys this leave it alone !!
This car is not a base model in terms of its exterior. The moldings around the pillars, between the taillights, and the lower body was called Custom Exterior.
Noooo! Leave it alone! Drive it. Enjoy it. Find a beater & do the swap.
swap out engine and tranny put rims and tires on 16in on the front 18in on the back and drive it maybe tint the windows ad air disk brakes all round and then drive it!
27500 this dude has red the prices for a 68 396 and thinks his boring base nova is really something ,it is a nice car
Sorry this is a 6cyl that will never be worth anything this car has the bones for a 427 big block with a 4SPD.I’d upgrade
the brakes and suspensionand leave the rest of the car the way it is .
I agree, even though I am a big “leave it stock” guy the base model cars will never be worth anything except nostalgia. This would be far more exciting to everyone involved as a BB 4sp car. Leave the outside and everything original just put the drive train in the car that it SHOULD have been ordered with. get the right suspension, brakes and wheels in place to make sense of the power and enjoy. nice car. more pics would be appreciated.
Nobody is going to say anything about being stored for 46 tears? Well I think I shed 46 tears when I saw the price. Beautiful car, But not that that much.
I grew up with these and Chevelles, but I never until now questioned why Chevy offered both lines. Must have had similar drivetrains. Look to been similarly sized. Thoughts?
The drivers for has overspray on the rubber stoppers, but other than that the paint looks original. I’d like to see the carpets and pedals…and under the hood.
One would think 17k would be way too much…..
Lots of wear on the steering wheel where the driver’s hands went for 6K mile car. Lots of pics missing like underneath and engine that would help establish the viability of this being a low mileage survivor.
You might as well put what you want in the car in terms of engine, trans, rear axle and brakes, because once you start driving it on any regular basis, most likely the engine, transmission, rear axle and wheel cylinder seals are going to start leaking.
You might as well put what you want in the car in terms of engine, trans, rear axle and brakes, because once you start driving it on any regular basis, most likely the engine, transmission, rear axle and wheel cylinder seals are going to start leaking. This seller has not researched the values of 6 cylinder 2 door ’68 Chevy II Novas even with low miles.
As soon as you start driving it, so many things on this simple old lady car will start to change. The seats will collapse on the first over-weight buffet butt that drives it. All the suspension will need replacing, every rubber and grommet is hard and brittle. Change the climate, and the paint will go fast. An engine un-used for near 50 years will need to be taken down, cleaned and ALL gaskets replaced. At 10,000 miles, you will have another 10,000$ invested in a $17,000 car. I know, I had one with 3,700 miles . I pretended to ”enjoy it” untouched and within 2 years the car had changed so much it was no longer a time capsule.. Oh, did I say it’s a Nova? Shrink wrap it, and store it as your dream car – when you where 13.
I agree about the loss of the “time capsule” with regard to my ’70 Chevelle pictured above. (307 V8 2bbl, Powerglide, manual 4 wheel drums, factory a/c, am radio, bench seat, power steering and originally purchased new by my great grandmother) I tried to drive it for a while in stock form but it just needed too many repairs to make it reliable and safe: non-power drum brakes, damn Rochester 2 Jet that would never keep an accelerator pump in it, trashy old fuel tank and lines, etc. So the slippery slope of “fix and improve” started: fuel system including spread bore Holley, front disc brakes, power brake booster/master cylinder, rebuilt the suspension with all new reproduction parts, upgrade sway bars, etc. Still looks the same from the outside. However, every single “reproduction” part has had fitment or function issues, very frustrating. Once I get it sorted out, it will be a nice Sunday driver.
There must be someone out there who is reproducing the accelerator pumps with a seal that can handle modern corn-gas. Nice car.
Believe it or not, this car made 2 full legs of Hot Rod Power Tour without any issues at all. It cruised along at 65-70 from Cypress Texas to Baytown Texas, back, and then from Cypress Tx to Austin Tx via LaGrange without skipping a beat. This was actually the cars first trip over 15 miles after being put back on the road. Only items that were touched was the radiator (original one was cleaned and repaired), same for the gas tank, rebuilt carb, hoses, belts and fluids. Like you, we thought there was a good chance for something to break but she had less issues along hrpt better than the prostreet 70′ Nova with a LS3 we were running with. This car is a gem, and was road tested to prove it.
Someone will pay $20,000 and turn it into an LS powered pro-touring car. They won’t touch the exterior and will probably do the same with the interior.
Steve R
The car has the SS mouldings and its not an SS car so they worked on it !
Sorry Carlos, but I can’t find the SS emblems?
That is because there aren’t any..
Greetings commenters – This car used to be mine, I sold it to the person who has it up for sale now. In my opinion, it is in fact a true 5700 mile car. The tell tale signs of high mileage aren’t there, such as butt sprung seats, worn out pedal pads, wear marks on the tops of the door panels where people rest their arms, windows roll up and down like new, still has a piece of the window sticker attached to the driver side quarter window, bumpers and brightwork straight as an arrow, still had assembly line tags on leaf springs and coil springs up front etc etc. That isn’t to say that it is perfect – it is originally from Indiana, the rust belt of America. It was stored indoors but hardly, when I found it it had been sitting outdoors here in Texas for a few months. The underside is a little crusty, has surface rust on non undercoated areas. Would take a lot of time with a drill, a wire wheel and a few cans of black paint to bring it back. It also has some rust through in the driver side front floor pan, which I divulged to the current owner with several pictures. The engine bay is marginal looking, I’m guessing due to the harsh climate it was stored in for a couple decades. The person I bought it from inherited the car from the proverbial “little old lady” who traded in a 1924 Model T for this car off the showroom floor. Shortly thereafter she passed away and the car went to his family, who gave it to him but he never did anything with it. He lost all the paperwork but had the title when I bought it. Having no paperwork was the biggest downfall for it, I could have sold it 10 times if I had it. Still a neat car, I put a ton of work into it to make it look like it does right now. I have attached a picture of the car from the day I found it.. Forgive the text in the pic, all my previous pictures are currently being used by the new owner even though I requested that he did not.
Brien, thanks for enlightening us! That additional info is important to would be buyers…they’re going to find out eventually, so current seller should be a little more up front imo.
When did Nova decide to instal the all-aluminum engine? Maybe 70’s..when it died off. NEVER knew it could get up and go.
Its suprising how this Nova got so much interest with few pics. O well. We all like simething.+ Inexpensive DOES come to mind.
I was going to say it wasnt stored as nice as was originally stated when I saw the pics of the rust in the trunk, and the rust creeping around the moldings on the back window. Trunk pans don’t rust if they don’t get wet. And Brien, if you got more than 17-18k when you sold it, you did well. I truthfully don’t see more than a 15k car in my opinion.
I think this is a very nice car and I know that we all know of people that has spent more for less.
I’m gonna go with …suspicious…on this one
6 cylinder automatic with no radio. No wonder it only has these miles. Yawnnnn. Previous owner says it’s crusty underneath originality has zero value now in this case. Clean up the undercarriage and swap this with a real drive train. All of you crying about keeping it original I get, IF IT WAS SPOTLESS. This car isn’t. So go cry somewhere else.
Nice car, but I don’t see anything near $27k here, for me, not even $17k. By the time you sorted this out you could have bought a nice SS clone already done.
I don’t believe that a car this stripped came with “pretty” rocker mouldings.
What are they trying to hide?
Believe it – it was part of the exterior dress up package that this car has. It includes the rocker mouldings, trunk moulding, window trim and a couple other odds and ends. It also has the special interior dress up package. Car is definitely odd. Trust me, nothing is hiding.. I took the mouldings off to wax behind them.