I used to find myself among the enthusiasts who wished Chevy would bring back the Nova, which was one of the most compact muscle cars to have come out of Detroit back in the day. Nevertheless, looking at how the sixth-gen Camaro is not getting all the attention it could from its maker and how GM decided to revive the Trailblazer nameplate as a crossover in a world where off-roaders are making a comeback, perhaps this nameplate should remain dormant. Besides, there are plenty of classic Nova builds to keep the badge under the spotlights, as is the case with the one portrayed in this render.
The 3D work is as realistic as they get, but there’s more to the proposal than that. Digital artist Emmanuel Brito (aka personalizatuauto), came up with this pixel stunt to preview a real-world project that’s currently in the works. As stated in the Instagram post below, the car belongs to an enthusiast named Pat McG (at least that’s what his Insta account tells us).
To me, the most standout feature of this Nova is the way it mixes and matches various bits. For starters, this is a Gen III model (think: 1967-1972MY), but its taillights come from the Gen IV (built for 1973 and 1974, this was a major restyle rather than an all-new model).
These iterations saw the Nova at its best and that’s no subjective appreciation—the 396ci (6.5L) and 402ci (6.6L) big-blocks, which were only offered during the said years, can testify to it under muscle oath.
Then we have the side pipes, whose styling reminds us of the 1960s C2 Corvette. However, that’s not why I decided to call this bad boy a sidewinder in the title.
Instead, the credit goes to the monster of a V8 I expect to find under the power dome hood once the car is revealed, which should melt those meaty Toyo tires wrapped around Race Star wheels as the driver is forced to steer with the loud pedal.
So yes, those meaty wheel arches should channel plenty of smoke once the gas starts flowing.
