The Chevy Nova has always been one of the best-known names in the Chevy lineup. However, not many Novas made it back to SA, especially the 2 door models. This story is all about the 1962 Chevy Nova.
Photos by Melissa Maeder
Owners: David Szot-Myburg
Location: Noordhoek, Cape Town
I think to this day, SA HotRod had only managed to feature four of them. David Myburg is no stranger to the magazine as his black 1948 Chevy Pickup was in Edition 69.
David has been a major Hot Rod enthusiast for many years. He continuously tries to convince himself that after this project he will stop buying cars to fix up and show. But he just cannot seem to come to terms with not building cars. He can never turn down a bargain for an incredible car and he is quick to find potential in any Hot Rod. He always manages to convert them into something exquisite, as seen within this Chevy Nova. Whilst maintaining a full-time job, he manages to work on his projects over weekends and maybe an hour per day during the week. He is his own mechanic.
He came across the car on Gumtree and purchased it from a guy in Bellville in April 2015. It was featured in SA HotRods Magazine in 2012 as a 4 door 6 cylinder and was in full running condition. David set his sights on converting it into a 2 door and got to work stripping the car down to almost nothing. He does not believe in sandblasting as it can warp the metal so he took to the metal with a sanding block. The car did not have a lot of rust on it but it had a good few dents. Luckily David managed to take most of them out quite easily.
The hard work started when it came to doing the 4 to 2 door conversion. However, David found that sourcing parts and panels for the Nova were easy as most of them were readily available from the US. David explained that it was amazing that the 2 door and the 4 door body were the same. All the holes for the 2 door panels were right there already. When it came to the back section, he hand-formed the rear panels. After hours of bodywork, the Nova was covered in Duco 300 Black paint.
With the body done, it was time to get to work on the chassis and suspension. The chassis had some reinforced bars fitted so that it could handle the additional horsepower the engine would be creating. The front suspension was replaced with one from a BMW E36. For the rear, David imported a 4 link suspension for a Nova and then shortened the diff with a 3.25 ratio. When it came to the brakes, he went with E36 discs and callipers for the front and =\600R VR6 callipers on BMW discs on the rear.
When it came to the motor, he picked up a 305 Chevy V8 second hand. David stripped the motor and rebuilt it himself with a few new parts from Motown added which included an Edelbrock and 600 Holley carb. The gearbox is still the original turbo 350 that came with the car. Full headers with dual 63mm stainless steel exhaust finished the sound of the car off perfectly.
For the interior, he pulled out the original bench seat and replaced it with 2 front seats from a Toyota Camry. A homemade dash and consul with auto meter gauges were all beautifully wrapped in tan leather. This was done by Rowan at Motor Trimmers & Upholsterers. A set of 19-inch wheels from Good Hope Tyres were wrapped in 235x35x19 at the front and 265x40x19 at the rear.
It took Dave a total of 3 years to build the Nova and his next project on the list is a 1974 Pontiac Firebird.
Dave would like to thank:
My wife Natalie for all her help.
Frans Van der Merwe for the electrical work
Ralph at Motown Auto Parts
Rowan at Motor Trimmers and Upholsterers for the interior
Roddy at Powerflow for the exhaust
