A 1970 Nova or the World’s Best Redneck Limousine?

The internet is filled with odd creations of all kinds such as driving sculptures, toilets with engines, Lamborghinis on tracks, the list goes on forever. Many of these creations can be attributed to a long night of drinking with friends, some serious boredom, or a straight-up drug-induced “creative” spurt. This 1970 Nova in essence is a combination of all three. The Nova is essentially a military half-track if it grew a long-flowing mullet and slammed a 24-pack of Bud Light. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a half-track is “a motor vehicle that has wheels in the front and tanklike tracks at the back.” During the second world war, many countries used the half-track as armored personnel carriers, as well as delivery vehicles for various items. Half-tracks were commonly utilized in harsh environments such as bitter deep snow, murderous muddy fields, or suffocating sands. This Nova may not be armored, but with it being stretched out to create a sort of redneck limousine, there is no doubt it was created to carry friends and family with some refreshments in hand up a snowy mountain as the bitter wind circulates outside.

The full backstory of the Nova has been muddied over time, but just looking at it you know whoever built the car had a deep passion for snow and muscle cars, so why not combine them and make this monstrous snow carving machine. Back in 2013, this limousine-type snowmobile thing was floating around Craigslist and other groups as it was for sale. Later in the year, the ads were taken down as either the car had sold or had been delivered to some other fate. Fast-forward to more recent years the project was again spotted on Craigslist with a description saying “1970 Nova could be used for a billboard, yard-art, or rebuild it.” It’s no doubt many people admired the cool factor of the car but thought to themselves “Cool, but I have absolutely no use for it or my wife might bury me and the car if I buy it.”

However, bring in Tyler who has an affinity for ingenious and weird creations much like “Maxine” his 1958 Plymouth from last week's article. One of Tyler’s friends just happened to spot the Nova in a different group and reshared it to a group Tyler was a part of. Without hesitation, Tyler messaged the owner offering to put a down payment on the car and pay the rest when he picked it up. Unfortunately, another eagle-eyed mad scientist of a car lover spotted the ad and had already contacted the seller. The seller told Tyler if the deal happened to fall through with the other buyer, he would reach out. In the end, the deal did not fall through and the car was again off the market. Tyler summarizes his heartbreak as “The ad was taken down and I thought I had lost her forever. I showed all my buddies the white whale that had evaded me. The only vehicle I had ever seen that had come close in comparison to the eye-catching awe of Maxine. To his surprise, a couple of weeks later, a buddy sends him a new ad for the Nova, and it is even closer to where he lives. This time Tyler was the eagle-eyed mad scientist of a car lover and within an hour of the ad being up Tyler had made a deposit on the car. There was no getting away this time, the car was his. When picking up the car Tyler learned some things about the Nova. “The tracks are gone. The three rear axles are actually only one drive axle and four additional hubs welded to an insanely heavy frame system. The front skis from what I can tell are 3/16 steel welded to a steel wheel. They actually are lighter than they appear. To pick it up, we used the winch on the trailer to winch it while the back end was lifted by a tow truck and backed onto the trailer. It’s 23 feet long and glorious.”

Tyler's plans for the Nova do not take away from the cool factor; they merely just make the creation a little more useful/practical for his needs. He plans to remove the skis and tracks for the time being. His motivation behind this is “All the tracks I’ve had, you spend more time adjusting them and putting the track back on the wheel than you do actually enjoying whatever the tracks are on.” Plus, a 23-foot-long Nova with tracks is great for the winter but what are you going to do with it for the rest of the year? The ultimate plan for the “Snova” is to have dual rear steer axles with tires that fit the openings, probably something around the 40” mark. Tyler plans to use a beefed-up 12 valve to power this massive beast.

It is easy to say Tyler’s Mad Max-type creations all embody doing what you want, and not caring about what others think. They show us that a car really doesn’t need to be restored or “typical” or even much of a car at all to be enjoyed. In the end whatever you own; car, truck, or whatever the heck you want to call this thing, it just needs to ignite that child-like giddiness every time you even so much as think about it.

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