62 Nova Wagon
This checks a lot of boxes for me.
(wagon, older, cool, something to wrench on now that my DD/AX car is as prepped as I'm allowed)
Looks pretty clean, anemic powerplant goes well with thoughts of eventual swappage, location is closeish (hour drive one way, crossing the border ... in each direction, on each leg) to me, aaaaand I have prior experience importing a car to the states from the great white north.
Anything special to ask about or look for?
Thoughts on the price? (Seems reasonable but I have little concrete experience to base that on)
Long story short, seems like a good starting point if I wanted to hot-rod some suspension and eventually enlist some help for an engine swap, plus seems like it'd be more than adequate for cruising around looking cool until then
TL;DR: looks cool, give it to me straight.
If your not on the way now it will be gone Quick,great price super basic ride really the 6 banger can be made Very PEPPY.
Sure, if you want it, go get it. A lot of the less exciting work has already been done, apparently (although who goes to the trouble of rebuilding a three-speed??) But be aware that the pictures show California plates and a California area code (on the window), so they aren't 100% current if the car really is registered in BC.
There is absolutely no reason to try to talk you out of this.
The factory Suspension and brakes suck. Expect to upgrade soon.
Dusterbd13 wrote:
There is absolutely no reason to try to talk you out of this.
The factory Suspension and brakes suck. Expect to upgrade soon.
But luckily, they suck so badly the aftermarket already exists for them. A V8 swap into one of those needs a lot of special bits and pieces for the engine, or a new front clip. The new front clip is the way to go.
Contact initiated, I'll update when I hear back that it sold last night 
Be unique, keep the six. Think of the simplicity. 25 years ago a friend had a similar year straight 6 - 3 on the tree and I was always surprised what a nice smooth ride it was, perhaps because it is so light. But it now!
A friend asked how to reduce the understeer.
jstand
HalfDork
11/8/16 6:46 p.m.
If you keep the six, even though it's not a slant, you should use this as inspiration:
From this thread:
Turbo slant 6
One of the few gm products i want. Buy it
Cut and paste from his email to me today:
(I'd asked if the trans and suspension work was done to OE levels, which is the assumption I have been going on, plus asked for more pictures)
"The car is still for sale.
I can't answer your question regarding the transmission and suspension with 100% certainty. Almost all the work done on the vehicle was done two owners ago and I'm not in contact with either person. All the information that I have on the vehicle was written in the ad on Craigslist when I purchased it 6 years ago. I have literally put less than 1000 miles on it since I purchased it.
Underside of the vehicle is not as clean as the exterior. It's in good shape but it does get driven. This is not a show car, it's a couple of steps above a driver quality vehicle. It has a few rock chips and small scratches."
Album with more pics
At this point the plan is to drive up and take a look on Saturday.
I'd send him a deposit. That thing is amazing.
It would have to be just plain bad cond. not to be worth that,Check Steve's Nova site.com ?? You can build a dup. of the GOOD front stub frames in Kit form cheap A nice Hiedts is up in the 3 grand 'hood.
Seeing it Saturday, bringing my pops to (barring something being seriously wrong) drive my car back.
I agree with keeping it powered with a Six. I think something more modern with injection, but still a six.
Not sure what I would do about the transmission, I was never a fan of column shifters
Hey, that looks like my driveway.
Other than having to cross the border twice each way and it eating up 6 hours of my Saturday, everything went smoothly.
Negative: gas gauge stuck on E.
Positive: came with nearly full tank of gas!
Thoughts on insurance?
Turns out Ameriprise (my current provider) won't do more than liability on anything more than 40 years old... and they'll only do that after I jump through hoops with a mechanic's inspection.
Now I play the waiting game for Hagerty to get back to me.
Nice of them to take my CC info in advance of giving me the nod :P
As for the non-functional fuel gauge, thoughts?
Start at the tank and work forward, or at the gauge and work back?
The OEM stereo is still present, though an aftermarket unit is installed in the glovebox, anyone want to wager what the odds that I could get the stocker running again are?
Disclaimer: Snow typically avoids touching anything electrical beyond plugs and plug wires
Engine wise, other than a tune-up, I'm operating on the assumption that most anything I do to it short of swapping something in its place would be an inefficient use of time and funds?
A tightly packaged car radio is not where I'd recommend learning vacuum tube electronics repair.
BrokenYugo wrote:
A tightly packaged car radio is not where I'd recommend learning vacuum tube electronics repair.
Yeah that's not something I would bother digging into. Keep the aftermarket in the glove box. That's what remotes and or Bluetooth is for.
So.
Hagerty won't cover it because I told them I might drive it to work a few times a month.
berkeley those guys.
Why would they even list that much use on their application if it's going to get someone rejected?
So, liability only for the time being, keep shopping around I suppose.
Gas gauge, unplug the wire at the tank. Being a GM, the needle should go well past full. If so, you have a sunk float. If it stays at E, you have a grounded wire or a bad dash gauge. Other gauges function ok?
If its available in your area try donegal for insurance. They carry the stated value policy on my wagon and the wording didnt freak me out like progressive did.
No luck on Donegal.
Frustrating since my old insurance company (who wanted waaaay too much to insure the Evo) didn't bat an eye at covering my previous Nova.
SWG: Thanks for the tip, and yeah, everything else works fine.
