This NASCAR Nova Is Born Again for the Street

Nicole Johnson's Detour

Race cars live an odd existence. Much effort is poured into producing a car that is as quick and well handling as the math and physics say it should be, only for the final car to be quickly outdated by the information learned from constructing and campaigning. Old race cars are wool sweaters that only last a season or two, but in the right hands that sweater can be unravelled a bit, reshaped, and turned into something that is still very functional, even if the new product serves a very different purpose.

I found this Chevrolet Nova while doing my cursory coffee and YouTube scrolling over the weekend, where the near-Petty Blue caught my eye just enough to get me to click on the video from Nicole Johnson’s Detour to see what the story was. And what a story it was.

The car belongs to Lance Smith, a man who not only shares my last name but my penchant for building things, though he is no relation. Smith runs a sprawling shop in San Diego with a focus on vintage race cars. Some of his projects are restorations of significant past racers, like a handful of Greenwood Corvettes, but he also likes to stockpile parts and pieces which then get assembled into street brawlers chock full of race-car character and flair.

The 1973 Nova in question is a survivor of the NASCAR Winston West series. It was built by Ivan Baldwin and saw plenty of short-track and even some road-course action before it retired and eventually ended up in someone’s side yard, until Smith came to the rescue. As it lacked a drivetrain, just about anyone else but Smith would have called the car rough. Instead, he saw it as a great starting point and dropped in a 358-cid small-block Chevy topped off with perfect gold Moroso valve covers and backed by a Muncie M22 Rock Crusher four-speed. Smith retained as much as possible from its side-yard condition, while also returning the car to a functioning form.

And not merely functioning, either, but street legal. A grille and headlights brought some road-worthy flair to the front end while the stock taillights returned out back. Though most of the parts are old race bits, the clutch is one item Smith knew to keep extra street friendly. The rear gear is also more streetable, at 3.76 to 1. Inside, there are zero concessions, though, as the steering wheel is still quite large in order to give you the only help you’ll get changing the direction of the big front tires. No power for the brakes, either.

Would I want to commute in this Nova? Maybe on a cool fall day, but certainly not most days. That said, this car wasn’t built to commute. It was built to be a way to experience the race cars of old while also keeping them out of the scrap pile. We think it does that in spades, and there would be nothing quite like spending an afternoon ripping around shifting through the short, straight-cut gears of the Muncie and listening to them whine. It might not be comfortable, or as fast as it once was, but the car certainly has character, and that makes it a pretty darn cool project.

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Comments

    We had a guy local that used to have a NASCAR Truck. It was the Tide Truck from DW. He put on the rain tires. It had a wiper and lights. It was fully legal. It was cool to see on the road.

    I like seeing old race cars being made legal to drive.

    I really enjoy Nicole’s show. She asks intelligent questions, geeks out over the right stuff, and the blast she seems to be having is infectious. The Lynn Park Cobra episode is great, and if you want to laugh, the episode with Coby’s 34 coupe from South City that she did with Bill Ganahl is hilarious. I don’t know how they stopped laughing long enough to shoot the serious stuff and drive the car! A welcome ray of sunshine in the midwest winter. We’re halfway through!

    Thanks for sharing our video, Kyle! The Nova was a fun discovery for me, and now I’m just dying to get back to Lance’s shop!

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