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economist suntribune wheels thursday july u 2002 23 if you sit around long enough with a bunch of car guys chances are the conversation will eventually wind its way to a certain cream puff that gar ners comments such as they sure dont make them like that anymore maybe it was a sweet 63 splitwindow corvette a 440 cuda or a shelby mustang but a chevy nova as a vehicle of wor ship simply put the 196872 novas chevy ii for 1968 were for the most part unglam- orous breadandbutter grocerygetters that lacked the pedigree of the cars so passion ately pampered and drooled over at todays car shows they dont fetch big bucks at auc tions and necks seldom snap even when a pristine example cruises by in truth the vast majority of novas sold had four doors andor were powered by thrifty sixcylinder engines even a fourcylin der was offered until 1970 they were part of chevys compactcar family whose first duty was to provide ab transportation what more did it need to do chevrolet already had its powerhouse camaro and curvaceous chevelle both charged with the task of cleaning up the competition on the race track as well as the street like so many other cars of the day how ever the nova was transformed into a stout performer that although not the huge sales success of its siblings had more than enough charm to earn they-dont-make-em- likethatanymore comments originally built to do battle with fords falcon the chevy ii as it was called was in need of a remake to keep up with the times and stem a decline in sales this took place for 1968 borrowing the floorpan forward sub- frame and most suspension pieces from the camaro and the semifastback look of the chevelle the new chevy ii nova in two- door livery could best be described as the offspring of the two platforms as a bonus the novas frontrear weight balance was better than the camaros and the simple minimalist allbusiness styling was refreshing in a day and age when stripes cartoon characters and other gim micks were part and parcel of what the hip highprofile buy ing public wanted so why does this car qualify for finelines status the nova as history would reveal was one of the most honest and hardworking cars available at the time the fact that it did triple duty as a thrifty family hauler sporty twodoor and youthful mus- cle machine only bears this out for 1 968 the first year of the remake sales approached the 200000 mark only 1270 came with the 90- horsepower fourcylinder while about 130000 came with the straight six nearly 50000 v8powered novas were sold and came equipped with everything from a 283 307 327 and 350 all the way up to the 396 big block the 1 968 base price for a twodoor v8- powered chevy ii nova was less than 2400 and was the key carrot dangling in front of the noses of prospective buyers for just 210 more the ss package included such goodies as special badging black- accented grill special hood ornaments insignia and 70series rubber still you had to pay more money to replace the hub caps with road wheels the 295horsepower later upgraded to 300 350 ohv v8 was manda tory motivation if you wanted to ssize your chevy ii nova of course you could upgrade to one of two versions of the pow erhouse 396 rated at 350 and 375 horse power despite the paltry ss entry fee only 5600 buyers stepped up to purchase the package making any 68 chevy ii nova ss rare especially today three decades after creation only 900 carried the 396 despite minor cosmetic variations the nova the chevy ii named was dropped for 1969 marched right through to 1970 rela tively unfettered the 396 actually displaced 402 cubic inches but was called a 396 so that it wouldnt be confused with the 400 small block word of the ss was out as more than 17000 were ordered for 1969 arid nearly 20000 hit the streets for 1970 as with all hot cars of the day 1 971 was the beginning of the performance downturn the 350 was detuned to 270 horsepower and 396 engines were conspicuously absent from the lineup the decline in the performance market that clobbered the sales of other factory hot rods seemed to only strengthen the resolve of a public that needed to have cheap fuel- efficient transportation as a result sales of the nova actually leapt to nearly 350000 units in 1 972 while ss production dropped to about 1 2000 cars even rated at 200 net horsepower the base ss 350 was no slouch and contained all the equipment available the year before after 1972 its safe to say that the gnarly nova ss was gone certainly in terms of soul the ss package became cakedress ing with little in the way of performance hardware to be found parading around in pseudosupercar garb for a couple more years did nothing to further the image of the marque and may have even done a little damage just as plymouth road runner own ers rolled their eyes at a late1970s volare- based beepmobile that shredded the origi nals image overnight at least until it was dis missed as a blip still the nova did its job as close to one million examples of the popular compact were built and sold between 1 968 and 72 although the nova may not be one of the most sought after and talked about cars when the topic of landmark vehicles and milestones ensues it was very typical of what joe or jane average were buying and for that reason takes it rightful place in halls of automobile history even if it doesnt at the dinner table jeff melnychuk is wheelhase communications managing editor and senior technical writer wheelbase is a worldwide supplier of automobile news reviews and features 1999 chev cavalier 12 to choose auto air cdcass 5 spd assortment of colours from 13000 kms stk 77 from 10495 2001 olds alero gls jet black nuetral leather 4dr v6 auto ac all pwr acces sories cd player pwrsunroof only 18000 kms stk a2200 1999 olds intrigue gl black on graphite cloth 35l v6 fully appointed power driver seat only 32000 kms slk a2163 1999 pont sunfire gt 1999 chev cavalier z24 black on graphite cloth 24l 4cyl auto ac pwrsunroof loaded only 28000 kms 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