Dave found this 1969 Nova listed for sale online back in 2016. It was partially disassembled already, but that just meant he had less work to do at the beginning of the restoration process so he went for it.
Back at his home garage, as he was stripping parts from the Nova in preparation for the build, Dave’s 9 year old grandson Arnold crawled through one rusty quarter panel and out the other side. Since Arnold had seemingly expressed some interest, Dave decided that the pair would complete this 1969 Nova as a grandfather and grandson restoration project.
“With the help of SS396.com we found all of our parts and we now have a cool car that we built in our garage.”
Dave
The pair would go on to cover every aspect of the restoration in-house at their garage, including the new paint. They would bond over the project each summer when Arnold was on summer vacations until the Nova was ready to go.
Originally a 307 small block “grocery getter”, the final product was equipped with a 383 stroker small block mated to a standard TH350 automatic transmission. While nothing too wild, this powertrain combination is certainly an upgrade over this Nova’s original running gear.
Dave chose to name the 1969 Nova “Lil Arnold” because not only did his grandson help with the project, but the Nova was purchased on Arnold Lane. Coincidence? Maybe.
Dave plans to enjoy driving the Nova and intends to pass it along to his grandson one day.
