I purchased the nova my Junior year in high school. It was painted 87 Chrysler blue metallic, and it was by far the fastest car I ever owned. I took the 400 cubic inch Chevy motor, and I overhauled it. I put a Crower cam inside the motor, rhoades lifters, a torker II intake, and a Edelbrock carb. When I was 17, the car was rearended byt an idiot in Crawfordsville, IN. The guy was driving a 80's cougar. Needless to say, his car was totalled, mine was able to be driven. I then purchased another 78 Nova for 100 dollars, and I proceeded to put all the good parts over to the new body. It never did look the same. The car ended up lasting through my first year of college. Then, I blew a chunk out of the radiator. That was it for the car, it wasn't worth repairing. I sold the motor to my brother in law, and parted out the rest. The car would just not sit level, I had twisted it pretty good, as it was a subframe car. All in all it was a lot of fun, and the 3 transmissions I went through was definitely worth it.