A small novel on "The Heroicism of Nova Ownership"

[bobbybrown]

do I get the prize for the shortest reply to the longest introduction???

I was just thinking that to be honest

[Alzax3]

Probably ought to be a very smallprize......

[bushboy]

bushboy

[essexdave]

Welcome Steve,
Loved the story of your first taste of nova ownership.............. whens the film coming out?

course im not saying its going to be like that but at least you had a decent taster of " sods law " which seems to be a regular visitor when own one of these,........ however, when it all go's right its soon forgotten and the good times far out weigh the bad.
Nice having another "local" owner in the fold, we're pretty well spaced out in the uk so to essex ,eastbourne qualifies as just up the road.
welcome once again.
Dave.

[bobbybrown]

Probably ought to be a very smallprize......

I'll send him a picture of a prize

[vpogv]

Awesome read, thanks for posting. All of us have similar stories somewhere - just too frustrated still to post them. You do have something that some of us don't have - the experience of driving in our cars.

Welcome to the forums!

[Spacenut]

Hi Steve - welcome to Euro Nova. I'm glad you survived the trip home in an unfamiliar car - always a scary experience! However, it gets better from now on - nothing you have described sounds unfamiliar. Hopefully the chassis mods will justify the extra costs. Once your confidence in the car grows you will be able to enjoy the attention it gets. I'm sure you know how good it feels to drive a car that you had a hand in creating

Good luck sorting out those little niggles, and post lots of pictures!

Lauren

[Vasco Da Gamer]

Thank you folks for more kind comments.

My PC is still out of action so I am posting from my mother's laptop (for the second time - after the thing ran out of battery power just as I was about to 'submit'....). I do promise to upload pictures as soon as I can.

From the sounds of it various people had far worse experiences than mine - Brighton to Cornwall in freezing fog sounds especially bad, and I shall be checking that my car has heater tubes from the exhaust to intake manifold - right now I have no idea.

I very much take the point about at least having got to drive it and sympathise with those embarked on a 'from scratch' job - I did the same with my Spartan all those years ago and it was ages before I actually got to drive the thing. When I did I had much the same experience with the Nova - I felt slightly hemmed in after driving modern cars and for a while always drove it with the sidescreens or hood removed. Naturally I don't even think about it now and I am sure the same will apply to the Nova.

Must think of a name for the Nova - my Spartan is called 'Monty', name provided by the 'builder' (hah...), he said that all Spartan kits came from the factory with a name but my fellow owner in Eastbourne denies this.

I was hoping to work on the car today, but despite the good weather forecast it is raining as usual.... Think I'll measure the car up for a cover...

I did not provide much information on the engine fitted, and that is because I don't know much other than it is a 1912cc bored out unit with high lift cams and various other goodies. The clutch is a Kennedy Stage 1, and it 'stuck' on at least one occasion on the way down so I will have to see what the cable attachment is like. The builder is relatively well known on Volkszone but unfortunately has not replied to provide me with more detail yet. It certainly looks good - all new black paint and chromework, but the rubber bands on the throttle returns spoil the effect somewhat... The owner's home made made throttle arms linkage is fine but I will try to source the proper thing if I can.

Thanks again - I could tell you lot would be friendly from the posts already on here. I certainly do expect things to get better

Kind regards from

Steve

[jimcub]

Hi and nothing wrong with your first experience of Nova driving, at least you could mine had no where to put wheels.
You will get 99% of your info here the other 1% is trial and error, break it all down into the different subjects so you can keep track and we can.
And keep smiling.

[MicksRedNova]

Steve

Welcome to Nova ownership. All the items you mentioned in your well documented journey are 'features' of Nova ownership that you get used to (or fix in your garage by being inventive). I'm glad that your catalogue of 'near disasters' hasn't put you off. Once you overcome the terror of driving such a low car with poor visibility amongst the general myopic dimwits on the UK roads, and stop worrying that you might break down or something might drop off, it does become a really good drive. You just have to be carefull of someone overtaking, brain in neutral, that suddenly notices your really cool car and slams on their brakes to get a pic on their mobile phone.

Please post some pictures and consider joining us in Club Nova and bringing your car along to our stand at one of the shows next year..

Best of luck with your new project.

PS - Discs at the front and drums behind you should be able to lock all four wheels easily - so I think your brakes need attention.

Mick