NO TURNING BACK
Pat & Brandon of Bristol Auto body – 1968 Nova

Over the last couple years we have seen this little Nova transform from a plain-jane rust bucket into the mean machine you see here. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears were spent to transform this piece of machinery into a fine work of art.

It was time for Brandon’s first car and he had his heart set on something most teenagers don’t even know exists: a classic muscle car. After looking around for about 2 weeks, he narrowed it down even further and decided he would be cruising in a Nova, 1968-72 to be exact. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then he finally found the perfect Nova in Seymour, CT. Some highlights were horrible school bus yellow paint, rust through the floors, patch panels that looked like they were glued on, and a home made sunroof to top it all off. Pat was a little reluctant to get himself and his son into a project this big, but Brandon refused to end up with a Civic like most kids his age, so four days later they ended up bringing it to their shop on Pat’s flatbed.

For the next year, they planned and saved for the major restoration that was needed. When they started to take it apart in 2004, they found it needed even more than they thought. Brandon checked online for parts sources and came across the Ground Up website. They received a catalog and were in the showroom a week later ordering their long list of parts.

After ordering both fenders, a hood, a grille, both door skins, quarter panels, and just about everything other little trim part known to Novas, they really started to realize what a project they had gotten into.

As Brandon said, “No turning back now!”

They first took the whole front end off of the car and started to rebuild it. They slowly worked their way towards the back of the car and after a year and a half of hard work; the car was ready for paint on September 4th, 2005 (Pat’s birthday).While the paint they selected and laid on came out beautiful, they did one thing differently to really make their car stand out: A sick flame job on the cowl hood by Bob Gorske of Plainville, CT.

Brandon says, “Between the flames and the recent installation of a 425 HP small block, this car is a real hear turner. That’s the story of our Nova and the beginning of our non-ending friendship with the guys at Ground Up”.

*While shooting pictures of their car, Brandon was nice enough to take me for a romp around town in the Nova and man was that an awesome time! You can really feel the power even idling at the stop light. Pat and Brandon spent a lot of time and truly did this car right. Every panel is arrow straight and the paint is flawless. This is one of the nicest muscle cars we’ve seen and we are proud to be Bristol Autobody’s preferred parts supplier!

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