This Car was originally purchased by my father in 1973, after he sold his 70 Nova SS. The car was a daily driver for many years until my dad parked it late in the 70s. In the early eighties, the car was given to my Grampa, who needed a car to get around and to run errands. In the years when my grampa had owned it, it was starting to wear and it rusted abit. He would sand it off and touch up the paint with a paintbrush. Sure it looks good from a distance. Up close, all you see are little blotches of paint here and there. It's what they refer to as 'The Perfect 20', looks perfect from 20 feet away.

The car does have some rust and it showing it's age alittle, and it's far from looking perfect as most of the pictures may show. The front corners of the doors are rusting, and the front of the rear wheel-wells are starting to be eaten up, but from a distance, you can't tell, this car looks great.

I have always absolutely have loved this car, when I first remember seeing it as a kid. I use to try to help my dad as a kid, while he was performing his maintenance & stuff on it. He'd let me put the nuts back on the tires after he had the wheels off, and afterwards would torque them down.

June 1995, the car is mine !!, well ... almost. My parents & grandparents decided to allow me to use and drive the nova on weekends, after my parents bought a new car in '95 to replace K-Kar which died. I was a little hard on that ol' car, and my parents didn't want me to ruin their brand new car. I was allow to use the nova for weekend cruisin'. I was told depending how I treated and drove it, it might last awhile. My dad went as far as taking some pictures of it (1995 Section), simply because he didn't know how long the car would last with me behind the wheel. The car had 66000+ miles on it at this time.

I simply baby this car, worship this car. I LOVE IT!. This car means the world to me. Words cannot explain it!!. This may sound silly, or you may be able to relate. My life seems to revolve around the nova.

There were conditions that were attached to the agreement for the use of the nova. One of the MAIN conditions was I would become my Grampa's FULLTIME personal chauffer. Anytime to anyplace, whenever he needed or wanted to go.

While my grampa still owned the nova, he work make some winter trips/short trips to Safeway or SuperValue, and the odd run out to Canadian Tire. Upon his return home, he would parked the car back in the garage, and go inside bringing out a bucket and sponge. My grampa would wash down the car from the winter debris.

The nova was driven year-round till the Winter of 1996, when I bought a 79 Parisienne in September. The Parisienne was a nice car and in beautiful shape. I was hoping my grampa would trade me cars, so I could have the nova. Turned out my grampa didn't like driving the Parisienne much. After I bought the Parisienne (1996), there was no further need to bring out the nova during the winter and expose it to the Winter elements.

The Nova hold alot of memories for me. I have a few examples of this. My mom having a tape recording of me and my other Grampa (Hartwig) from when I was a small boy. I'm not sure how old I was, you could hear me arguing with him about 'MY NOVA' and how fast it is.

I remember this next one well. My mom had the nova parked in the driveway and we were washing the car. I was washing the hubcap/rim on the passenger front tire, when I broke the valvestem somehow and the tire started to hiss. I was scared!! I was upset cause I had hurt the car. I can still picture my mom getting out the jack and getting the car up off the ground until my dad got home to fix it. I can still see the event still in my mind, of the car sitting in the driveway on the jack.

Back when I was in Grade 1, when my grandfather used picked me up from school. He would tell all my friends, "This is David's Car". I was the only kid in Grade 1 with his own vehicle. A memory which is still strong in my mind, is seeing the car is out front of the school at the corner of the street. That's where my grampa always would park and wait for me. He would come early and park in the same spot everytime.

So the Summers of 95 & 96, I had a car to cruise the streets of Winnipeg in. I put on ALOT of mileage during those weekends. Sometimes as much as 600 miles of just cruisin' up and down the main streets of Winnipeg. Friday night, my friends and I piled into the nova and we cruised till the wee-hours of the morning or until we ran out of gas.

Unfortunealy I have had a few accidents with the car. I hit a pedristian in fall of 96, taking out the hood and grill. A year later some lady turned right from the left lane, and I tried to avoid her, but just caught her with the front corner of the car. Took out the bumper, fender and inner fender. Pictures and more details of them can be access further down this page or they are in the 'Photo/Video Gallery - Fender Benders'.

Over the years, as I began to learn more about cars, we began to make some repairs/upgrades and fix up the nova.

Summer of '98, my dad & I installed some traction bars. This was due to one of the spring-plates breaking, and we were not able to find replacement plates. These plates were long obsolete. We scour the wreckers, and called around but nothing. My dad suggested we install some traction bars on the car. The Lakewood Bars replaces the stock shock plate. So my dad & I went down to Canadian Tire and ordered up and purchased a set of Lakewood Traction Bars. With the traction bars on, it had reduced my ground clearance to less then 4 inches. So now I had to becareful on my terrain as to not catch anything with the bars or get the car hung up. Noticed a difference in the ride - right away!

August of '98, the odometer rolled over. 100000 miles. Just thinking, I've put on over 35000+ miles since starting to cruise/drive the nova since June of 95. Now 13 years later (2008), I've added another 90000+ miles. The car is sitting just over 162000 Miles now. I keep the mileage updated on the 'Quick Specs/Stats' page. Most of the mileage comes from everyday driving, and ALOT of cruising around. I've made a few trips out to Kenora, Ontario and to some of the other cities within Manitoba.

In the summer of '99, I've began to pay more attention to the detailing. Taking care of the little details here and there on the car. I want my car to look it's best. I added a set of hood louvers off of a 70 Nova SS which I acquired in a deal that involved me selling my 74 Nova (Grey - Parts Car) to an old Nova buddy, whom also took the time to help install them. There just a tad too close to the windsheild, but who's gonna know :), I think they look great, I LOVE'EM!!.

I slowly began to do some detailing under the hood. I went to town cleaning everything I could. I even did a little painting here and there. My car had to look it's BEST!. I had plans of putting on a hood scoop. I acquired a medium sized L88 model scoop which I traded for, trading some parts off my uncle's old Impala. I was planning on installing the scoop on an extra hood I had. Unfortunately the hood was too rotten and as I think about it today, I'm glad I passed on the scoop.

I changed over my exhaust manifolds with exhaust manifolds off a 74 Nova parts car. The original ones for the 73 have the piping from the air pump, (which I had disconnected sometime back in 96). I switched them for the reason that I just wanted to clean up the engine compartment alittle. The manifolds the parts car were the same, but without the piping equipment. I've kept all the Air Pump equipement and the original manifolds with the piping, in the house downstairs in a box :). My Mom is REAL happy with all the nova parts piling up :). I would like to eventually get a set of headers. Before I do so, figured I might as well try and replace the manifolds myself for now. What could hurt right !??!

I detailed the set of Keystone mags I had, by repainted the black area and they turned out really well!! I had to repeat this task again in 2004, as there where a few new chips showing up. I tried a Semi-Gloss Black this time and it didn't turn out that well, so I went back to repainted the areas using Flat Black.

I added a Chevy Symbol onto my front grill from a 74 Nova. Thought it looked pretty good, so I left it on. It's funny, I've argued with alot of people because they keep telling me my car is a 74, because I have that Chevy Symbol on the grill. I tried to painted the inner area of the Chevy Symbol (which should have an plastic insert) with a tint of Green to match my car. I think it turned out fairly well!!, I like it. I got this idea from another nova owners after seeing something similar he had done on his nova. On his nova, he has his grill a tint of red like his car. I didn't go that far as to paint my grill a tint of green... :)

I've done a few times over the years to make my car kinda stand/stick out. Such as my "Happy Face" Air Cleaner lid which I made and used it back in the early days. In 96, I added an authetic Aroo-ga Horn (I've always wanted!!!), but I didn't realize the horn was a 6 volt horn and I ended up cooking it. OOPS!!.. Then I purchased an novelty Aroo-Ga horn to replace it. The Aroo-Ga horn & sound has become my trademark. I love driving around and startling people... especially in Car Parades watching people jump.

In 2000, I decided to add yet, another novelty horn. I added a 'La-Choo-Ka-Ra-Cha' Musical Horn. It's fun to honk while cruisin'/driving through Downtown especially at 1 in the morning. I always get people smiling and cheering when I honk the musical horn and TONS of requests to honk it again.

In 2003, an ol' friend of mine, whom I met while working at a Gas Station, gave me his old authetic Aroo-Ga horn out of his van and the resistor pack as well, cuz of course, it's a 6 volt horn. So now I gotta figure out whether or not to install the horn, but where to install it, as I'm running out of room under the hood :). I never did install it, as the novelty one still works and works good, so it's sitting downstairs in the workshop.

Until Spring of 2000, This car was basically all stock and all original. With the exception of the front bumper/right front fender & hood/grill, it was a numbers matching 1973 Chevy Nova Custom with a L65 350-2bbl, 2:73 Posi Rear End, No PowerSteering, all-around Standard Drum Brakes and good ol'factory AM radio with the optional rear speaker. It is midnight green (Color Code 48).

The interior is almost perfect, with the exception of the front bench seat, driver's side, which needs to be recovered and also have the frame/springs fixed. The interior is black, sport-clothe pattern on the seats and good ol'Bench seat. I've thought about putting in buckets, but I don't like the idea of having to drill a few extra holes to mount them in, plus I want to keep the car as original as possible.

In the eariler years, with the help of my father, we tune the car up usually once a year, new plugs, air filter, check timing, checkout the cap and rotor, adjust the points if necessary. Pull off the wheels, checkout the brakes and so on. Since new, my father has changed the oil every 1000-1200 mile mark. Since I've started driving it, I put on alot of miles so the oil doesn't get that dirty so we started checking it around 1800-2000 miles, and it's still very clean. One of my friends, Jeff used to use my old oil for his beater (82 Skylark), not to mention saved him some money.

Spring of 2000 brought a WHOLE NEW IMAGE to my car. With the aid and guidance of a good friend Glenn Evans, I processed to do some upgrades on the engine. The Stock setup was gone and Project: MEAN GREEN began. My upgrades consisted of an Edelbrock #1406-600cfm 4 BBL, with Edelbrock #2101 Intake, Stock HEI Unit with ACCEL 8.0 Wires, Crane Energizer CAM 272H10, Double Roller Chain, Stock Oil Pump, HedMen Heddars, and I had the Heads rebuilt. I've devoted another section with a more detailed story & pictures in the Project: MEAN GREEN Section.

Spring of 2001, I've continued with Project MEAN GREEN and had the Rear-End rebuilt and gear upgrade. I changed gear ratios from 2.73 to 3.42's. WHAT A DIFFERENCE and WHAT A RIDE!!! About 1800 miles of driving after the rebuild, my rear was houlling, so I took it back to Precision Transmission, and turned out to be a defective gear set and was replaced under warranty, no problems or hassles, and has held up PERFECTLY.

Mid-Summer of 2001, Wpg Police service started doing a crackdown on 'Modified' Cars, and performing Safety Checks on vehicles, particularly 'Older Muscle Cars'. Apparently some residents in various areas were complaining about "Loud-Revving Engines" and people doing Big Burnout Shows in City Parks and people racing thru City Parks. One of my Nova buddies got tagged and after they did a check on his Nova, he had 8 infractures. I became worried as I wasn't sure what kinds of things they were looking for in this 'Safety Check'.

I obtained a copy of the Manitoba Safety Manual and one weekend went over my Nova and did a 'Safety Check'. I had a few infractures myself. I had small holes behind my back quarters going into the trunk, my LakeWood Traction Bars hung below the rim of my wheel, and I have a small area like half the size of a dime in my drivers mirror which has peeled. A musical horn for a horn would fail, but that's alright as I have it wired up to a seperate switch under the radio. My Aru-Ga horn would pass. I still have the stock horn wired to the Steering Wheel so I'm good.

In complaince with the Safety Act, I made up a few fibreglass patches for the rear quarters, and then just black primered it. I had a set of new Spring Plates made up and removed my Traction Bars. I didn't bother with replacing the drivers mirror as there's a little story behind it.

I don't remember when or how it happened, but it was back when I was a kid. The mirror was broken somehow and my grampa took a piece of mirror, cut it and fitted it into the mirrors frame. The mirror used has a different magnification then the stock mirror and well, I've never bother to change it and it's just one of thoses little things that my grampa did to try and fix the car, and so it will stay. I never noticed the magnification difference when I first started driving the car till after I looked at a few other Novas.

So with all the little fixes done, I was back out on the streets cruising and enjoying my car and not worrying about the Cops or any safety checkstops.

Fall of 2001, I fabricated a new set & style of traction bars after my Lakewoods I had on previously, wouldn't pass on an Safety Inspection due to clearance issues. Once again with the help of Glenn, I designed and maded up a set of traction bars, a different kind they didn't replace the Spring Plate. These ones bolt to the spring, before & after the Spring Plate. I also made them to extend right to the Spring Eye instead of mid-spring like the Lakewood Bars. For more details and pictures, check out Project: MEAN GREEN Section.

2002 was a quiet year for the Nova, as I spent most of my time driving and enjoying the car.

As 2002 was a quiet year, 2003 was the opposite. Thanx to Glenn Evans again, he talked about building a killer-400 for his firebird. I started to look out for a 400 block for him. After reviewing Glenn's research/plans, I decided to go ahead and build that 400 combo for my nova. My friend Kelly has a friend in Saskatoon, who was getting married in the summer and was looking for money. He told Kelly he'd be willing to sell the motor to me for my nova. He wanted to sell it to someone he knew, and who would appreciate it. So I tore the motor apart and then built it up from scratch. All details and pictures of the 400 build can be found in Project: MEAN GREEN Section. Along with 3" Aluminized Exhaust with Flow-Pro's, subframe connectors, the nova is a sleeper ready to pounce. Surprised alot of my friends. Only Kelly, Kyle, Glenn & Dan Klim knew what I was doing. I kept the 400 a secret for a few months, and then one day updated the stats on the website, and the word spread fast.

The car still sounded the same as it did with the 350, until I upgraded to 3" exhaust system which really gives the car a whole new sound. It's quite lumpy and pretty loud (way too loud for my liking). My friends all love the exhaust and the new sound. Kyle (as seen in insert) gives the new sound, 2 thumbs up!!

2004 was another quiet year for the nova, as I had a few bugs to iron out still with the powertrain.

Not much was done in 2005 to the car, just continued to beat on it. Towards the end of the cruisin' season, I noticed that the car doesn't seem to have the jump it once did. My worst fears where that it maybe something in the motor. One night while beating on it, my friend Kris & Glenn told me he could smell that 'burnt tranny' smell. So once we stopped, I checked the fluid level and the fluid was a grey/black metallic color and stunk. A trip to a transmission shop, where we dropped the pan to see nothing but grey metallic goo covering the whole bottom of the pan. It was so thick in one corner, it left an impression/mold of the tranny pump. After a fluid change, I drove the car for another week till she basically started to really rev to move. It's an early winter for PROJECT: MEAN GREEN!

Over the winter of 2005-06, my good friend Chris Derksen rebuilt a Turbo 350 for me as transmission #2 was done. I needed a strong transmission to stand up to my beating on it and constant hard-driving. Word around town was Chris is the go-to guy. Chris owns and built up a 69 T/A Firebird which runs high-8s in the 1/4 mile. I explained to Chris that I wanted/needed a transmission strong enough to stand behind his motor. Come April 2006, Chris had a rebuilt TH350 for me all ready for pickup. Spring came a little early in 2006 and I was eger to get the car out and drive it. I went to fire up the nova to see if I could get it out of the garage. I was shocked and amazed that the car was moving under it's own power. I drove the nova very nicely as I knew the tranny was on it's last leg until finally getting around to doing a transmission swap during our May long-weekend. Thanks to Shelly for the use of her garage and Shelly & Brandon for their help in the swap.

Summer 2006, for the first-time ever, I took the nova out to the drag strip to see what the ol'girl would run. I went out there with Shelly and her Chevelle, Dan and his Charger and a few other friends.

I ran the car as-is, in full street trim/radials and exhaust. My first run was a 15.25. I was kinda shocked, infact a little embrassed. After a few more runs, and getting comfortable with the car, and learning where my shift points were, I then started to see a drop in my times. I later ran a 14.34 & 14.17. I had quit there for the morning and just tinkered alittle on the car, and watched Shelly made passes in her Chevelle. Dan Klim come over and chat it up with me. He helped me go over a few other things and I made another pass. I definitly need to paid more attention to my shifting points, because after a 14.7 run, I ran a 13.99. I wanted to make sure this 13.99 was no fluke, I made one FINAL pass and finished the day with 13.65 @ 100.89MPH. My weak point of the car right now is that damn column shifter, as it's a very sloppy shift and I believe if I can get my shifting down pat, I may be able to get closer to a 13.5 or maybe better. After 5 runs I wasn't about to push my luck as I still needed to drive 1 1/2 hours back home.

Haven't put on many miles since the Summer of 2006, or have I been to many car shows. I've been very active in a local city Ball Hockey League (WAH) and been spending alot of time at the rink, instead of out cruisin' or hanging out at the local car shows. When I have had time, I have been working/tinkering on my 74 Omega. That alone has cut alot into my Nova-time. Higher gas prices have been a factor too, and put a damper on how much 'senseless' driving I do. I find myself making small sacrifices in order to make sure I have gas for the car. I find myself hanging around a few parking lots where cruisers gather and just stand around and chat for hours on end ...

With wanting to save and preserve my nova, I find myself using the Omega as my regular daily driver, driving to and from work and all .... in any kind of weather. I find myself limited by choice, of where and when I drive the nova around. I tend to save the Nova for the night time cruisin'.

The Nova has suffered alittle in the maintenance department, as I find myself putting off small tasks, due to time or time I've spent working on the Omega instead. It's nice to have the Omega to tinker on, as alot has already been done on the nova.

In fall of 2008, I finally have a home for the Nova! Had a 26x26 garage built at my place, where the Nova now rests indoors and protected now from the elements of our climate. No more parking outside on the street, no more running and parking in parkades when it storms outside! NO SIR! I can now rest assured, that my nova has a cover over it's roof.

One of the biggest benefits, besides security, is when I work on my nova, I don't have to worry about tying up my parents driveway when I have the car in pieces. I don't have to rush, when I get frustrated, I can leave things as is and come back to it.

One of the things I will miss dearly, are the Spring-time projects out at Glenn's place. Over the past 14 years, Glenn has always had some garage space set aside for me to tinker or fix up any of my cars. I have learnt an amazing amount on from Glenn. Thanks again Glenn!!