SUBTLY PERFECT CHEV NOVA

JOSH DALTON’S ’67 CHEVY II NOVA HAS THOROUGHLY DISPELLED THAT OLD ‘ NO VA — DOESN’T GO’ URBAN LEGEND, AND IS CREATING A FEW NEW ONES OF ITS OWN

You’ll no doubt have heard that story about how Chevrolet’s Nova sold poorly in Latin America because no va essentially translates to ‘doesn’t go’ in Spanish. While the translation part of the story is technically true, the rest is nothing more than a myth — an urban legend that spread like wildfire, becoming accepted as fact in the most remote corners of the globe. Even if there had been a grain of truth in that myth, and the Nova, in fact, hadn’t gone, that would fail to apply to Josh Dalton’s ’67 — a dream of a car that looks great and, believe it or not, goes even better. Josh had played around with a few cars, culminating in a late-model HSV GTS, but he soon tired of it — the realization that he didn’t drive the HSV enough, it depreciated quicker than it accelerated, and it lacked the soul and character of an older vehicle was all he needed to begin thinking seriously about getting into classic American muscle cars and hot rods. When his best mate imported a ’72 Buick GS, Josh took the next big step towards achieving his goal — the GTS was sold, and his internettrawling sessions got a whole lot more serious. While some people know exactly what their dream car is, right down to the last detail, others don’t know until they happen to catch sight of it and realize that they’re looking right at it. It’s unlikely that Josh thought he’d be a member of the latter camp, until, while deep in one of those online toy hunts, he came across this impeccable example of a restomodded ’67 Nova. Josh had originally been looking for a ’60s-era Camaro or Chevelle, but, the more he looked, the more he felt himself drawn to ’60s Novas. Coming across this particular car switched on that metaphorical light bulb above his head, powered by a series of neuron signals it had just been made aware of concerning the perfection

of the vehicle, and Josh began devising a way of getting the Nova into his possession. Fortunately, that didn’t prove very difficult: Josh arranged to have the car inspected by carchex.com, the inspection returned a favourable verdict, and the purchase was negotiated — all without his having seen the car or spoken to the owner. That said, the Nova had been commissioned by a rich old guy, who never really even drove it, despite the top-tier quality of the build, as he had a vast collection of cars at his disposal. Some people have a hard life, don’t they? Josh contacted Extreme Global to take care of the paperwork and shipping, and a TCI four-link kit and various other bits and pieces also found their way into the shipping container. Four weeks later, the Nova was being dropped off outside Josh’s workshop. With the car finally here, it was the proverbial ‘kid at Christmas’ scenario — Josh was right in there, familiarizing himself with every aspect of the car. Even though the old guy had barely driven the Nova, he hadn’t skimped where it mattered. The workmanship was top shelf, for the most part, and the way in which the Nova had been built gave it a distinctly fresh flavour, without detracting one bit from its ’60s charm. Even so, there were areas of the car that required attention. The most obvious was the missing parking brake. This was rectified with a Lokar foot-operated parking brake. With the kit and cables installed, Josh took the car down to Paul Urquhart at North Shore Compliance Centre to get the car VINed and certified, thinking this would be a straightforward procedure for such a wellpresented car. “Boy, was I wrong,” Josh says, recalling. The list of red flags included a number of ‘defective’ items that required remedial action. This necessitated the installation of an all-new steering column, a tilt-adjustable Ididit unit, as well as the removal of the rear leaf springs. It also resulted in an earlier installation of Josh’s TCI four-link kit — “I’d already planned [to fit] it; it just ended up being fitted sooner,” he says. Although that can’t have been fun at the time, it has done wonders for the Nova’s driving dynamics. While in the US, the Nova had been equipped with a Heidts Mustang II independent-frontsuspension subframe, complete with rack-and- THE NOVA HAD BEEN COMMISSIONED BY A RICH OLD GUY, WHO NEVER REALLY EVEN DROVE IT