Dave's "Not Another One" 1989 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 SR Project

[Dave.]

Yeap, that's right, another one!!

Got informed of this last weekend for sale in Kirby, Liverpool (Probably the only surviving Nova in Liverpool!) She's a 1989 Vauxhall Nova 1.3 SR In Flame red/pink! 2 owners from new (One in 1989 and one in 1997), recent head rebuild so runs spot on with no nasty noises or nocks, 110% original and standard! The guy Peter had bought it off eBay a few months previous with the intentions of restoring her to her former glory, but after giving in with cars he decided to offer it to me first before putting it up to the public, and for the very low 3 figure sum he was asking i snapped his arm off!

Now, the pictures really do the car a hell of a lot of justice, it makes it look mint and its not, it has a few dents and dings here and there but its overall not bad for a 24 year old Nova, especially a SR! Here's a few pics i've got from the guy selling it (Can see the 1/4 panel that didn't come up so well with the G3 that may need a repaint)







Anyways upon getting it home i removed the wings, front bumper, rear bumper and grille, and to my suprise it wasn't as bad as i first dreaded, its had a large hole in the rear chassis leg on the nearside repaired and welded up nice, there is a few holes in the rear panel but nothing other than cosmetics, the offside front wing/headlight part where they all go is pretty much gone, but again an easy fix, and there is a few patches on the sills that have already been done and welded up. But nothing that can't be fixed with a few hours of hard work and a few coats of under seal. The guy also gave me a replacement bootlid to put on as the current one has very bad laquer peel, pretty handy that the boot he gave me is a flame red 1.3 SR one with everything intact! so a nice easy straight swap one sunny afternoon!

Plans are to keep it pretty much standard, original Mk1 exhaust system going back on (Cheers Chris) A uncut rear bumper where some tool had fitted the wrong Mk2 backbox! Weld up all the cosmetic holes, Possibley lower it 40mm but not too much, and run it on my 14" GTE steels with my Belmont SRi wheeltrims or a set of original 3 spokes if i can find a set, for old skool freshness! Also replace the wings at some point as they're pretty rottern but will tart up so they are presentable for now. Plan to use it throughout the winter as the Cavalier SRi is just too clean to use and abuse. The SR (Vicky) is currently sat next to my other two Nova's (White Valver and gold Saloon) in the garage so she's in a loving family

Cheers guys! Will upload more pics this weekend with progress 3 Nova's, a Cavalier and a Mini...

[brainsnova]

Looks pretty good from the pics and if you have the space then you can't turn down a cheap 1.3sr

[chrisd1986]

No worries mate, ive got a n/s sill repare pannel here if you want to use part of it for it i can bring down with me aswell. And im shocked that you got keys instead of a screwdriver , all my old novas had the snapped colum option aswell as aircon(door bent back)

[Ernie]

Nice find Dave.

[joff-turbo-nova]

Nice project , if its an 1989 car you may find that its carmine red , my 1988 SR was carmine - the paint code on the slam panel should confirm.

[Dave.]

This also has "scouse aircon" on one door yeah the sill panel would actually be a big help cheers

[chrisd1986]

£20 to you mate

[Pulsar_stu]

Looks a nice honest car sr's are popping up all over the place recently

[Nova00]

Looking like one SR will be saved.
Unfortunately many SR projects are not kept even if completed.

[Dave.]

It's hard to find them now, GTEs and GSIs were the ones to have. Picking a shed load of parts up tonight to sort her out