Shed Of The Week: Vauxhall Nova
A genuinely clean and presentable little Nova? Time to relive the first car dream!
Shed's first car was the Ford Prefect E93A, a hideous contraption with the style of a carrion crow, the build integrity of a rabbit hutch and the performance of a toaster. Still, it was that or the bus, and Mrs Shed didn't do buses.
1994: Lion King out, last owner bought this
Nova history began rather angrily in 1983 when British Vauxhall workers realized it was going to be built in Spain rather than Luton. Some wags pointed out that the Spanish word 'nova' meant 'no go', which (so it is said) is why Opel's version was called Corsa from day one.
British customers weren't overly bothered by these naming niceties. Force-fed on Metros, they latched onto Vauxhall's crisply-styled alternative with enough enthusiasm to keep sales strong until 1993, when the Nova was replaced by the blobby Corsa.
When white was cool the first time round
For some, this lack of electronic sophistication will be a refreshing point in the car's favour. To anyone who hasn't been around since the Dawn of Time, this car will feel both agile and fragile. The trim will rattle and squeak and there'll be a deal of road noise coming through the bodywork.
But although it's not even an SRi, let alone a 1.6 GTE/GSi or the rare twin-carb Sport homologation car, of which only 500 or so were made, the fact is our Shed's 75hp 1.4 engine is only 7hp down on the SRi. In a car weighing only 800kg or so that will mean surprisingly lively performance. It's certainly a good bit more rewarding than the weedy 55hp 1.2.
Wind-up windows and no airbag!
The nature of the beast as a starter car means that maintenance tended to be skimped on, but that doesn't seem the case here. Obviously we'd need to see the paperwork, but mechanically the Nova is a game little fella that will take a good beating. That's what they tended to get, too, but this cooking model looks like it may have escaped the worst of the punishment.
The camshafts do wear out and, contrary to most young drivers' thoughts on the matter, the engines do like the occasional oil change. Keep things ticking along and Novas will cost buttons to run, with spare parts being both cheap and plentiful. Don't crash in one though. Just don't.
The Nova was General Motors' first effort at a supermini. That makes it an important car. Finding one in unmonkeyed condition is about as easy as finding a virgin in a knocking shop. If this car is still for sale in a week's time Shed will eat his hairpiece.
Here is the ad.
MOT May 2016, stereo, 2 lady owners from new, last owner 21 years, service history, HPI report, excellent condition.
It was a 1.2litre 3 door hatch and bloody awful. The only way off the company car scheme was to take redundancy!
Which I did, and bought an Audi quattro with the money. Result! Until I went to insure it, but that's another story...
I had two of them. First was a 1.2 4 door which was totally reliable only yielding to the bottom end starting to knock, I never understood why that happened and it seemed common at the time? The a 1.4SR which was a mildly lukewarm hatch. OK at everything, helped by the weight of it. The earlier 1.3SR's were better IMO.
Of its time, was ok then, not a lot of love for a 5 door, a 3 door looking bog standard with a Red Top in could still be fun though.
Remember the saloon, seemed to be exclusively sold in sludge brown to men over seventy five, still dont know what the point of a saloon version was, the three door was not a bad looking car with its little wheel arch flares, the 1.3 SR was the car to own for the under twenties in the late eighties and early nineties, they were everywhere, there was a dealer I remember who almost exclusively dealt in them and made a lot of money.
I had hoped I'd get my old man's SR as a gift when he got into a brand-new Corsa SRi in August '94 but, alas, that wasn't to be.
Fast-forward to late 2000 and I had my first proper job out of Uni and had saved enough for my first car. Up until then I'd driven Mum's Mk3 Astra, the Corsa 1.4 that replaced it, the Corsa 1.2 that replaced that - can you tell my parents had a GM card and had cottoned onto Choices, 1,2,3 or whatever it was?! - as well as a brief time in Dad's Fiesta 1.4 Zetec that replaced the Polo 1.6 that had replaced the Corsa. Phew!
By then, Nova SRs were all knackered rust-heaps and a mate pointed out that I might be better off in a 205 XS. A revelation for a young man raised to dislike any French motors! I loved my Roland Garros to bits and, when that same mate and I bought a Nova 1.0 for £80 as our first foray into buying and selling cars for pocket money, I have to say I was distinctly underwhelmed by it.
So, in a very long-winded way, I'm saying that this week's Shed wouldn't be for me but thanks for the nostalgia trip!
I don't want it.
Nova
Mini
Metro
Mk2 Fiesta
Mk1 Escort
The Escort was the most amusing, but smelt of wet dog and the sills were gone. Fiesta's were ok, wheezy engine and the interior was bog basic, even with the halfords EQ and cassette centre console
The Mini's were just an oddity, always getting drowned in the wet and absolute s
t on the motorway. I had the Metro and it was ok, but felt pretty rough vs the Nova. The 1000cc A series was a turd of a unit compared to the 1.2 in the Vauxhall. It also, at the time, felt like a much more refined car. If you drove one now it would feel a bit rough, but then probably not as rough as the others Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff