z-ski_jay
1975 Chevrolet Nova
I had been looking for a car to replace the LeBaron for a while. I was very actively looking for a classic Mustang, circa 65 – 68. I looked at a lot of them but all the descent (I won’t even go so far as to say nice) ones were still holding out for more than I wanted to spend. The rusted out shit boxes were right in my price range. Thankfully I at least had the common sense to not buy a project car.
I found this Nova being offered by some kid with clearly more mechanical skills than I had. His dad was a mechanic and a body man. He had used this car to teach his kid how to bondo apparently, and how to paint. He did a nice job. Except for the frumpy wheels, the car looked nice. This was easily remedied by installing a set of hand-me-down mags from one of my sisters multiple sports cars.
Now all of you car historians out there will recall that ’75 was the first year auto makers were required to have some type of pollution control on vehicles. It is the general consensus that ’75 – ’76 were not good years to buy a car. Great, now you tell me.
This car had a small block 350, a staple of muscle cars of that era. Due to the terrible pollution control mods slapped on to get this car out the door, it was rated at 102HP. How laughable. Maybe that is what it was rated for, but as my brother would tell me time and time again over the years, there is no replacement for displacement. This car was step on the gas and go. At 15mpg highway, I was glad that gas was well below $1 per gallon at that time.
I only got a couple of years out of this car but it was a fun ride, and well worth the $1k I paid for it. It eventually started to develop engine issues that I did not want to deal with. The seals leaked oil so badly I would foul a set of plugs within a month. Luckily, the cheap solution to that problem was to install a set of aptly named anti-foulers. These were basically extenders that screwed in and lifted the spark plugs out ½ inch. This got them out of the way of the slinging oil and was considerably cheaper than a ring job.
I gave this car away. It had been sitting in the driveway for 6 months (over a winter) as I had already replaced it. When they came to get it, the brakes had rusted up so badly, the car made this embarrassing squealing noise all the way down the road..
1975 Chevrolet Nova
I had been looking for a car to replace the LeBaron for a while. I was very actively looking for a classic Mustang, circa 65 – 68. I looked at a lot of them but all the descent (I won’t even go so far as to say nice) ones were still holding out for more than I wanted to spend. The rusted out shit boxes were right in my price range. Thankfully I at least had the common sense to not buy a project car.
I found this Nova being offered by some kid with clearly more mechanical skills than I had. His dad was a mechanic and a body man. He had used this car to teach his kid how to bondo apparently, and how to paint. He did a nice job. Except for the frumpy wheels, the car looked nice. This was easily remedied by installing a set of hand-me-down mags from one of my sisters multiple sports cars.
Now all of you car historians out there will recall that ’75 was the first year auto makers were required to have some type of pollution control on vehicles. It is the general consensus that ’75 – ’76 were not good years to buy a car. Great, now you tell me.
This car had a small block 350, a staple of muscle cars of that era. Due to the terrible pollution control mods slapped on to get this car out the door, it was rated at 102HP. How laughable. Maybe that is what it was rated for, but as my brother would tell me time and time again over the years, there is no replacement for displacement. This car was step on the gas and go. At 15mpg highway, I was glad that gas was well below $1 per gallon at that time.
I only got a couple of years out of this car but it was a fun ride, and well worth the $1k I paid for it. It eventually started to develop engine issues that I did not want to deal with. The seals leaked oil so badly I would foul a set of plugs within a month. Luckily, the cheap solution to that problem was to install a set of aptly named anti-foulers. These were basically extenders that screwed in and lifted the spark plugs out ½ inch. This got them out of the way of the slinging oil and was considerably cheaper than a ring job.
I gave this car away. It had been sitting in the driveway for 6 months (over a winter) as I had already replaced it. When they came to get it, the brakes had rusted up so badly, the car made this embarrassing squealing noise all the way down the road..