Cheap tires, base model, pearl white… all the markings of a sleeper.

This project Nova is a 1965 Chevy II Sedan 100 series with our favorite engine under the hood. But recently we parted ways. This beauty has now made the journey from Kentucky to Vegas.

In 1990 we found this clean 42,000 mile 65 sedan advertised in Old Cars Weekly.  It was about 3 hours North of us at the now famous Sam Pierce Chevrolet. Upon arrival we found the car was sold new in Kentucky and then sold to someone local who took it to Super Chevy Indy to sell it, Sam purchased it there.

After looking through the paperwork we found it was purchased new on Sept 26th 1964 from a remote dealership 25 miles from my house!  On the way home we had a temporary tag with the car but not on the car, a state trooper kindly came up beside me and pointed to the rear, I held up the paperwork and he waved and went on.  After he was out of sight, I took the car up to its top speed of 90 mph! I don’t remember it wanting much more than that!

Around 1995 we took out the 194 6 cylinder & three on the tree transmission. The V8 4 speed sleeper transformation had begun! 

We took an original 12 bolt rear-end out of our used stock and built it with 3:55 gears. Sourcing decent period correct tires took some time, but after a while a friend spotted some tires on eBay. We think they were NOS trailer tires, but they were rated for a car! The other tough to find items were the factory 65 tachometer (only 296 made), heater delete, painted locking gas cap, and hubcaps.

We rebuilt the front end, changed the coil springs & added a factory front V8 sway bar.  The first engine that was installed was an original 327-350 hp engine from a 66 L-79, later on we needed this engine for another build, but the big compression 327 sure was fun to drive!

The car as you see it now had a GM crate engine 385 Fast Burn with cam kit rated at 430 hp. Plenty to rip those cheap tires right off if you’re not careful!

After all these years and the fun we had the car now lives with its new caretaker in Vegas! 

Did you know we have an entire section dedicated to Chevy II / Nova Reference material? Check out our rare listing of original Chevy II / Nova options.