In the wake of trouble wreaked upon Chevrolet by the Corvair, the company was eager to bring forth a back-to-basics compact car. Chevrolet’s Chevy II was introduced in 1962. The boxy little sedan offered just two engines – a four-cylinder and the “Hi-Thrift” six-cylinder. The Nova 400 was the premier trim level. A V8 arrived in 1963 and thereafter, engine choices proliferated. Eventually, the Nova evolved into a standalone model, but not without passing through the purgatory of mixing the Chevy II and Nova badging for a year or two. Meanwhile, sales of “the basic car”  were cannibalized by the Chevelle, the Malibu, and later the Camaro. Externally, Ford’s Falcon was twice as successful by numbers sold. The Nova soldiered on through a gauntlet of emissions and safety regulations, badge engineering, and high gas and insurance prices, still selling a few hundred thousand copies a year. In 1975, all new sheet metal arrived, but sales began a long slide until the model was dropped in 1979. Here on craigslist is a 1978 Chevrolet Nova, priced at $12,500 and located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Thanks to Mitchell G. for sending this one our way!

Readers know by now that I prefer cars as delivered by the factory. But the ’78 Nova strikes me as the perfect platform to craft a hot rod. With its unassuming, clean styling and family-car reputation, this could be the ultimate sleeper. As it sits, that’s one of two V8s offered in ’78 in this engine bay – either a 305 or a 350 – backed by an automatic transmission. The car has a custom header and is said to run “excellent”. The underhood real estate couldn’t be much cleaner, with its painted surfaces almost as nice as the exterior. While an engine swap might be tempting, we could also say, “leave well enough alone”.

The black-on-black colors suit this body style so well. The padded two-spoke steering wheel was a safety feature. The gauges were simplicity itself – Chevrolet didn’t even bother to blank a gauge, it printed the screen and left the gauge out. The trunk reveals a predilection for a whomper of a stereo. I’d replace those mats and clean every inch of this interior to put her into condition for the show field, but this car isn’t much more than a weekend away from brilliant.

The paint is new, the tires are new; we can’t see the underside but everything else is straight as a pin. If the car passes an in-person inspection, the price seems very reasonable. So now it’s time to vote: leave this car as is, or make it into a street rod? What would you do?