1963 Chevrolet Chevy II Nova

For decades, market forces tried to get General Motors to build a simple, inexpensive compact car. Nope, nothing doing. In the mid-20th century, the General could sell all the full-size cars (with full-size profit margins) it could build, thank you very much.

After World War II, GM invested millions in a compact Chevy, then abandoned the project. Not profitable enough. In 1960 Chevy introduced the compact Corvair, but that was merely a niche vehicle designed to blunt the invasion of Volkswagen Beetles. But when Ford introduced the compact Falcon and Mercury Comet, then GM had to act. Whatever Ford did, Chevy had to do it too, and vice versa. And Ford sold 660,000 Falcons and Comets in 1961 alone, the year before the introduction of the Chevy II.

I can't tell what engine this car has, as some of the trim is missing. But the Nova is interesting in that it was available with Chevy's six and eight cylinder engines, and also the first Chevy four cylinder since the 1920s. GM dropped the 153 c.i. engine in 1970. I've heard it remarked that it's unfortunate that Chevy didn't keep that rock-simple motor and put it in the Vega. It might have kept the Vega, with its disastrous aluminum-block engine, from getting the reputation as the worst car Detroit ever built.

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