Nova Kit Car

Where it all started

I originally purchased the car second hand in 1989. It was my dream car (well at least one that I could afford at the time). I drove the car for a couple of years and then soon started to get restless and want to make a few minor improvements. This was unfortunately the start of something that would remain in progress up until today, the continual rebuild and design process!

I have had the car to the point it was almost finished and was drivable on two occasions, each time I then decided to go back and start again by changing something fundamental that required a total rebuild. For example one time I decided that that had to cut the chassis in half and remove one and a half inches out of the chassis to correct the wheel base length so that the wheels sat correctly in the wheel arches.

The pictures of the car below are is as it was in 1989 when I first got it

The car originally had some fiberglass crazing on the bonnet so the previous owner / builder had used a sticker to cover it

The wheels were Wolfrace, as per many Nova's of that period

When polished well the original green "Gel Coat" finish would shine very well, but took a lot of work keeping it that way. The colour would not have been my first choice, but the car was reasonably well built, hence the purchase.

The hydraulic opening canopy is one of the trade marks of the Nova design and was well ahead of its time and is even being copied today (Saab Aero-X concept car 2006)

The rear end was a mark II version with a wrap around bumper

The interior was the mark II "swoopy" dash

The original engine was a tuned VW Beetle type I, it had a high lift cam and twin webers. Unfortunately I still managed to blow it up!.

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