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A Tale of Two Novas: What a Difference a Half-Decade Makes
The rare snowstorm hit Durham, North Carolina, on a late February Friday in 1963, my sophomore year at Duke University. It was only about seven inches—a few flakes in the proverbial bucket by most U.S. standards—but it paralyzed the town for nearly a week. For a Northerner blessed with a lot of winter driving experience, good car control, and vast overconfidence beyond my 19 years, it provided some fun behind the wheel. But most Durhamites’ inexperience and incompetence in snowy conditions rendered them essentially helpless.
When classes were over, I jumped into my trusty Chevy II and launched a flying momentum run up the hill out of the engineering building parking lot … and had to slalom around a passel of cars already stuck on the slope. With universal rear drive and marginal tires in those days, most locals and southern-state students lost traction on the slightest uphill grade, spun their wheels cluelessly, then gave up, locked their cars, and walked. Bad for them, somewhat amusing for me. But their abandoned cars all over the roads made getting around a challenge.
And with no snowplows or salt for slippery roads, our college town had no way to improve the driving conditions, so only us few Northerners were mobile until it warmed up and the snow melted later that week. Everyone else either stayed home or bundled up against the cold and walked where they needed to go. At one point, the town sent out heavy road-grading equipment to try to clear the snow, but that just packed it down and made it more slippery.
In the meantime, as a “Yank” with capable wheels and winter driving skills, I found myself suddenly more popular with fraternity brothers wanting to go out to eat (or party) that weekend and for the first few days the following week. I was having great fun sliding around sideways demonstrating throttle-steering dynamics that my eager little Chevy delighted in providing … until I power-slid its right-rear wheel into a curb hard enough to bend it.
1963 Chevy II Nova Convertible
As a hardcore car guy who had survived the previous summer with a crazy-fast 1960 348 Impala convertible as my daily driver, what was I doing with such a mild-mannered ride? Well, the Impala’s muscular V-8 had self-destructed in the middle of the night north of Front Royal, Virginia, on my way to school that fall, and my generous dad had negotiated a deal with a local dealership to trade the hot-rod Chevy for a baby Chevy creatively called “Chevy II.”
The Chevy II was in its second model year since its 1962 introduction and was my very first new car—a top-trim Nova convertible in white with a red interior and then-fashionable fake-wire-wheel hubcaps. It was “powered” by a 120-hp 194-cid OHV six (thankfully not the 90-hp base 153-cid four) through a column-shifted three-speed manual.
I had had enough of big-power cars by then and was thrilled to have any car at all at school after a freshman year without one, and that six-cylinder, three-on-the-tree Chevy II proved a decent ride that would serve me well for the next two years. It was much lighter and more agile than the big Impala, responsive enough for fun driving while being both tough and reliable. And it looked good, too, especially with the top down.
With bench seats front and rear, it was also surprisingly roomy for its size. It could accommodate up to six students, which proved advantageous for 600-mile trips home to Cleveland for holidays and much longer runs to Fort Lauderdale for spring breaks. Duke had a good “Ride Bureau” that matched students with wheels to others needing rides, and I had used it several times to get home and back during my carless freshman year.
Now with my own new wheels, I offered rides to others at nominal prices and typically filled the car with paying riders willing to tolerate my somewhat scary driving on twisty two-lanes (no freeways back then, except the Ohio and Pennsylvania Turnpikes). I charged five fellow students $20 each for round-trip rides from Durham to Fort Lauderdale and back for spring breaks, and that $100 paid for my vacations. The trusty Chevy II handled well, performed flawlessly, and delivered good fuel efficiency even when loaded with a half-dozen souls. Its only downside was AM-only radio and a dearth of listenable stations between cities on the way.
When I didn’t have frightened passengers to consider, that little Chevy was surprisingly fun to drive hard, a bit of a six-passenger “sports car” compared to typical American barges of the day.
As much as I liked it, however, I replaced it with a well-used ’61 Ford woody wagon in mid-1964, when I was working as a summer intern at Chevrolet Engineering in Warren, Michigan. Why? I needed a full-size wagon to haul the motorcycle I had bought, along with all my other stuff.
1968 Chevy Nova Coupe
Fast forward four years. The Chevy II—a more conventional (and lower-cost) competitor than the rear-engine Corvair to Ford’s compact Falcon and Plymouth’s Valiant—had been restyled for 1966 and totally redesigned (on essentially the ’67 Camaro’s front-subframe architecture) for 1968. I was serving active duty in the U.S. Navy by then and needed something more practical than the beloved ’66 Triumph TR4A that had carried me through much of Europe, then a season of SCCA amateur racing, then to Navy OCS in Newport, Rhode Island, training in San Diego, and back across the country to Charleston, South Carolina, where the guided-missile frigate on which I would be Main Propulsion Assistant was in dry dock. Sadly, I put the Triumph up for sale and ordered a new third-gen Chevy II Nova coupe. I also called a friend who worked at the Ypsilanti, Michigan, plant—where I had done a three-month stint as a College Graduate in Training—and asked him to keep an eye on its assembly to make sure it was built right.
Unlike my dealer-stock, college-years ’63 Chevy II, this new one provided the opportunity to option it exactly as I wanted. I ordered it with the 307-cid V-8, a floor-shifted four-speed manual, redline radials on Rally wheels, handling suspension, and (whoopee!) a new-at-the-time 8-track tape player for in-car entertainment. Essentially a stealth Camaro with a back seat, it looked good to my eye, handled wonderfully, and performed well.
Believing I could live without it, I did not order factory air conditioning, but after my ship returned to its hot, humid home base of Mayport, Florida, I soon learned that I badly needed A/C so had an aftermarket unit installed at Sears. The fact that my dad worked at Cleveland’s Eaton Corp., which manufactured those units for Sears, may have influenced that brand choice. Then, reverting back to my adolescent need to personalize my wheels, I mildly customized the Nova by blacking out its grille and taillamp panel and installing functional fog lamps.
That Nova served me well through my time on the ship, and at one point I made a fast road trip to Biloxi, Mississippi, to meet it there for some special duty. Then I hard-drove it back to Mayport in nasty, rainy weather to meet up with a new woman friend … who ultimately stood me up. It moved me to Pensacola, Florida, for flight training; then (after opting out of flight training) to Norfolk, Virginia, to serve the rest of my Navy time as a public affairs officer on an LPG helicopter carrier.
While stationed in Norfolk, I drove it to New York City one weekend to visit a cousin, who convinced me to park it on the street outside her apartment (in a good neighborhood near Central Park) overnight and ride the subway to Saturday dinner and back. When I woke up Sunday morning, my much-loved Nova was gone, along with my complete 8-track tape collection in its trunk, never to be seen again. The cops showed zero interest in looking for it despite its unique, mildly customized appearance. “Do you have any idea how many cars are stolen here every night?” one asked me. It must have been a lot in those days.
Forlornly, I rode a train back to Norfolk and bought a well-used 1961 Buick Special compact wagon (V-6, three-on-the-tree) that would serve me through the rest of my Navy time, then back to my civilian job at Chevrolet Engineering in Warren. That crusty old wagon—which I outfitted with rear window curtains to serve as a road-trip motel room—was a sad come-down from my stealth-Camaro Nova, but it proved a reliable daily driver, until my next four-wheeled adventure finally arrived the following spring in the form of a beautiful, brand-new 1970-1/2 Camaro.
Fun that you had both! That first one sure was a nice looking little car!
I have been VERY lucky to of had a 1969 Pontiac Custom S 350/350 at 16, a 1969 Corvette at 17 as a senior in high school, 2- Triumph TR-4, a 1970 Datsun 240Z (which is the one l would like to still have) and all at the same time. As l mature l think about what l would really like to of had (and have now) and l really like the 66-67 Nova- small, powerful, and fun. Even though my Dad worked at a Pontiac dealership and he drove the all new GTO “Judge” which was an eye opener.
You lost an 8-track collection in the trunk? Now THAT’S a real crime! I used to bring my box inside every night, and thus I still have it after 60-or-so years. Those NYC cops should called in the FBI…
I was part of the design team for your Guided Missile Frigate, specifically the Propulsion Plant and machinery systems. It probably handled better than the Nova and may have had better acceleration. 🙂
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your note, but wrong on both counts. 😉 The Luce (DLG-7) was a very impressive ship, but its 1200-psi propulsion system was its Achilles heel. Powerful but troublesome and potentially dangerous, and some key replacement parts were near-impossible to get because (we were told) some suppliers were out of business. Being MPA (or Chief Engineer) on that ship was no fun, so I volunteered for flight training. Not to say the problem was your design; more likely execution and supplier issues. I could go on about steaming through a huge storm understaffed and with two of our four boilers down after returning from “refresher training” at Gitmo, and more, but I’d rather talk cars.
Your story brought back fond memories. Your Chevy II’s bookended mine, a ‘66 base two door that had been a local power company car. As such, it had the lowest possible equipment level – 90 hp six, three on the tree, no radio, A/C, or power anything. But I no longer had to share our ‘64 Corvair with my sister!
It was a blank palette. I had it repainted (1970 Camaro green), upholstered, pinstriped, gold shag carpet (woo-hoo!), F70-14 tires on chrome wheels, and yes, an 8-track. On my to-do list was a small block upgrade.
Alas, that never came to be. In January 1973 I was returning to college with my roommate on a rainy Sunday night. A drunk ran a red light, and I t-boned him at probably 40 mph. Both cars were completely totaled, of course. Luckily no one was seriously injured.
Great story! During my Navy hitch, had a 73 Nova with the 350 smog motor & 350 THM. I remember going up a long mountain slope from basic nuke propulsion school in Vallejo, CA to nuke prototype training in Idaho Falls, ID. I was towing a U-haul with 3 motorcycles & my gear. The engine temperature light started to flicker, so I rolled down the windows & turned on the heater full blast! That little bit of extra cooling got the Nova over the top without overheating. It was a reliable car & served its purpose.
I rarely see original generation Nova’s these days but Nova II’s are fairly common at a car show.
As a former 1973 Nova 350 coupe owner, this was an enjoyable story. I must say, though, that I have NEVER heard someone who had not owned a Chevy II, call one a “Chevy II”; I certainly never did, and do not now. They were/are almost always called Novas, even if that is not always technically correct.
They were called Chevy II’s in 1968. “69 was the first year they called them Nova’s.
My first car (in 1982) was an orange 1973 Nova 350 hatchback with herringbone cloth bench seats. 80K miles, paid $1000 for it. I used to park it backwards at the drive-in because we could pop the hatch and lay the back seat down to watch movies at full recline. What a great car but I was young and traded it two years later (for Mustangs).
I’d post a photo but I don’t see an option for that. 🙁
I have a 1963 Nova, 194 with powerglide, power steering and power brakes. Almost all stock original equipment. Replaced, grill, side mirrors and steering wheel. Drive it weekly. Third paint job went to a stock Chevy color, but unable to get original sea foam greem.
I bought a new ’69 Nova SS with the 350 and a four speed, but no AC. It was a great little car. As you said above, it was a stealth Camaro. My wife and I were going to college (thanks to the GI bill). On a hot day, I dropped her off to her class. I had the baby with me in her child seat. Her skin was blotchy from the heat.
I drove directly to the Chevy dealer and was driving a ’70 1/2 Camaro demonstrator when I picked up my wife an hour later. I had to blow the horn so she knew it was me. This one did not have air and the only one they did have with air was being used as a demonstrator. We picked it up the next day…my first car with AC!
In the fall of 1970 i sold my LS454 Chevelle to buy a 1970 Novs SS 350/300/4 speed as i was getting ready to move to Florida and did not think the big block would last that long. Boy was i right, to this day i still have the Nova and it has116,000 trouble free miles on it and never been into the motor or trans and it still has it’s original clutch.My 2 kids grew up with that Nova.Needless to say that Nova will stay in the family to be passed down to my son and then to his son as a car that will have a story that goes with it.
Always thought the Nova was a cool car, even being a “Ford guy”! I found the stories regarding the name interesting, especially the one that described the name meaning “no go” in Spanish. Heard one that made sense regarding GM’s other Nova siblings. The first letter of each name-N for Chevrolet Nova, O for Oldsmobile Omega, V for Pontiac Ventura and A for Buick Apollo. Of course this thesis came from the late ’70’s/early ’80’s after the name had been around for some time, and a very “fuzzy time” for this author LOL!
Awesome story. My mom drove a ’68 Chevy 2, 6 cyl 3 on the tree, black rubber floors, black vinyl seats, no a/c in upstate South Carolina. Grotto blue i think was the color. I wish like the devil I could find that car or one like it to own today. 1 of my dreams is to own a ’69 Nova SS 396, but my wallet will never allow that.
In 1978 I ordered a “Nova” from the factory in Tarrytown,I believe, loaded, how many do you see with power windows and locks; V8 with posi rear, and a partial vinyl top, it was a two door, optional wheels, everything they offered I checked the list, great car in the snow, wish I had kept it, it was really a nice looking car and very comfortable.
I got a 62 Nova out of College in Virginia and used it for work and to haul a 2 horse canvas to trailer. A hithch was welded into the frame and the car’s engine lasted about 6 years.. About 25 years ago I came across a 1963 Nova SS with individual front seats, center console, 14in wheels with spinner hub caps and powerglide transmission in white with aqua interior. it had the top 6 cyl engine 194cu and 12ohp i have kept like origina and still have and drive it. i come to appreciate the powerglide
My father bought a 1973 Nova new and I was fortunate enough to get it when I turned 16 in ’83. It was a hoss, Nova custom with full vinyl top, cloth interior, am fm stereo with not 2 but 3 speakers, a/c, front disk, 300hp 350 350 automatic, limited slip rear, rally wheels, I can keep going. It was beautiful. Then I decided I thought I needed a pickup, couldn’t afford both so I sold it, best I remember for cheap too! Oh man I miss that car. Probably had a 2nd life on the dirt track but oh the memories. Not even going to get into the fun cruising around with my arm around my girl on the bench seat, oh I miss bench seats lol. Car has been gone 34 years but my girl is still here after 38. Memories you gotta love um
Currently restoring my ‘74 Nova (last of the third gens). It’s an original 2 door bench seat 3 on floor 250 six car. The six floated a valve, so it was time for a small block. I found a dirt cheap 307 that we had bored 30 over with 305 hug compression heads. Fun little cruiser now. All we need now is to get it painted.