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March 31, 2018

1967 Chevy Nova (Yeah, I know)

It’s safe to say that the Chevy Nova isn’t a car with a good reputation. One of history’s great lemons, featuring a prophetic name that translates to “it doesn’t go” in Spanish, it was cheap, nasty, and unreliable. This restomod fixes all that. Built by Mike Pavone of Roslindale, Massachusetts, and inspired by drag strip funny cars, this is one super Nova. When he bought the Nova SS, it had already had quite a bit of work done on it, but he had grand plans. The Nova was back-halved with a 9-inch rearend, and a custom subframe fitted to improve the original’s woeful handling. Up front there’s coilover suspension with sway bar, and disc brakes on all four wheels.

Under the hood, the original’s big-block has been removed and replaced with a 400 ci Dart Little M Sportsman small-block. This has been boosted up to 401 ci, and fitted with a custom crank and pistons, with a compression ratio of 8.3:1. The engine is finished off with a pair of Comp Turbo Technology 64mm turbos. The engine itself is hooked up to a TH400 automatic transmission. Inside, there’s nothing but the essentials. Another excellent pure racing car, this shows Chevy what the Nova SS could have been.

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