In "The Project" page on this website, I talk about how we got the idea for this concept in the first place.  Here's a quick recap.

After we bought our Nova in January 2002 and I was diagnosed with cancer in February, I was reading a lot while I went through chemotherapy.  I came across the May 2002 Hot Rod Magazine article "Tinberg's Terrible Too" by Steve Magnante (link below).  The article was about John Tinberg and how he built an absolutely beautiful AWB Nova from scratch!  I showed the article to my wife and we said that maybe someday, just maybe, we could build a car like that.

Fast forward to 2007, 5 years later.  We saw all the articles about the "Wilshire Shaker" and we ready to try our hand at building our own altered wheelbase, but the primary component we wanted in order to be "period-correct" was the Bill Thomas/Nickey front subframe - the "Instant Funny Car Kit" from the the famed "Novel Nova."  We found that Nickey Chicago was remaking the subframes as a Continuation series and we placed our order.  Now, here's where it really starts to get weird!

One night the phone rings and it's Nickey's Technical Adviser calling me to double check some dimensions for the subframe.  This guy is also the builder of our subframe, and guess who it is -- none other than John Tinberg, the owner of the Terrible Two and the car/guy who got us started on this whole idea!  We talked quite a while that night, and have corresponded considerably since then, establishing a friendship across the miles.  Now here's where it gets even weirder!

In 2008, John Tinberg purchased the original Bill Thomas Novel Nova.  Its current configuration was as "Novacaine" running an injected small block.  John completely restored the car to its original condition and just completed the job in early August 2009.  And to honor the car, John and his wife Carla decided to throw a private party at their home outside of Chicago to "unveil" the restored Nova, and they graciously invited us to attend as their guests!  We said "Hell Yeah!"  We never miss a party, and especially a NOVA party!  And what a party it was.  We'll have a followup section shortly all about the Novel Nova and the "Nickey World Unveiling" at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals show November 21-22 in Rosemont Il.

Well, the top-off of the whole trip to Chicago was John letting me drive his Terrible Too Nova - the car in the Hot Rod magazine in 2002 that started it all for my wife and me!  And I mean he let me drive it!  We went on a fifty mile cruise with John's straight axle blown 409 '55 gasser in the lead, us in the AWB Nova, and John's brother Art following up in his '62 4-speed Impala with open headers (hey, it's a small block!).

Steve Bimbi, Mr. Nickey, drove the '55 part way then John drove and Bill Thomas III (yep, BT's son who helped his dad at their shop in Anaheim) rode shotgun on the return.  And we saw a beautiful museum of cars and memoribilia to boot!

My Road Test of the Nova would be A+!  The car sounds like it will rip your face off, but it's actually very streetable and docile to drive!  Throttle response is instant and smooth thanks to the Kinsler EFI.  The Jericho bangs a lot but you don't miss a gear!  And it wasn't a "pogo stick" - we didn't bounce around and could go over RR tracks without pain or cracked windshields!  Seriously, I told John I'd drive it 1700 miles home - it was like driving our Explorer - well sorta!  I hope ours rides half as good!

For me, there were some surreal moments sitting and driving John's Nova.  Just thinking back to the day we saw his car for the first time, and now we're driving it!

Here are a few shots of our cruise!

To see the Hot Rod Magazine article that started it all,

"Tinberg's Terrible Too"