Collector-grade Vauxhall Nova Sport for sale
There's life in the old girl yet. Five figures worth, apparently...
Okay, we’ll take a break from four-decade-old hot hatches after this one - promise. But if the sight of a surviving Renault 19 16v from 1995 had you strolling back down memory lane yesterday, the thought of a Vauxhall Nova from ten years earlier is likely to trigger similar emotions. The asking price of this one is likely to do some triggering of its own, of course - but that’s the price of memorabilia these days.
The Sport, at least, has the right to call itself a proper homologation special. We covered one a year ago (almost to the day), and in 12 months this is only the second to appear for sale. That makes sense - there were only ever 500 examples, primarily built so that Vauxhall could go Group A rallying - and like most affordable hot hatches of its era, the Nova has a woeful survival rate.
This is because a) they rusted like tin cans and b) they were unlikely to survive contact with a telegraph pole. Or be cost-effective to fix if they did. Additionally, some were taken racing - McRae’s early relationship with the Nova was a tale oft-repeated by teenagers witlessly driving the doors off them a decade later - and many if not most have now gone to the scrap heap in the sky.
In any decade prior to this one, it is a trend that would likely have seen Nova numbers dwindle to the point of effective extinction - but we’d guess the rising popularity (and profitability) of anything that evokes ‘90s hedonism is reflected in the howmanyleft numbers. Only a few years ago, the combined number of GTE and GSI Novas left on the road had tapered to just 40 examples. By Q2 of this year, that number was back up to 90.
That suggests a fair few of the several hundred still in the SORN bank have had new life breathed back into them. And you can see why such a thing might be happening when the asking price for a Nova Sport, if we’re to credit this one with a halfway reasonable valuation, is now beyond £30k. Granted, Vauxhall’s limited Polar White model with its stickers and breathed-on 1.3-litre motor is a special case - but still.
As ever, after a certain point any used car is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, and certainly the Nova has spent long enough in the doldrums to have earned a little time in the sun. This one has had some (reversible) chassis upgrades that account for its on-point stance and likely mean it handles just like you’d hope a flyweight hatchback from 1985 would. Although maybe you’d have to sparring with additional miles - who knows what it will be worth next year…
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