I will start this thread by saying it's going to progress slow for now as I just forked out the cash for the car, hopefully I'll have some free/smaller things to do for now though.
A little history on the car, it's a 1973 Nova that started it's life as light green metallic in I believe in West Virginia and was taken to Ziebart to be rustproofed at 935 miles (have paper work on it). In 1988 it was repainted the original color and had some dents fixed by Rainbow Paint and body (not sure where but I'll look next time I'm around the paper work and update). From what I have been told (haven't carfaxed/checked/whatever to be positive just going on word of mouth) the original owner was military (according to the second owner that we originally bought the car from) and at some point moved to Shreveport at which time was then sold to an elderly lady who owned it awhile but eventually upgraded to a car with power windows and put the Nova up for sale and that is when/where my family originally became the 3rd owners of the car, around 1993-94ish.
After becoming the owner of the car my dad saved and slowly acquired the parts necessary to restore it. He got the original bumpers re-chromed, bought a parts car to steal door panels and other interior parts off of, replaced all the original weather stripping, emblems, new carpet in the interior and many many other things. A friend of the family at the time was an old school body man who worked out of a shop in his back yard and kept the car nearly two years and fixed all dents, removed door trim, and did an incredible job at painting the car. After getting it back my dad did some finishing touches on it such as adding a wooden steering wheel and a few other things a mid-thirty year old deemed appropriate in the mid-90's. Which brings us to these pictures of the car (only ones I can track down as I guess my parents didn't have a camera at the time and before the digital age of smartphones).
During the time of owning the car my dad bought and moved a house that him and my grandfather started restoring themselves, which we all know takes time/money/other sacrifices along the way with the car ending up being one of them. After promising me the car over and over for my 16th birthday my dad sold the car in 99' along with all the parts to build a 383, some rear end parts, and other things to a local guy for $5000 so he could put doors all throughout our house and do a few other finishing touches to get us moved in. Although he loves our house, and I love my dad for the sacrifices he's made to provide for my sister and I, it's been a decision he's always regretted and one I've kind of never let him forget because I wanted that car bad since I was a little kid always wanting and dreaming to drive it but never ever getting the chance other than in my dads lap.
Like I said, he sold it in 99' to a local guy younger than him who got rid of a lot of the parts, moved the shifter from the column to the floor, chunked in some shotty ricer like bucket seat, put a blower on it, removed the ac, and several other things. After all of this he tried selling it back to my dad a year or two later, to which he declined due to price and above said mods. After my dad declined the guy made a killer deal with another local fellow that we will refer to as Bob, that if he would have made my dad we would have probably owned the car again then. Well Bob and his family owned it, drove it a little and then decided to pull the motor to replace it with another that never seemed to find it's way into the car. The car sat for several years with Bob not wanting to sell it and many people trying to buy it including myself trying to inquire about it after I had my license, a job, and a little money put back. Well, one day the car was gone and no one really knew who Bob sold it to so pretty much just gave up the dream of owning a piece of my childhood..........that was until this past Monday, Feb 9th 2015.
On this past Monday a guy from Shreveport who we will call Tom, randomly walked into my family owned furniture store which is about an hour south of Shreveport. Tom walked into our furniture store because it is in a smaller, everyone knows everyone type of town. Tom came in to ask if the secretary of our store knew where someone lived because he was trying to file for a lost title on a car, we'll being a small town she knows said guys mom and called her to tell her, after talking to the mom on the phone she told our secretary "You know that's Terry's old car he's asking about...". Well, my dad keeps a picture of the Nova on the wall of above his desk at our store and while the secretary was on the phone Tom noticed this and asked to see it, after our secretary handed him the picture Tom said, "this is the exact car I have sitting in my driveway that I came down here looking for the guy about...". After figuring all this out Tom left to do a few things and said he would be back to talk to my dad and ask about the car and all.
After Tom returned my dad called me and asked if I'd be interested in buying a Nova and I said I really can't afford it at the moment to which he replied what if I said it's your Nova? Well after talking to my dad and him talking to Tom we set up an appointment to see it that Wednesday here in Shreveport. Of course, last time I saw the car it was in pretty good shape, just missing a motor. Went and looked at the car and it was in a little bit of rougher shape than expected but still super solid minus a fender and taillight panel. Tom agreed to sell the car for what he paid for it instead of asking price due to how bad I still wanted it and he said it would be a hell of a story to tell when I got it built like I wanted it. Also Tom had bought it from a good friend and the person who Bob sold it to, and shortly after buying it a grand national Tom had been wanting came up for sale and the money he got from me buying the Nova is going towards that. Made a year loan with no note on the car that I'll work to pay off quickly and then Tom delivered the car to my dads shop on Friday. I was just able to go down and check it out now that it was mine and in my Dad and I's possession.
Took a bunch of before pictures today so I would have a good base before touching anything.
and then took out my Porter cable and some Adam's Swirl and Haze, Fine machine polish, and detail spray and did a quick 30-45 minute test just to see how it would turn out and I think that with a little touch up paint and a polish it'll be decent enough for now.
Plans for now:
Immediately pay back car as fast as possible.
Cheapish/small stuff to just mess with the car.
Find an LS drivetrain and supporting parts to get it on the road, then move to whatever. Like I said, goal is to pay for the car and then get it cruising and all "restoring" can come after.
For those that are TL;DR....I bought a car that I've always wanted, happy to have it, and hope I can build it how I want slowly since I don't have Chip Foose and crew at my disposal :rofl:
A little history on the car, it's a 1973 Nova that started it's life as light green metallic in I believe in West Virginia and was taken to Ziebart to be rustproofed at 935 miles (have paper work on it). In 1988 it was repainted the original color and had some dents fixed by Rainbow Paint and body (not sure where but I'll look next time I'm around the paper work and update). From what I have been told (haven't carfaxed/checked/whatever to be positive just going on word of mouth) the original owner was military (according to the second owner that we originally bought the car from) and at some point moved to Shreveport at which time was then sold to an elderly lady who owned it awhile but eventually upgraded to a car with power windows and put the Nova up for sale and that is when/where my family originally became the 3rd owners of the car, around 1993-94ish.
After becoming the owner of the car my dad saved and slowly acquired the parts necessary to restore it. He got the original bumpers re-chromed, bought a parts car to steal door panels and other interior parts off of, replaced all the original weather stripping, emblems, new carpet in the interior and many many other things. A friend of the family at the time was an old school body man who worked out of a shop in his back yard and kept the car nearly two years and fixed all dents, removed door trim, and did an incredible job at painting the car. After getting it back my dad did some finishing touches on it such as adding a wooden steering wheel and a few other things a mid-thirty year old deemed appropriate in the mid-90's. Which brings us to these pictures of the car (only ones I can track down as I guess my parents didn't have a camera at the time and before the digital age of smartphones).
During the time of owning the car my dad bought and moved a house that him and my grandfather started restoring themselves, which we all know takes time/money/other sacrifices along the way with the car ending up being one of them. After promising me the car over and over for my 16th birthday my dad sold the car in 99' along with all the parts to build a 383, some rear end parts, and other things to a local guy for $5000 so he could put doors all throughout our house and do a few other finishing touches to get us moved in. Although he loves our house, and I love my dad for the sacrifices he's made to provide for my sister and I, it's been a decision he's always regretted and one I've kind of never let him forget because I wanted that car bad since I was a little kid always wanting and dreaming to drive it but never ever getting the chance other than in my dads lap.
Like I said, he sold it in 99' to a local guy younger than him who got rid of a lot of the parts, moved the shifter from the column to the floor, chunked in some shotty ricer like bucket seat, put a blower on it, removed the ac, and several other things. After all of this he tried selling it back to my dad a year or two later, to which he declined due to price and above said mods. After my dad declined the guy made a killer deal with another local fellow that we will refer to as Bob, that if he would have made my dad we would have probably owned the car again then. Well Bob and his family owned it, drove it a little and then decided to pull the motor to replace it with another that never seemed to find it's way into the car. The car sat for several years with Bob not wanting to sell it and many people trying to buy it including myself trying to inquire about it after I had my license, a job, and a little money put back. Well, one day the car was gone and no one really knew who Bob sold it to so pretty much just gave up the dream of owning a piece of my childhood..........that was until this past Monday, Feb 9th 2015.
On this past Monday a guy from Shreveport who we will call Tom, randomly walked into my family owned furniture store which is about an hour south of Shreveport. Tom walked into our furniture store because it is in a smaller, everyone knows everyone type of town. Tom came in to ask if the secretary of our store knew where someone lived because he was trying to file for a lost title on a car, we'll being a small town she knows said guys mom and called her to tell her, after talking to the mom on the phone she told our secretary "You know that's Terry's old car he's asking about...". Well, my dad keeps a picture of the Nova on the wall of above his desk at our store and while the secretary was on the phone Tom noticed this and asked to see it, after our secretary handed him the picture Tom said, "this is the exact car I have sitting in my driveway that I came down here looking for the guy about...". After figuring all this out Tom left to do a few things and said he would be back to talk to my dad and ask about the car and all.
After Tom returned my dad called me and asked if I'd be interested in buying a Nova and I said I really can't afford it at the moment to which he replied what if I said it's your Nova? Well after talking to my dad and him talking to Tom we set up an appointment to see it that Wednesday here in Shreveport. Of course, last time I saw the car it was in pretty good shape, just missing a motor. Went and looked at the car and it was in a little bit of rougher shape than expected but still super solid minus a fender and taillight panel. Tom agreed to sell the car for what he paid for it instead of asking price due to how bad I still wanted it and he said it would be a hell of a story to tell when I got it built like I wanted it. Also Tom had bought it from a good friend and the person who Bob sold it to, and shortly after buying it a grand national Tom had been wanting came up for sale and the money he got from me buying the Nova is going towards that. Made a year loan with no note on the car that I'll work to pay off quickly and then Tom delivered the car to my dads shop on Friday. I was just able to go down and check it out now that it was mine and in my Dad and I's possession.
Took a bunch of before pictures today so I would have a good base before touching anything.
and then took out my Porter cable and some Adam's Swirl and Haze, Fine machine polish, and detail spray and did a quick 30-45 minute test just to see how it would turn out and I think that with a little touch up paint and a polish it'll be decent enough for now.
Plans for now:
Immediately pay back car as fast as possible.
Cheapish/small stuff to just mess with the car.
Find an LS drivetrain and supporting parts to get it on the road, then move to whatever. Like I said, goal is to pay for the car and then get it cruising and all "restoring" can come after.
For those that are TL;DR....I bought a car that I've always wanted, happy to have it, and hope I can build it how I want slowly since I don't have Chip Foose and crew at my disposal :rofl:
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