I bought my '91 1.0L Nova back in the Summer as a cheap car that I could use for club motorsport (Autotests, 12 car road rallies etc). I have always had a soft spot for Nova's since owning a GSI in the 90's, and when this one turned up on ebay I thought it was worth a punt. Getting a bit carried away with myself I stuck in a bid at the start price of £350 without viewing first. Not advisable with any car, but with a Nova likely to be riddled with tin worm this was potentially madness. Knowone else bid and I immediately thought what have I done and how am I going to explain this latest car purchase to the other half.
As it did not have tax or MOT I arranged for it to be delivered and kept my fingers crossed it would not be beyond repair. When it turned up I could not believe my eyes, the shell was in better condition than the GSI of the same year I had owned 17 years previously!
As it was such a nice shell my plans for it gradually changed over the next few weeks as it seemed a waste to quickly bodge it and get it back on the road. My vision for the finished project is inspired by the Group A rally Nova's, but it won't be stripped out as my lad (age 3) would not forgive me if he could not go in the back from time to time. I still want to do some motorsport events in it as I had always planned so it will be built to "upto 1400cc road going modified production sprint and hill climb regs" which pretty much fit with my plans above without too much compromise.
First on my list of things to do is to sort out the few bits of rot. In summary both rear arches, sills, front panel, boot floor and battery tray are original and solid. The door bottoms will need small repairs. The worst of the rot is the left hand longitudinal under the expansion tank. Definately an MOT failure so this is where the repair work will start.....
Anyway, I have written to much, so I will let the pictures do the talking.
As it did not have tax or MOT I arranged for it to be delivered and kept my fingers crossed it would not be beyond repair. When it turned up I could not believe my eyes, the shell was in better condition than the GSI of the same year I had owned 17 years previously!
As it was such a nice shell my plans for it gradually changed over the next few weeks as it seemed a waste to quickly bodge it and get it back on the road. My vision for the finished project is inspired by the Group A rally Nova's, but it won't be stripped out as my lad (age 3) would not forgive me if he could not go in the back from time to time. I still want to do some motorsport events in it as I had always planned so it will be built to "upto 1400cc road going modified production sprint and hill climb regs" which pretty much fit with my plans above without too much compromise.
First on my list of things to do is to sort out the few bits of rot. In summary both rear arches, sills, front panel, boot floor and battery tray are original and solid. The door bottoms will need small repairs. The worst of the rot is the left hand longitudinal under the expansion tank. Definately an MOT failure so this is where the repair work will start.....
Anyway, I have written to much, so I will let the pictures do the talking.
