Why Novas?

[Jack]

Another member consensus lol

After seeing interesting replies in threads about what other cars people have, or what car they would have if it wasn't for the Nova in their life, its time to ask the question - why did you buy a Nova? And for those who had one, and sold it - why did you sell up?

Me, well my sister's J reg 1.2 was a readily available step up from my crap 903cc Fiat Uno lol. I sold it after five years due to being able to afford the insurance on a bigger, better, faster and more modern car; and not wanting to waste any more money on keeping a rusty shed going.

Saloon #1 was simply a cheap taxi to get me to work and back, again sold a month after the hatch went as funding for the Celica.

Saloon #2 I bought as a cheap fast car to keep mileage off the Celica. So far, "cheap" isn't really the operative word lol

[alan b]

father had an opel garage, older brother had an astra gte, and i remember seeing a silver gsi in a very old maxpower a think, with opening back windows? aftet that i always wanted one! have had a few other cars but never sold any nova i ever had either still have em or stripped them for parts! if i cant have them nobody can!!!

[Dar]

Nice topic RJ:thumb:

For me I wanted to put a car on track to beat my dads car. Mainly to show him that (1) I do know more about building cars than he thinks and (2) To right royaly pi$$ him off by building a faster car than hislol

I had the GTI-6 but there was no way in hell I was going to put my daily drive on the track.

I actually decided and bought the engine before I had decided on a car. I decided that a Nova would be easy enough to put the engine in to and would also be small and light enough. Took me a few months to find a decent enough one. I will not be it selling either since (1) Its turned in to quite a decent little sprint car and (2) I can't think of anything else I would want to replace it with.

[Welsh Dan]

Mum owned mine from around 1997 until last september when she gave it to me. I learned to drive in it and grew to love it, I did offer Mum some cash for it but she gave it to me for free. Ideally I'd have another one when this one becomes to expensive to run as a daily drive, but I'll probably buy something newer and rebuild this one as a project - I enjoy the tinkering but I only want to tinker with one car at a time.

[Ernie]

Another Nova.

[blue_peg_16v]

well loved them as a kid ive owned 14 now, they are just cheap fun, and very easy to make very quick by dumping a big block in, plus they are now fairly rair. plus it keeps the memories of being young free and single and all the antics i got up to alive

plus ive been brought up with vauxhalls and after straying once (uno too unfortunatly) i wont again ill stick with what i know and trust

[Stuart]

isnt this the same as the "whya re we obessed with novas" thread? lol


got my black 1.2 as it was cheap (well at the time fecking loads but hey) to run/insure etc and got me learning about how engines worked etc. ran it pretty much un modded for 5 years then binned it in favor of a boaty omega. job done

[craig green]

Preferred Vauxhalls as a youngster to Fords.

I was first into mk2 Cav Sri's & esp Astra GTE's. But as I grew into my teens & neared driving age, modified Novas were beginning to take off in the magazines etc. A friend had a 1 litre as a first car & its povert spec aside, I liked the way all models have great similarity to the range topper. (You can see the A reg merit in a K reg GSi, if you get me) so I became interested in Novas.

The rest has all been a slippery slope of annual welding at the MOT centre, first experience of oral sex on the back seat & massive debt.

Excellent!

[NovaLad]

Allways thought of novas as chav rust bucket cars and i didn't want 1...

I had been looking for a car when i was 16 to start cleaning up etc... for when i pass my test.

My dad's boss's son had a nova for sale really cheap so i decided to go with it as i was in some spare money at the time and thought the insurance wouldn't be too bad on a 1.2 at 17.

Bought it and ever since i have been converted, and love them.

I am 17 now and when i pass my test i can't wait to drive her.

I think its the box shape acrhes that does it for me.

[NovaLad]

Errr and i kinda wanted a saxo before i got a Nova. SORRY! lol

[raymond]

bought an sri that had been rung to break before i broke it used it for a while then went out and bought a straight one which i later wrote off
reverted to other cars hated them drove awful used loads of fuel insurance was stupidly high
bought another nova that rotted away around me then got my current one which ive ad six months and still not bored of it

[Dave.]

my grandad had a blue mk1 when i was about 4 or 5, and my grandma owned a 5dr hatch when i was 8.. i loved them and dreamed of owning one oneday.. but i never thought it would happen at 13 lol.. and never thought id be on my 3rd lol

[craig green]

Nova's do have a likeable charm about them.

So easy to drive hard, serviceable with a knife & fork & compared to similar vehicles (Golfs, Renaults, FORDs etc) look unique.

You also have to be pretty silly (or unfortunate) to crash one.

[goldengraham]

to be honest i never liked them until i got mine, a mate from work had one for sale that his girlfriend was driving, but she just bought a scooby so she didnt need the nova lol, sold me this one cheap, and i needed a car lol so i got this nova and had it since january, now i love them and managed to convince 2 of my mates to buy novas!!!

[dannyb]

I hated them, even though my Mum owned the 5 door from 2000. It was when I started to learn to drive that I began to enjoy it, dad took me to a place to drive and he thrashed it on the way there and I remember him saying how it handled well (in comparison to a Volvo). I got my ?70 Volvo as a first car and when I killed it, I needed a cheap-to-insure car in order to get the 'drive any other car with the owners permission' on my own policy so I could drive the 7 series. I also started to do delivery driving at the weekends so needed a ecomomical car, Mums rust free Nova did all these things very well and at very low cost in terms of fuel, insurance, tax and repairs. Bought it for ?400 with a years T&T off her, had it almost 3 years and its never missed a beat over my 30000 miles of driving it.

[coochiSR]

to be honest i never liked them until i got mine, a mate from work had one for sale that his girlfriend was driving, but she just bought a scooby so she didnt need the nova lol, sold me this one cheap, and i needed a car lol so i got this nova and had it since january, now i love them and managed to convince 2 of my mates to buy novas!!!

And he forgets to mention his daily drive is a Ka, that he spends all his money on rather than insuring the Blue one! And Stuart already had hi, and Luke wanted a car, after wanting a Fabia, Fiesta and Saxo. Then came along a cheap Nova.........I think that was right! But at the end of the day my mates are even worse, cained me for 2 years about wanting to get one and bro having one etc, then he went out and bought one!

Me, well bro had a breeze blue SR that was spotless and didn't like it til i sat in passanger seat when he decided to show me what it could do, then i fell in love! Thne he had his merit and GTE which where rotten as, so never made the road. Thne when i was 16 was looking at getting a car to play with ready for the pass, found a SR locally for ?250, knowing it needed a fair bit of work so bought it and it just gets more expensive!!! Lolz, would buy another if i could get a minter that did more than 25MPG without driving silly, i would!

[goldengraham]

well when u dont pay for the car,your insurance, tax, or petrol, then i will drive the GayA!!!

meh, look at my profile lol, says i do!

[krobinson]

About 10 years ago when i was 13/14. I'd moved house, and in the local area all the young lads drove Novas. Used to always see them drive past and always wanted one.

Previous to this, in 1989 my dad bought a brand new Red merit X. ( i would have been 6! And i have vague memories of that too.

After passing my test the only car i wanted was a nova. It took me ages to save the ?600 to buy my first, with my dad telling me he would help finance a brand new corsa at the time to take me off my notion. I just wouldnt listen tho and bought the nova. I could barely put fuel in it i was on such poor wages, but i absolutely loved it.

I wrote that off, and then bought NDZ 1331 which i only broke last july after 5 years driving it.

I've now owned 9 in total, and still own two. I think i can safely say i love my novas, and have alot of respect for people to take the time to build superb examples.

Yes there are better car's out there, but i'd rather keep working on my novas. I will eventually buy a nice comfy new car, but i will always keep my Novas.

Keith

[Mike]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, i bet someone at school that id have a Nova before them, i didnt really like them then, let alone now lol lol lol

And with reference to Craig Green, yes, massive debt for a fecking sh1tty nova.......

[draper]

there was a girl at school who i fancied and her older boyfriend had a nova, i used to take the pis that he was driving a old car i as wanted a saxo - then as i started reading max power/redline/fast car etc i realised that novas were actually pretty cool, i also used to see all the local lads drive them. when my old school mate was selling his mk1 SR i begged my dad to lend me ?450 to buy it and ive been hooked since

as for what else would i have if there wasnt a nova, prob a mk2 astra lol


edit - i also decied a few years ago this 'boy racer/modified car' lark was crap and i wanted to grow up, then i found this place and all hell broke loose :D

[banny]

iv always loved novas i get so much siht for driveing them but in my area im known for being the lad with novas and get people knocking on my door for parts so evan tho thay cost me loads thay also make me money im on my 5th one now and prob not my last

[Mike]

iv always loved novas i get so much siht for driveing them but in my area im known for being the lad with novas and get people knocking on my door for parts so evan tho thay cost me loads thay also make me money

hahaha i get the same where i live lol

[draper]

hahaha i get the same where i live lol

you get stoned where you live :p

[Mike]

you get stoned where you live :p

and shot at that :thumb: dont forget that too lol

[blue_peg_16v]

iv always loved novas i get so much siht for driveing them but in my area im known for being the lad with novas and get people knocking on my door for parts so evan tho thay cost me loads thay also make me money im on my 5th one now and prob not my last

i get that too

[Mike]

Chuck Norris told me to buy one......

[draper]

Chuck Norris told me to buy one......


FROTFLMFAO

what time is it ;)

[Mike]

FROTFLMFAO

what time is it ;)

Chuck Norris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcMRkMKP_DU&mode=related&search=) time :thumb:

[dave.gsi]

ive always been a vauxhall man. my dad worked at ellesmere port building mk2 astras (maybe mk1 cant remeber!) so we always had a vaux on the drive.

dreamed of getting a white 1.3sr for years before i actually could afford a car. when it finally came to getting one i ended up with a black 1.3sr as a first car. ended up scrapping it cos it was rotten but did me for a year.

bought a red 1.3sr and smoked round in that for a year.

sold it for a silk violet gsi........which a year later was scrapped cos of rot:roll:

bought a white gsi (my fave out of all of them)......but crashed it and wrote it off.

then gave up on novas, got fed up of the bad rep, the rot etc

a couple of years later i find myself back here extremely tempted to buy another.......i must be madlol

[Rexy]

my dad used to have a modified nova saloon years and years ago. and thus i bought a nova 1.2 nova saloon with a stuffed door for ?200 that was my first car and lasted a few months then i went for a hatch and that rotted away so bought a corsa :D it was only until i started college that i saw a mint 1.0 and bought it as a project and that was annabella.

[ben doodar]

i get the question, are you the lad with the nova? alot! i once had a teenage girl walk past my car with her dad and pointed and said thats a chavs car dad. allmost went out and said no duck your boyfriends saxos a chavs car.
i love the looks you get, and people who are in there late 20s comin over telling me there mates used to have an sr with a weber carb etc. i love haven a retro car. my mate first had a mk1 sr had it sprayed this lairy orange colour and we allways used to go county laning in it, then my mate had a white sr, then a mate had a mint turbo diesel 1, i think that was on the novaload stand at pv show a few yers bk, a mate had bought a clean 1.2 merit, which now has an xe in. so i just had to have 1 i bought a 1.2 sx. i then i started workin with a lad from near manchester, whos had about 20 and all his mates have novas its so easy to get parts knowing everyone, if you ever need any help they no everthing. i then sprayed mine and did a few mods too, bad boy bonnet m5 mirrors etc. then my mate ran in the back and it was wrote off, so i finally bought my beauty grey gsi, resprayed it and tidied it all up.
ah i love it so much sum times though when the suspensions shatterin your teeth out and everything inside is rattling i some times wish i ahad aa new car.......then again no tar.

[stuartp]

my older cousin had one and all his mates!! i love rally cars and most pep down wales used them!! i love and hate plenty of nova's but it all boils down to one thing there cheap and fun!!

[Asa-James]

my dad got a 2 door saloon in about 98, and me andmy sister both learned to drive in it. i inherited it and ran it for a bit until i saw my current 4 door for ?50 at work. the bargain couldnt be missed, and it all went t1ts up from there. still want anoher one tho...

[ANDYRACER]

My brother bought one as his first car and i helped him mod it, lowering kit, 16v brakes, full gte kit and since then ive been hooked.

Had about 15 now. :D

[Matt2107]

First nova was a 1.2 Jamaica yellow 5 door.
Obtained through a friend of my dads for nothing except the ?20 cost of the diesel to pick it up on a low loader. Didn't even know what the car looked like before saying yes as it was free. It was responsible for my love of Novas. Without it I'd probably have bought something crap and rusty (hang on a sec lol) After replacing the engine once and blowing the head gasket twice it was scrapped.

1.4SR Still love this car... I wanted an upgrade from the 1.2 and this car was the only semi decent one close so i had to have it. The guy had to pay ?400 to get it through the MOT which he said it already had when I paid a deposit so he had to cover the cost of that. I kinda figured that it probably wouldn't need anymore work for a few years so I took the gamble.

Kinda paid off but eventually it needed some serious welding round the rear suspension and I was quoted ?800 so broke it for parts and then scrapped it.

1.6 GTE project which I managed to get for ?200... needed a new cam belt and still needs a windscreen. Spent a fair bit of money on this... a balance of ?7000 saw me taking 6 months off work to work on it. As you can imagine the money didnt last very long. Parts were bought left right and centre in excess of ?2000 the rest covered my living expenses. Everything is bought except for a respray.

I then lost my way slightly and had a brief spate of ford ownership.

1.1 auto G reg fiesta.. bought for ?50 replaced the gear box for ?80 sold on for a profit as it sucked a big fat cock. Driving this home with a knackered gear box from the isle of white to Oxford was hilarious. At the extremely busy ferry port I couldnt get in the car as the key wouldn't work so had to climb through the boot only to find i was using the wrong key. It would pull away very similar to if you were pulling off in 4th. It took me probably 10mins and **** loads of high revs to get the bloody thing off the ferry. All the traffic lights were green on the way home.

1.8 R reg boat of a mondeo estate. Sold on for a profit after a few months.
Kindly donated by my dad as he got a Kia ****tacar or whatever they're called. I then crossed his palm with ?300 when I sold it and kept another ?150 for my trouble.

Got pissed off with the power steering, comfortable ride, punchy acceleration and easily obtainable high speeds and decided to check out ebay for a new nova.

New years eve saw me taking a trip just up the road to buy my current daily drive.... Project Aspirin, 1.2 ltr of pure power coupled together with no power steering or air con for ?300 with 80,000 miles on the clock.

The impact of buying this car was instant... a massive smile constantly evertime i drive it. It was like I'd returned home from a long holiday away. Everything was there... pokey engine, crap ride, a few little broken parts the dreaded rust starting to show though in a of the normal places.

People always laugh when I say what car I drive... I just give them the "i don't give a **** look"

Ok i think I'm done now.

[craig green]

/\/\ Such a sad story. LOL

[Andy_L]

Well I've only ever owned three cars in 8 years of driving.

1. Rover 214SLI (You may laugh) However she was absolutely mint due to Rover having owned her for a good few years. And I enjoyed beating 306 TD's in it. However met a sorry end with a Ford Fiesta.

2. To replace the Rover I needed a car with the longest possible MOT and cheapest price. Step forward a 120K Astra 1.6GLS with 11 months MOT. Used no fuel as long as change gear under 3K anything above and she was damn thirsty, awesome whine on gearbox at high revs. Sold that to a mate.

3. Missus gave me her Nova as we were getting worried about it's reliability (!). (Not that it had broken down at this stage). Anyhow she bought a Fester Ghia and I broke down with the Nova. Distributor failure. Since then it's gone again but this time I replaced it with a brand new one. Apart from the obligitory welding at MOT time it's not missed a beat and I love driving it. Four gears wind up windows, retro is not the word.
People laugh at me in work, they don't understand bless 'em, it's just ace.

Anyhow MOT is up in January so hopefully I'll have a new job by then and can start rebuilding her as TBH I'd rather spend 5K on the Nova than buy something else. :thumb:

[Lee]

I got into them totally by accident. My first car when I passed was a 1.2 Corsa B on K plate (probably one of the first to be built lol) I hated that car, and all my mates at the time were driving VW's. I got a Cav 1.8 GL shortly after smashing the front chassis leg of the corsa on a big concrete block, and that was when I got introduced to the world of trackdays. I learnt about cars on that cav, did a 2.0 8v conversion on it, and used it for about a year or so till the head gasket exploded at Brands lol. Thats when I thought it was probably about time to move over to the high quality world of VW, and found a tidy MK2 Jetta GTi 8v. After a few years of tracking that car, as well as doing loads of engine work, I started to get discruntled by the fact that, to make a dub go quick, you have to spend quite a bit of cash (this was before the 1.8T made its debut). The non-X flow design ont he VW engines didnt help much, and also made them a pig to work on as everything is at the back, and the engine is angled backwards to aid weight distribution.

I left the track scene for a while and bought a few other VW's and the odd weird ones like my XR4X4 (i really miss that car lol)

Then, I was sat at work one evening with the Mrs, and this blue thing dripping with fiberglass appeared on ebay. It had 1 hour to go. For some bizarre reason, i had a bid, and I won it!!

Now this car was a lemon! The wiring was appauling, the engine had been fitted wrong, basically, if it was any other car id have cut my losses and run away, but i stuck with it, and 2 years later i had the blue beast as it was before it died. The blue one also got me back into track daying, and TBH, i probably wouldnt have taken it so seriously, but I met Dar.. and that changed things somewhat. He gave me the bug back that Id lost years ago, and now im well and truely hooked again. What a bastid!

And I really do believe there isnt a car out there that can give you as much track buzz for the buck. Yes theres loads of more capable cars out there, and theres loads of cheaper ones as well, but there definately isnt a car that goes so well for what you spend.

[hendrix]

I baught my first one for ?30 when I was 15 as a mate was wanting it off his driveway and I wanted something to mess with.
It was an A-reg and I didn't really realise how much work was needed on it so I sold it on for ?20 to the scrap man.
Then I got given a J-reg 1.0 in miami blue for my 18th and been hooked ever since. Had about 11 or 12 nova's now, still got 3, in various states of (dis)repair.
I don't know why but I'm addicted to them......even though I drive a 51 plate coupe turbo, I can't wait for the nova to be back on the road as its much more 'fun' to drive!