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Alf’s 1965 Chevy II Nova SS still wears its original California dealer plates, decades after Hovey-Dallas Chevrolet first sold it — only now it’s a familiar sight near Seaview Road outside Adelaide, Australia, following a 2008 import. The car runs its factory 283 V8 and PowerGlide transmission, kept close to stock except for dual Flowmaster mufflers and a fresh set of mags. Read on to see how a documented, three-owner Nova crossed an ocean and stayed true to its roots.
Chevrolet built the 1969 Nova SS with the L78 396, a 375-horsepower solid-lifter big block, and then left it out of every official sales brochure. Buyers had to know to ask for it by code. Enough of them did that it accounted for nearly a third of Nova SS production that year. Read on for what the engine really was, why Chevy stayed quiet, and how to tell a genuine car from a clone.
The 1966 Chevrolet Nova SS started life as a humble compact, but buried deep in its order form was an engine option that turned it into one of the quickest bargains on the street. For 2,535 dollars, the right box checked could put a genuine performance engine under the hood of a car most people assumed was just economical transportation.
This Dallas street race leans fully into ‘run what ya bring’ territory, pitting a flat-black turbo LSx Nova against a nitrous-fed small-block Nova and a sleeper Firebird that looks far slower than it runs. No sanctioning body, no class breaks — just whoever shows up quickest. See how three very different builds stack up against each other.
Alf’s red 1965 Chevy II Nova SS still wears its original California dealer plates — despite living in Adelaide, Australia since he imported it in 2008. Two prior owners, a factory 283 V8, and an untouched interior make it a genuine survivor, with only a repaint, new brakes, and a set of Flowmaster mufflers separating it from stock. Read on for the story of how the car got there, and how the Nova nameplate itself came to be.
An orange Chevy Nova nearly put itself into the wall during a WYCO Racing Operation Octane No Prep event on Kansas Speedway’s pit road, sawing at the wheel through a violent spin before the driver chose the grass over concrete at the last second. What he did seconds later — window down, straight back to full throttle — is why this clip has stuck around. Watch the save that earned it the name Pucker Factor 10.0.
Chevrolet’s full-size Super Sport went from a genuine performance flagship in 1966 to a nearly unmarked sleeper by 1969, as buyers defected to the Chevelle and Nova and the SS427 option shrank to just a few thousand units a year. Front disc brakes finally arrived in the model’s final season. Read on to find out how to tell a genuine SS427 from a well-built tribute.
Ronson and Teri Burton’s 1963 Chevrolet Nova II convertible carries an estimated 10,000 hours of build time — roughly six years of full-time labor — finished in a custom shade called Atomic Bomb Orange that Chevrolet never offered from the factory. Burton has built more than one Nova over the years, but says he’s never seen one put together quite like this. Shown at World of Wheels in Rosemont, Illinois, the car turns a once-plain compact into a genuine show-floor contender. Watch to see what a decade of dedication actually looks like up close.