Produced from 1962 to 1979, the Chevrolet Chevy II/Nova was likely the best-selling compact car made in North America. A lack of sales did not cause the demise of the Nova, as a change in engineering brought the front-wheel-drive Citation in 1980. This 1977 edition has the RPO Z26 Rally option and a somewhat rare 4-speed manual transmission. Located in New Westminster, British Columbia, this well-heeled Bow-Tie beauty is available for $28,500 here on craigslist, brought to us as a tip by “Scott”.
The final generation of the rear-wheel-drive Chevy Nova was on the assembly line from 1975 to 1979. As time progressed, Chevrolet had no trouble finding buyers, and the 1977 model year turned out to be the Nova’s 4th best in terms of sales (365,000 units). Of those, nearly 7,000 copies had the Rally option package and less than 2,000 were equipped with the M20 tranny as in the seller’s car. We’re told only 319 Novas were built with the hardware in this Chevy for the Canadian market (source?).
We’re also informed this Rally was sold new in British Columbia 48 years ago, and perhaps 83,000 miles have been accumulated since then. The seller says the compact is original and unmolested, suggesting the paint and drivetrain are from the factory. A 350 cubic-inch V8 lives beneath the hood, so plenty of power should be there with a 4-barrel carb. The car also has the sporty F41 suspension, given that the Rally somewhat replaced the SS in 1977. The interior has been refreshed to original specs.
When this Nova changes hands, it will come with a fair amount of original paperwork, including its first bill of sale and the build sheet. The listing says the car runs and drives great, so it should be a turnkey set of wheels for the buyer. This car is not as fast as, say, a 1970 Nova SS 396, but it should be pretty stout by 1977 standards.
Almost 30k seems like a stretch to me (rare doesn’t mean valuable), but the red on red is really nice, and a 4 speed is icing on the cake
But if it’s 28.5 Canadian it’s $20.4 US-and that’s not a bad price at all in my book for this if it’s really as good as it appears!
Good point, but that begs the question: Are the instruments in Metric (km/kmh) or SAE (miles/mph)? If the mileage is in metric (km), then 0.62 miles=1.0 km, so the mileage would be much lower as well (83k km is just 51.5k miles)! The four-speed and 350 V8 are plusses, as there is an almost infinite supply of performance parts for these. Headers, dual exhaust, new intake, heads, and EFI would really wake this bad boy up and cure the dismal drivability of the Malaise Era anti-smog gear! It’s even got bucket seats and a console! The only way it could be better was if it had factory A/C! Beauty, Eh?
I wonder why it doesn’t have the rally stripes??
Very nice Nova. Ridiculous price!
Great looking Chevy. 4sp and a 4-Barrel 350, 3.08 factory gear. Sounds like fun. 👍 Thanks ✍️ Dixon.
This is a great looking car! As time goes by ’70s cars have grown on me. I generally don’t comment on advertised price, because lets face it, nobody makes a full price offer right off the bat. If you want it, make an offer you can live with. You never know, the seller might be ok with it.
Very nice clean rare optioned nova. the price is a little high.
This is an interesting car to see then and now. The manufacturers were doing their best to provide a vehicle that replicated what was available a short decade earlier. Because of the Camaro and the 9C1 package you see the car before us. Optioned like a ’68 stormer but burdened by regulation. This is a cool reminder of how far we’ve come.
Chevrolet other then Corvette has no way to produce production numbers. Canada has the only way for cars sold there. Pure speculation on those total numbers
A pretty basic car with some rare options…its a $10-$15k car at best. Its probably 150hp ish? Not impressive. Cheaper than a ’74 Pinto though!
The great thing about it being a Canadian car is everything about it can be easily verified as cars made in or sent to Canada were documented to the last nut and bolt and the info can be obtained from the gub’ment.As a teen in the malaise era this was always my favourite Nova and this is the primo model.
Very nicely preserved if paint and interior are original and equipped just like you want it. Chevy did a pretty good job designing the 5 mph bumpers on these compared to a lot of the competition. Since the car is advertised and for sale on Canadian Craigslist I would hope the price is in Canadian dollars which was stated is around $20k US, a very reasonable price. I’d drive it!
Gross HP vs Net HP, in 1977 the Net HP on this was 170HP with 270 ft. lbs., that’s not bad as it might sound compared to the Gross HP ratings of the late ’60’s and early 70’s. There really isn’t a lot of difference. A ’65 289 2bbl put out the same Net HP as a ’77 Mustang II. Plus the bones are all there to get more ponies if you desire.
Not my favorite Nova body, but this one looks pretty good. Add a custom set of tucked bumpers ($$) without altering the car body would make a huge difference, and save the stock setup of course. M20 is the GM code for a 4 speed manual, but it is not to be confused with the older, stronger Muncie. This car would have the Saginaw. The earlier style rally wheels with the flat caps work well. Pretty nice car!
Exactly, most people don’t associate that the M20 can be a Saginaw when a 4spd is ordered with certain engines.
Steve R
British Columbia!!!!..now that’s a drive to go inspect a car- take 2 days to get there!!!
I have a 75 nova . I don’t care if it is a rare option car no way in heck they are getting that price for it . This generation is not a hot seller . I think 18 is a better price
Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one but it doesn’t mean they are right. I phoned the seller, he’s already got a buyer lined up who is paying full ask in CDN funds. Every car out there for sale is worth exactly what anyone is willing to pay for it which means this one is right on the money.
Rule #1- “Don’t believe everything you hear..”
If it’s a Canadian car, take a magnet with you when you check it out…
A guy can pick up a nice Gen II for that price.
After 1970 in my opinion Novas were ugly. Even a four sleep would make me want this Nova
John
I did a brief dive on importing a car from Canada to U.S. and it looks like a pain in the rump. Has anyone done that?
I just imported from Canada on a car I won on BaT. Drove across, drove car back. $154 duty which i think was 2.5% of vehicle price. Dealer had all appropriate ppwk and made it easy.
The Nova was ruined by 1973, with those hideous bumpers, thanks to the Government’s safety standards.
w/o fact a/c, not sure why, unlike on Camaros, there are no UPPER fresh air vents in the dash – espec since this gen Nova no longer has small triangular vent windows in the doors.
Do ’75 & newer Novas meant for Canada have a catalytic converter?
If it’s original paint why is there brown metallic paint on inside of pass fender an bak of fire wall???an were are the rally stripes? My father had a 77 rally sport metallic brown gold strips auto best handling nova ever made…
Nowhere in his ad does it say it’s original paint, in fact he shows a pic of the original build sheet that says the car came with “gold stripes” and gold wheels just like Phoenix Graphics display car for this model. It does say “original sheet metal” however.
No where did I advertise original paint. Car was painted in the 90’s I believe and the stripes were never put back on. The car does have all original sheet metal, no collision’s and is all original other than wheels and paint.i have the original gold painted rally wheel in the truck that matches the stripe color. The stripe decals are available.
If it were a ’77 Nova with a 3-speed manual, I’d be down!
I kind of doubt that…and that’s just plain silly anyway.
It’s so funny that none of you even look at the pictures…the build sheet CLEARLY states “Z26 SUPER SPORT” and CLEARLY shows the color it was born with from the factory.
The z26 package was ss in prior years but in 77 it still had the same designation but now rally nova as the ss was dropped. It was painted sometime in the 90’s and the stripes were not put back on but the car is all original.
Car is now sold and will remain in Canada.