This is my 1973 Nova Custom, originally purchased new by my father in 1973 after selling his 70 Nova SS. The 73 Chevy Nova ordered with the 'Custom' package in 'Midnight Green', powered by an L65 350-2bbl, TH350 transmission and 8.5 - 2:73 Posi Rear End, rolling on Moon dish hubcaps on steel rims. Black interior, bench seats and the AM radio with optional rear speaker.

The Nova was my Dad's daily driver for many years until parking it late in the 70s. In the early eighties, the Nova was given by my Dad, to my Grandfather who needed a car to get around and to run errands.

The Chevy 'Moon' hubcaps were quickly discarded and in their place, my dad switched over to the chevy 'DogDish' hubcaps from his old 70 Nova SS. Dad had a set of Keystone Custom Mags which he purchased back in the day from a clearence sale at the Eaton's Warehouse. Eaton's was clearing them out for $25 each. Years later, I acquire another set of 'Moon' hubcaps, so I can say I have the original style hubcaps that came with the Nova.

The Nova is starting to really show it's age. It is far from looking perfect as most of the pictures may show and does have some rust. The front corners of the doors are rusting, and the lips of the rear quarters/wheel-wells are starting to be eaten up and the paint is fading.

The interior is in good shape, door/interior panels.dash pad are almost perfect. The original bench seats are showing some wear. The front bench seat frame broke on the drivers side, a few springs need to be replaced and the top of the back seat has come apart from years of the sun beating on it, wearing down the fabric. Both seats will need to be re-upholstered. In the meantime, I have another bench seat being used for the front until I can afford/get around to reupholstering the original seats. The headliner is mint, but is starting to sag and needs to be re-glued.

The exterior, the paint has faded in places and some other areas have been touched up and/or spray-bombed. From a distance, this car looks great! but up close is when you will notice the imperfections. It's what they refer to as 'The Perfect 20' (looks perfect from 20 feet away).

I have always absolutely had a love for the Nova, for as long as I can remember. The Nova holds alot of good memories inwhich I have a few examples of.

My mom has a tape recording of a conversation I was having with my other grandfather. I don't know how old I was, maybe 4 or 5. You could hear me arguing about 'MY NOVA' and how fast it was.

As a kid, I would help my dad out when he was working on the car, whether it was routine maintenance or a repair. If my Dad had the wheels off for any reason, he used to let me put the nuts back on the wheels. With my own little socket set, I would tighten the wheels nuts as tight as I could. Afterwards my dad would 'double check' my work and later would torque them.

There was another time I remember well, of the Nova being parked in the driveway and my mom and I were washing the car. I was washing the hubcap/rim on the passenger front tire when the wheel started to hiss. Somehow I broke the valvestem and the tire went flat. I was so scared!! and upset cause I had hurt the Nova. I remember Mom getting out the jack from the trunk and jacking up the car to get it off the ground and we waited until my dad got home to change it. I can still picture the Nova, there in the driveway sitting on the jack as if it was yesterday.

When I was in Grade 1, sometimes my grandfather would pick me up from school. He would tell my friends, "This is David's Car". I was the only kid in Grade 1 with his own car! I can still picture the car parked out front of the school, at the far corner of the street. Grampa always arrive early and parked in that very same spot everytime he picked me up.

June 1995, the car is mine !!, well ... ALMOST! My parents & grandparents decided to allow me to drive the Nova. This was decided after my parents bought a new car, a Buick Regal in Spring of 95 to replace the ol'K-Kar which had died. I was hard on the ol'K-kar, and my parents didn't want me to ruin their new car. I was allow to use the Nova on weekends to drive around and go out cruisin' with my friends. With the odometer only reading just over 66000 miles, my Dad took some pictures of the Nova (1995 Section), I guess these are the 'Before Dave' era. Given how I used to drive in the k-kar, he didn't know how long the Nova would last with me behind the wheel.

There were conditions to the agreement for the use of the Nova. The MAIN condition was I would drive my Grampa anywhere he wanted to go, when he wanted to go. I became my Grampa's FULLTIME personal chauffer. Secondly, the car had to remain in working/running order. There was no work to be done to the car, other then regular maintenance.

My grampa did his best to keep the Nova minty. As he saw rust bubbles or spots appearing on the car, he would sand them down and then (with a paintbrush), touch it up. My grampa was a painter by trade, so he was good at mixing the color and all ... but it was obvious he had used a brush on the car. From 20 feet away, the car did look mint ... but up close, you could really see the touchups. Still to this day, you can still see some of Grampa's touchups. (Evidence of this is seen in the 1998 section in the Photo/Video Gallery)

Over the years, I've tried to cleaned up and spray-bombed some areas effected. I did what I could, but the car needs some TLC from a bodyshop .. someone who is a professional and knows what they are doing!

The Nova was driven year-round until the Winter of 1996. I bought a 79 Pontiac Parisienne in September, it was a nice car and in beautiful shape. I was hoping I'd be able to trade cars with my Grampa, and have the Nova as my OWN. Turned out Grampa didn't like driving the Parisienne. As we now have this Parisienne to drive, there was no further need to bring the Nova out during the winter and expose it to the elements.

Before driving Grampa around in the Parisienne, he used the Nova during the winter to run his errands. Upon his return home, he'd park the car back in the garage and go inside bringing out a bucket and sponge. My Grampa did his best to wash down the car from the winter debris.

Unfortunately over the years, I have had a few accidents with the car.

October 1996, I was involved in an accident involving a pedestrian. The pedestrian was running across the road, made it across 3 lanes when I struck him in the curb lane. He took out the front grill, hood and bent the grill support into the radiator.

September 1997, some lady turned right from the left lane, infront of me cutting me off. I swerved to avoid her, but caught her with the corner of the front bumper. Took out the front bumper, fender and inner fender and cracked the front grill.

Pictures and more details of my 'Fender Benders', can be access from the 'Photo/Video Gallery - Fender Benders' section.

So after reading thru the first part here, now you can see how much the Nova means to me. I could NEVER EVER part with it, not for ANY price. (That's right ... IT'S NOT FOR SALE!)