GUNMETAL NOVA
We recently had a week in NYC that rained or drizzled almost constantly. On one of those days I had to pull over as I drove past this beauty parked under the Williamsburg Bridge:
This is a 1972 Chevy Nova. These were almost identical from 1970 through 1972, but in '70 those turn signals in the bumper would've been clear, and in '71 that side mirror would've been round. It's in the details people!
This car looks great with it's dark gray/gunmetal color and white interior. There was an original Chevrolet color named Dark Gray Poly but I don't think this is it as this almost has a hint of purple in it. Really nice choice regardless.
These are some of my favorite years for the Nova as it's much larger and more muscle-car like than the previous generation, but the large safety-mandated bumpers of '73 and newer hadn't shown up yet.
This car is flawless as it's California plates would make you hope. When a car is sold new in California it gets a set of license plates assigned to it that will remain with the car for it's lifetime. This arrangement is unique to that state and makes for some different notable eras, such as "black plate" cars from the 1960s. Before 1963 they had the last 2 digits of the year printed on the corner of the plate, and each year you would get a new 2 digit metal tag to screw on to the corner over the old year. From '63 through today they just give you a small sticker with the year on it. One trick I remember from living in the Bay Area was to affix your new registration sticker to your plate and then cut a cross-hatch over it with a razor blade so nobody could peel it off and stick it to their plate!
As I've mentioned before I have a white interior fetish, probably because they're the least practical choice. However, when clean and in good shape it looks great. You can see this is the era of shoulder belts just dangling from the ceiling as opposed to having spring loaded retractors. There are clips to hold them up out of the way if you didn't want to use them. Seat belts of any kind weren't even required to be installed in cars until 1968, and most states didn't make their use mandatory until the mid 1980s. In New Hampshire people over 18 can still forgo them when driving. Live Free and Die!
On cars this clean and original I love stock wheel covers. That circle in the middle that has a slight tint says CHEVROLET MOTOR DIVISION.
Well there we have it. It's dawning on me that Novas litter the streets of Brooklyn much like Cadillacs so I expect there will be more soon.
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