General Motors was the corporate metaphor for planned obsolescence, so the Chevy Nova was in some ways the antithesis of the corporate agenda. From 1968 through 1979, the Nova changed, but it always kept the same basic vibe. It could be an economy car or a street sweeper, it looked good while maintaining some anonymity, and it was customizable. For this reason, Nova’s sales never dropped off, and one could argue that they could have kept selling it for a couple more years while they got the Citation’s bugs worked out. Even today, people love the Nova, and this ’72 coupe on eBay is right in collectors’ sweet spot (’68-’72). It is a blank canvas: It doesn’t run, it doesn’t stop, it needs a bit of collision repair, and it’s solid. As the brochure said in 1972, however, “People liked it the way it was. So why change it.” Maybe you can simply fix it up and enjoy it as Chevrolet intended.
The worst news is that the passenger rear corner has taken a shunt, and that’s not going to buff out. Luckily, the Nova’s popularity will help you here; bumpers and sheetmetal are available, but I think this is a case where some good old fashioned panel bumping is in order. The door and quarter in front of the wheelwell has lighter damage, but it’s enough to make you start thinking about a complete paint job. Pewter Silver will be a tough color to match, although you may get away with painting the passenger side if you’re on a budget. An in-person assessment will be necessary.
Under the hood is the Nova’s standard 250 cubic-inch six, rated at 110 horsepower net. The best man in my wedding daily drove a ’70 Nova with a 250 back in high school in the mid-’90s; it never let him down, and he is not a car guy who enjoys tinkering. Even back then, when it was 25 years old, it was reliable transportation.
Opening the garage door would have helped this picture’s clarity, but it looks like most Novas, with a basic black bench seat up front and an automatic on the column (probably a Powerglide, still hanging on for ’72). This looks almost exactly like my pal’s ride from school.
The Nova’s seller claims to be a poor mechanic, and the ad is light on detail, but the car doesn’t run and it has no brakes. There are no pictures of the undercarriage, either. Based on what I can see, however, this car has escaped heavy salt exposure; after all, you can’t see the ground through the trunk, and that’s good. If it has been repaired, it isn’t terribly obvious. The bidding on eBay has been active; as I write this on Monday, the top bid is $6,255. This is obviously a good candidate for an SS clone, an LS swap, or any number of builds, so what would you do with this needy Nova?
Check underside and get it cheap enough and you’ve got a good car to build into a great car.
I predict someone will make this “Nogo” Nova go fast soon enough.
The Nova was a nice plain Jane to make the perfect sleeper.
That is unless one has seen the 1971 Nova used in Quentan Tarantino’s “Death Proof” with Kurt Russel. 😎
Jeff, “Death Proof” is one of my favorite movies, for many reasons including the soundtrack and the great cars. I would love to do a Death Proof Nova tribute, complete with the hood ornament. Curiously, many of the BF readers are not impressed with this film, perhaps somehow mistaking it for a chick flick and forgetting what it really is; A Tarantino movie.
I had a ’73. It looked exactly like this one. I think I paid about $400 bucks and just used it to bomb around Chicagoland. Almost everyday I had somebody stopping me to ask if I wanted to sell. It had an old crappy stock engine that was only running on 5 cylinders when I sold her. About a week later I saw it ZOOMING down the street! I think he put a 350 in the beast…LOL
The Nova and her corporate X-Body sisters were far better cars than Ford’s offerings, the Maverick/Comet twins. The Mopar twins, the Dodge Dart and Plymouth Valiant were competitive, but were also quirky, with the torsion beam front suspension in lieu of the more conventional coil springs and double wishbones the Ford and GM offerings employed. The Mopar offerings offer slightly larger V8 engines than the competition, but were otherwise very similar in size, concept and mission, basic compact cars aimed squarely at entry-level buyers, at least until the subcompacts appeared.
Looks like a good project car, up to $8600 bid so far. Adding the SS center caps almost makes the Buick wheels look correct!
Wow, its at $11,100.00 now and still going
I only drive convertibles so this never grabbed my attention but these were nice cars before the train track bumpers arrived
YOLO
Heater core’s been bypassed. Likely it leaks, so factor in a replacement. Shouldn’t be too hard on something this old.
I think you could get to the heater core on these from the engine compartment by undoing four (4) screws and removing an access panel. That was true for my brother’s ’69 Firebird. The job typically takes less than an hour if you have the new core on hand. Contrast that with today’s cars, where you have to disassemble the entire dash to get to the heater core and the job can take an entire day or more! Newer isn’t necessarily better!