Those old station wagons keep rollin’, and interest in them shows no sign of abatement. Still, does that include all old wagons? I guess it’s a case-by-case study. Take today’s find, for example, it’s a 1962 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova four-door wagon, and it really doesn’t have much going for it other than it’s rather original. The seller details some of the improvements that have been administered, so let’s take a closer look and see what makes this Chevy tick – it appears that there was an upgrade plan of some sort in the works. Bremerton, Washington, is this wagon’s home port, and it’s available here on craigslist for $4,000. Curvette gets a tip of the hat for this discovery.

While Ford and Plymouth launched into 1960 with the introduction of traditional automotive architecture compacts, the Falcon and Valiant respectively, Chevrolet marched to the beat of a different (VW?) drummer and dropped their rear-engined air-cooled Corvair on the “smaller is better” portion of the consuming public. But that wasn’t the Bowtie’s compact laurel; they followed their competition too, and in 1962 introduced the Chevy II, a car with similar construction and layout as the Falcon and Valiant. Trim levels for the Chevy II consisted of the 100,  300, and Nova 400 series. Nova body styles included two and four-door sedans, a convertible, and a station wagon, with the total Chevy II station wagon count hovering around 60K units. The listing refers to this wagon as a Nova, and it appears to have Nova badges on the front fenders, but its plain appearance makes it look more like a Chevy II 300 series. The seller tells us that this wagon has some rust, but the few listing images don’t detail it other than the driver’s side A-pillar. The body panels appear to be straight, still wearing what is probably its original Ermine White finish, though it is now, 63 years later, faded. Interestingly, the seller states, “New floor pans installed front to back,” which suggests that there were plans to at least rejuvenate this wagon, if not undertake outright modifications.

This wagon’s engine compartment harbors a 120 gross HP, 194 CI, in-line six-cylinder engine, making the rear wheel connection via a three-speed manual transmission. Statistics tell us that of the 60K Chevy II wagons built in ’62, almost 58K possessed this six-cylinder engine as opposed to the basic 153 CI, in-line four. The engine appears to have experienced two modifications: a finned aluminum valve cover and an HEI ignition unit. The seller adds, “Brakes have been completely restored. Fuel system has been restored. New alternator. New tires. This is a running car. Needs some work on the electrical system.” If I were interested in this car, I’d want to know a bit more about that electrical system issue.

The interior is not well photographed, though the replacement floors are evident, and the front seat upholstery shows well. Beyond that, the front door panels, at least, are missing, and there are no images of the wayback.  There is an added, unknown under-dash auxiliary gauge, but beyond these observations, there’s nothing else I can tell you.

Potential here? I suppose, but I don’t know as what. One could perform a stock restore, but then what would you have? Or, you could trip the light fantastic and go for a full-on hot rod or restomod creation. That, of course, would take a lot of time, effort, and $$$. So tell me, if you were interested in this Chevy II Nova station wagon, what would you do with it?