This one is for the fellow long-roof lovers out there like me! This 1964 Chevrolet Nova wagon that runs when you spray starting fluid down its carburetor has been listed for sale here on eBay. The seller calls it an “outside the barn find”! Surprisingly the buy it now is a reasonable $3,600 and there’s a reserve set for bids lower than that. The wagon is now located in Grand Junction, Colorado and is apparently already on a trailer waiting for you!
While some folks really get into the faded original paint to primer look, I’m not one of them. However, for those that do like it — this car’s got it! Unfortunately it also has some rust in some typical areas, but in the first two pictures it doesn’t look like much.
Which is exactly why I included this shot (thanks to the seller for including many like this so that you know pretty much what you are getting into). Personally this is a bit much to leave alone, but to each their own. The seller points out that this body style is very lightweight and I remember seeing a lot of drag wagons in my youth. The obvious answer is a V-8, right?
But no, we are treated to the Chevrolet inline-6 when we open the hood. This is either the 194 cubic inch, 120 horsepower “Hi-Thrift” engine or the 230 cubic inch, 155 horsepower “Turbo-Thrift” engine. You can read more about the engine options here (did you even know there was a four-cylinder Nova available?) and decide if you would keep the original engine or not.
We’re not given any great photos of the interior, but I can see enough to know that it’s going to take some work to make it habitable. What do you think about this outside the barn find? Would you replace the six-cylinder?
That long roof line makes me think “shooting brake” but not station wagon. The thought must stem from a hazily remembered photo of a shooting brake from that era or earlier. This Nova could be fun with a hyper V8 but then again most things are…
Would be fun to build one of these with a modern 200+ hp GM four-cylinder, to make it fast within the economy-class theme.
Drop it on a S10 Blazer chassis including drivetrain. Restore interior. Add stereo. Mix and enjoy.
Once again cosmic car carma rears its head. Just yesterday I was followed into a parking lot by ’64 Nova wagon, red with a white roof, driven by a comely lass. Its looks very nice and is obviously repainted. I’ve seen this wagon before. I need to stop and ask her next time what’s under her hood.
Ours was badged Chevy II, or was that the reduced-calorie hp version ?
Nova and Nova SS were the top of the Chevy II line
…Or what about a 3800 GM V-6? Parts
are readily available, and a 700R4 tranny
would make for some effortless highway
cruising. This one would look great in ice
blue with a white top and slotted mags
with wide oval tires. Now these were the
first econoboxes! …Oops! Forgot about
the vintage heat and air, satellite radio,
and Bluetooth too!
I have had the idea for some time of turning a four door wagon into a two door. A good bit of work involved but possibly worth. I tend to disagree with the authors term a reasonable $3600. The FLIPPER who is selling this wagon bought is at a fair price and is now trying to shall we say double his money. I do hate flippers.
Younger brother had a two door sedan version of this with a powerslide trans. He complained it was sucking a lot of gas and had no guts. I pulled the plugs out of it and three of them had no electrode left on them and all were so carboned up it was amazing that it started/ran at all. The choke was stuck full on. After half an hour messing with it, he was pretty well pleased at how peppy it was. Never gonna win any quarter mile events but these cars were so light it didn’t take much to move them down the road. I think I’d be afraid to step on it if it had a small block in it. With the body rust issues, I think I’d have to look over the frame/suspension closely before I plunked down any money on this one. And the rubber seals around the doors look totally cooked. Gonna take a ton of cash to make this one into anything presentable.
For the past several years I’ve been following my two favorite car websites, but both have inaccurate names now. Finding cars in barns is becoming rare for the one, and the other now features such expensive cars that none of them need a trailer. I think I’ll start a new website: Flipper’s Trailer Finds. This seems to be the most common way to present a car for sale, and the only way those of us not in the business can find a project car anymore. Oh well, I only dream about how I would fix up a project car, so I guess it doesn’t matter how much money they ask for it. I can still dream and plan for free.
Gut the Lingenfelter Revenge GTO and start welding .