1971 Chevrolet Nova Base Coupe 2-Door 5.0L

Chevrolet Nova 1971 Description

You are looking at my 71 Nova that took quite a bit of nerve to post to the point that I polled the members on a National website. My issue was weather or not to keep this car in its original untouched state as found or to go ahead and modify this original and turn it into an SS clone. I can't bring myself to alter the car, so I'm going to let her go. Obviously Im a bit of a purist for authenticity and accuracy. Many responded by saying, "it's only original once". My Nova was born on August 26th, 1970, which makes this a very early run for the 71 model year....which makes it even more interesting because it was put together with 1970 parts such as the rear tail lights, clear front bumper lenses, and all the parts being date coded 1970 such as the alternator, voltage regulator, trans pan, and so on. My father worked in the Baltimore plant building Chevelles and he told me that August was the model year changeover period, however the large parts bins remained on the assembly line until empty, at least the ones that were still open. You can see the blue door-jamb sticker showing the vehicle was built 8/70. My Nova was sold one month later on September 29th to a 54 year old lady named "Nellie Nichols" from Lyndhurst, New Jersy(as indicated on the Protect-O-Plate and all of the other documentation).....I think this is where the famous Hindenberg blimp crashed. The car was sold out of Laird-Johnson Chevrolet in Rutherford NJ. There is a lot of documentation here which includes her original cancelled bank check to the dealer for a grand sum of $3,322.10 and the dealers order sheet where she sat down with salesman Nick Russo ordering what she wanted on the car. Even the glovebox owners manual is marked "first edition". There's also a reciept for a trade-in of a 68 Camaro!! When I first brought the car home, knowing that it was still pretty virgin, I took out the rear seats in an attempt to find the build sheets. I found 2 underneath and a 3rd one that I left still attached underneath the drivers seat.
Ok, now for the car itself. My Nova is an Ascot blue two door with the optional white vinyl top. It is powered with a V8 307 2b carb with factory air conditioning that blows ice cubes. As you can see in the pics, the engine bay appears restored but it is not, I simply cleaned and polished where I could. The Ascot blue paint is original color, but it is a repaint from 2009?? There is no paint seams visible, even with the car doors open, but some overspray appears below on the mono-leaf springs. Again, being honest here, the car probably wouldn't fall into the "survivor" category because of the repaint and the new interior carpet....duplicate to the original blue loop carpet. There is no rust on this car other than the surface brown underneath the car. The trunk is in amazing condition and the original spatter paint still has that sheen to it. I never knew this, but the trunk matting was an option, which this car did not have, but I went ahead and put the correct matting in it. The exhaust system is still original also...definitely a low key Sunday-go-to-church sound. A light blue cloth interior with a front bench seat is in order. Even the headliner material is still tight and a pretty blue with no rips or tears. Strange tho', is the black 1970 seat belts instead of being blue. The shoulder harnesses have never been out of the holders. The only negative is a crack in the blue dash pad. I was going to replace it with a black one and have it dyed the proper blue. The original factory AM/FM radio is still there. Here's something interesting I've found and verified. The original dash speaker does not work and at some point, Nellie took it to the dealer for repair. The dealer gave her a new factory speaker but simply tucked it up underneath and wire-strapped it into place on the AC ductwork as opposed to disassembling the entire dash to get to the original speaker. This was looked at by a judge at a national event and was intrigued by the shortcut taken by the dealer....unbeknownst by Nellie of course. The steering wheel is mint with no cracks. A closer look underneath the car reveals that a lot of the cars parts still have those little coded paper tags hanging off and several original chalk inspection marks. A national judge also noted that the trunk weatherstripping rubber still retained its inspection marks. This judge wanted pictures of these marks for a book he was putting together. As you can see, my Nova is now sporting Corvette rallies to give it a more sporting look, but I do have the original hubcaps. The tires are brand new, was a little unsure of the age of what was on there, so I went with new ones. The Nova runs and drives perfectly, no wondering in the steering and it drives straight and true. I put those famous air-shocks on the rear, but saved the original spiral shocks that were on the car. I changed fluids to be sure, including tranny fluid...which is how I found the date on the pan. Again, the AC blows good and cold. A rare feature of the car is the rear window shelf defroster...kinda looks like a lone speaker sitting there. That same judge found that there is a factory air dam under the front bumper that he's only seen once before in 32 years. He believes it's part of the air conditioning system. Also in the pics, you will see factory bumper guards that unfortunately do not go with the car. These are a NOS set that I added to the car. I noticed when I downloaded pictures, EBay only allows 24 pics, so I had to be somewhat choosy even though I have a lot more pics.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some detail(s) but again, I want to be as honest as possible with no surprises. If my Nova does not sell, then no big deal, I'll keep it and enjoy. Feel free to phone me with any questions at 410-925-9311 or to come by and see the car for yourself. I do have a "buy it now price" which I call a recovery price after what I paid for the car. A $500 dollar non-refundable deposit is expected within 3 days of the close of the auction. Sorry, but this keeps people true to their word. I will be advertising locally, so I reserve the right to end the auction here on EBay. I will do what I can to assist with shipping. Good communication is key.

On Mar-13-17 at 08:13:39 PDT, seller added the following information:

I just want to reiterate that this a numbers matching car. I have also discovered that the glass fuses in the fuse block are still the original color-coded fuses that are seen selling for $20-$50 apiece on EBay. The in-dash clock still works, as well as the dash warning buzzer. The throttle response on the car is very nice with a smoothe shifting TH350 tranny. As I stated above, even the exhaust system is original, but it does have a few pinholes. I almost bought a NOS system here right in the $500 range. If the car is kept then I probably will. The car is a very nice cruiser for the Friday night gatherings and draws a lot of attention because of its clean unmolested original status. Lots of folks comment on the quiet ride of the car assuming that it was another "fire-breather" coming towards them. Again, I can't bring myself to hack up the car...that'll be for the new owner if he desires.

On Mar-14-17 at 12:11:15 PDT, seller added the following information:

Also, the coin on the dashboard is a 1971 silver dollar that I found in the car...believe it or not. It's simply double sided scotch tape holding it there. One other item I forgot to mention is how bright and shiney the stainless trim work is around the windows. The best I've ever had on any of the Novas in my past. Again, would really love to show a lot more detail with pics, but EBay only allows 24. I may try to school myself to make a video for you-tube