New Guy Here

[mr.nova]

The last,is my engine compartment,the short block is in,have alot of cleaning up to do again and painting.Can't wait though to get it running again,hopefully by the end of summer.
Charlie

[SuperNovaSS]

Nice car. Cool guages. Don't get too crazy painting if its original. Its amazing how nice things will clean up with the right products and techniques. Things are only original once.

[mr.nova]

I though I would tell you guys a little history story of my car,I"ll do a short version though. My car has always been a local car.It was bought from a local chevy dealer.Was ordered in Sept. 1969 ,built 1st week of nov. 69 (11A on trim plate), when dealer received the car the guy who ordered it had to pass on it,could not afford it,price was to high.I believe it was $4400.00 new(somebody told me,don't remember now,maybe it was the 1st owner since I do know him) Car sat on the lot until the summer of 1970. 1st owner purchased it and owned it for about 1 year. 2nd owner bought it from him, then 2nd owner was killed in an accident(not in my car though)car sat for about 12-18 months.His wife finally sold it to owner #3. Owner #3 then liked the car very much and sent it to Motion Performance for dyno tuning and did some local drag racing,not much.Now in late 73 traded it in for a 70 1/2 Z/28 LT-1 Camaro that was traded in at another local dealer.Owner #4 comes along.He cherished this car very much,had a local high performance genuis(also a friend of mine for many years) work on it for weekend street races and local drag strip.Was a very hard car to beat here locally on the street ,I consider it a king then (was called a freak car meaning unbelievably fast and mostly won on the street against most anything),Has many class winnings and trophies at the track.He would not give up any of those trophies to me when he sold it,still has them.Car ran 12:97 and 13:00 consistantly on street tires.There was nothing around that could touch it. Yet it was still all stock except for headers. I remember watching it around the town getting on it and he was always a person to put the hammer down,what a show.I even remember once someone bet him he couldn't smoke the tires in all 4 gears for $50.00 and he got his $50,00,what a show that was.I was about 16 then and still will never forget that. He then rebuilt the engine(why I don't know,didn't need it,maybe just to refresh it)and changed the cam to a L-88.He never drove the car during the week,had another car,only came out on weekend nights. Then he was forced to sell it cause he was losing his license(I wonder why !) Then I came along as the 5th owner when the car was just about 5 years old.Since I knew this car very well and his brother I went to school with told me one day when I was over his house, he was going to sell it I jumped on it and found the cash to buy it in a hurry.I was now the proud owner of a king(that felt so good especially since I was only 17. The block was changed in 76 cause I had to lend the car to my same friend's cousin 1 day to get home and,well I think you can figure out what happened next.Wish I never was that nice that day. Anyway got the car running again and had a great time with it,later changed the cam to a ZL-1,drove it for 5 years that way and finally deceided it was too much for me ,required maintence went up and so I deceided to go back to stock.Also took it to Englishtown a few times and Car Craft street machine Nationals in Syracuse NY on a trailer in 84 or 85 and then stopped driving it and sat in the garage,and here we are today,starting to get it together after years of sitting.I have had the gas tank down and the back seat out over the years and never found a build sheet,oh well! Hope you liked the little story of my cars history the short version.How many of you guys know your car's history ?
Charlie

[mockingbird812]

Good stuff Charlie. Those are some great stories. I can see why you are passionate about your Nova. Welcome aboard!

[Nova Jed]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't get too crazy painting if its original. Its amazing how nice things will clean up with the right products and techniques. Things are only original once.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's some great advice.

[mr.nova]

Thanks for the great advice,my plans are to clean it up the best I can,but it will most likely have to be repainted.There are alot of chips and small parking lot dings in the paint from where it was parked before I owned it and some more since then.plus the rear quarters around the wheel openings are a little rotted,I think that is from when I 1st got it,I had to drive it through the winter the 1st year. I do have new 1/4's I bought for it back in the early 80's. I probably could get away with just repairing them or something.I'll have to wait and see when I get it running.I know what you all mean about leaving it with original paint. I'll have to wait and deceide then,right now can't afford to paint it anyway.

[SuperNovaSS]

I was talking about the underhood paint etc. also. Cleaning can go a long way. Great story.


Jason

[Dog427435]

Great storries Charlie - A lifetime keeper!

[jasonL78]

Where in up state NY are you from? Cool story and great car!

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Sounds like a great car. Like the other guys said - don't paint anything, even the outside. They are only original once, and are hard to find in that condition.

Tell us more about the Motion angle.

Also, nice clock - tells me that it's a non-gauge car, but could have a console - which is likely with bucket seats, but not required. So, is it a bucket non-console car? That would be cool, as you don't see that very often. Looks like you'll need some TCS stuff too!

I know what you mean about driving them, I brought my Yenko to work today - perfect weather - what a blast!



PS: forgot to add, you will most likely find a broadcast sheet (not a build sheet) in the bottom cushion of the back seat, passenger side. It is about 5x8 and it will be tucked waaaay up in there, and you will probably need to remove some hog rings to get it out. The '70 sheets don't have as much info on them as the '68-'69's, but since you have an early car there is a chance that you might find the engine code still on there. It's some great info though, so take another look!