Serious Power Packed into a Plain Brown Wrapper – Mike Crawford’s Low-Mile 1971 Chevrolet Nova
Unless you’re a fan of second gen Novas, you may saunter right past Mike Crawford’s unassuming 1971 Chevrolet Nova, what with its original Sandlewood paint and brown vinyl roof. After all, other than a great low stance and set of Billet Specialties wheels, there’s not much that calls you in for a closer look.
“I just like original cars,” Mike explained as he looked back over his low-mile ’71 Nova, which he bought from the original owner. “Finding an original car means there’s no big surprises, plus you get to avoid the time and expense of the paint and body process if it’s a real nice survivor.”
Mike’s been down the complete rotisserie restomod build process before with a crazy nice ’69 Camaro that his good buddy and paint and body master Brad Merrick worked on with him. For a guy who does all his own mechanical work, yet tries to avoid bodywork, it totally makes sense to find a survivor to use as the basis of a project.
In the case of his most recent project, Mike almost missed the opportunity. “I found the car on Marketplace and even spoke to the original owner about the car. It sounded like a great car with only 29,000 miles, solid, and garage kept,” he said. “But the timing wasn’t right, so I passed. A year later at the start of the pandemic I found the number, called just to see, and was surprised it was still available! We loaded up the trailer and drove 15 hours to check it out.”
“The owner fired it up, drove it out of the shed, and I said, ‘I’ll take it!’ He asked if I wanted to test drive it, and I told him no need and pulled it up on the trailer,” Mike said. At this point, he already had a plan in motion for lowly beige economy car.
Even the car’s tan vinyl interior with its bench seat and column shifter is original, though any sharp-eyed Nova connoisseur may notice the Vintage Air vents underneath the dash, not to mention the slightly different gauges. Once powered up, the Dakota Digital dash comes to life with fresh colors, looks, and information. Apparently, there’s a little more going on with this Nova than meets the eye.
To reinforce that point, once Mike strikes the starter and the engine bellows to life through a custom stainless exhaust, the charade is up. Underneath that low-key factory appearance is 400 cubic inches of modern supercharged muscle, to the tune of 1,000-horsepower!
That cacophony of performance comes from a Harrell Engine Design-built 6.0-liter LS block filled with forged internals and topped with MAST Motorsports cylinder heads. HED also installed their own cam grind to work in concert with a Whipple supercharger, while a Holley engine management system was incorporated to meter the air and fuel mixture under the ever-changing driving conditions and an occasional full-throttle romp. A factory style cowl-induction hood was needed to clear the blower and was painted by Brad at Merrick’s Collision to match perfectly with the rest of the 53-year-old finish of this 1971 Chevrolet Nova.
With that much power on tap, the Nova was going to need some chassis upgrades, which Mike and his friend Kevin Stafford handled with a complete Ridetech bolt-in suspension system that included tubular front control arms, coil-overs, and a four-link rear suspension locating a 12-bolt rearend with 3.08:1 gears. To tuck the 18×11-inch wheels under the body, a set of Detroit Speed mini-tubs was welded in place, and to keep the rpm at a reasonable rate on the road, a built 4L80e transmission was bolted behind the engine.
Though it was difficult to get parts during the Covid years, Mike says he was able to get the Nova finished in about eight months and in time for the 2023 Power Tour as a break-in run. He still enjoys his ground-up restomod ’69 Camaro, but he seems to be finding his stride with Nova survivors, as he also has a 59,000-mile ’66 Nova in the garage with original paint but modernized drivetrain and Church Boys suspension upgrades.
Huge power plus modern handling and drivability in a clean, understated, original-looking package – we like the way Mike thinks. His subtle 1971 Chevrolet Nova reinforces the idea that you should never underestimate the contents inside a plain brown wrapper – they might be more potent than you think!
Photos by Damon Lee and Todd Ryden
