Chevrolet Nova Internet Source "Noval" Trivia



Novas on the Big Screen

Annie Hall: A mid-1970's Nova drives past the characters. I think it's a 1974, but I only got one brief look at it. If I ever get a chance to see the movie again, I would be looking for it and be able to positively identify what year it was. (Submitted by Rachel Thiemann.)

Bad Boys, 1995: There is a gold 76 or 77 four door Nova. The leading lady calls it a jalopie, but hey! It's a great car! (Submitted by Carmine Erksine.) A late 70s Nova four door is used in one scene, but the car was a spoof for a 1987 Dodge Diplomat with the A38 police option. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Barb Wire, 1996: The climatic fight scene takes place on a 4-door '78 Nova. It was impaled by a forklift and lifted up by a crane. This scene was actually quite funny. The movie takes place in 2017; it was just hilarious (at least for a Nova enthusiast like me) to see a beat-up 4-door 1978 Chevy Nova in this futuristic wasteland. Of course, the car probably would have started right up, too. (Submitted by Carmine Granucci.)

Batman: In the first Batman movie, there is a scene where Michael Keaton leaned against the left side of a 1977 Nova Concours sedan, and in the scene where the Batmobile debuts, the same car (a movie car) was seen driving on the street (note the headlights - the shadow was the same car used earlier). (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Beverly Hills Cop, '80s: Eddie Murphy drove that "crappy blue Nova." It was a '68-'72 model. Two of my Novas are blue and in need of restoring, so I used to get that line a lot. (Submitted by Scott Toich.)

Bio-Dome, 1995: The main guys drive a green 68-72 Nova. (Submitted by Mike Simpson.)

Carlito's Way: Towards the beginning of the movie, Carlito (Al Pacino) is in a car with a young thug about to make a drug deal. The car is a 68'-72 Nova. You only see its outside for a few seconds, but it is certainly one bad-ass looking Nova. (Submitted by Mike Canty.)

Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest: The hero's best friend, Malcom, drives a light blue '70 Nova. (Submitted by Sean P. Dobbins.)

Clinton and Nadine, 1980: The made-for-HBO movie had two scenes where Andy Garcia rammed a mid 70s Cadillac Coupe de Ville into a Nova 2-door (a 1979), while the scene where he goes south of the border, he arrives in a taxicab (a 1977 4-door). (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

D.A.R.Y.L., 1985: Uses Nova 9C1s as police vehicles. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Dead Man Walking: A 1977 coupe was seen when Sean Penn's character confesses. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Endless Summer, '60s: This surf movie has two of them. A '63 wagon while they are surfing South Africa, and a '63 2-door hardtop while they're in Australia. (Submitted by Scott Toich.)

Eraser, 1996: When Arnold falls out of the sky from the CIA plane, he lands in a junkyard on a stack of three or four cars crowned by a Chevrolet Caprice. The car directly ajacent to the stack is a beat up, junk heap 1968-72 Chevrolet Nova. The next minute or so showed some pretty nice views of the front and side. You can even see the Nova emblem on the front left fender!

Footloose: One of the early scenes had Lori Singer hanging out of the window of a 1975 Nova. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Forrest Gump, 1995: As the beginning credits come to an end, a 75-79 Nova drives by. It is the first car on the screen. (Submitted by Mike Simpson.)

The Getaway: In the remake of The Getaway (the one with Alec Baldwin), a Nova 4-door (either a 1976 or 77) is seen when Doc (Alec Baldwin's character) parks an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser station wagon in a parking garage. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Good Will Hunting: The Nova was given to the lead actor at or torwards the end. I think it was between 1970 and 72 Nova. (Submitted by Eric Harvey.)

Gremlins: The sheriff drove a 1978 9C1 Nova. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Heart Condition: A 1978 Nova 4-door was used in the movie. Too bad that Denzel Washington was the "ghost" that haunts the organ recipient played by Bob Hoskins. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Live and Let Die: 007 was chased by two police Novas. One ends up in a sugarcane field and the other crashes into the upper half of a double decker bus that Roger Moore commandeers in the movie (Jane Seymour is his passenger). Another Nova was used by one of the henchmen when 007 arrives in New Orleans. While he evades capture by commandeering a Cessna trainer, a two door Nova hatchback does not survive as it lands on the left wing of a DC3. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

Overboard You can see a 1962-63 station wagon parked on the side of a house and then actually see Goldie Hawn driving it later on. Curious part about it is that it's gold with a woodie-style inlay. Don't remember ever seeing that before. (Submitted by Jay Scheick, Jr.) Someone else says that the station wagon is a '64.

Phenomenon, 1996: I believe I saw a harvest gold 68-72 Chevy Nova in Phenomenon right at the beginning when a car (the nova) comes down the hill just before the camera pans to the garage. (Submitted by Frank Kostyun.)

Pulp Fiction, 1994: Samuel Jackson and John Travolta tool around town in a 1974 Chevrolet Nova. It's in the back seat of this car where the kid gets his head blown off; this causes one of the major headaches in the movie's plot.

Roma and Micheles High School Reunion: When they are talking about traveling to the reunion, they say that "we can't drive the Nova, we need to get a better car." (Submitted by Frank Kostyun.)

The Taking of Pelham 123, 1974: The Nova appears about an hour and a half into the movie where Lt. Garber (Walter Matthau) tells the inspector to turn the car around. As they turn the corner, there is a 4 door, 1970, tan or light brown Nova. I spotted it immediately because I have a 1971 4 door brown Nova. (Submitted by Daniel Sosa.)

Teen Wolf: In the original Teen Wolf starring Michael J. Fox, his friend "Styles" drives a yellow '62 convertible with a black top.

Terminator: Kyle Reese slams a Ford LTD into a two door Nova. Arnold Schwarzegger was on hood of this Ford and crashes into the Nova. (Submitted by Don Seributa.) When Arnold says, "I'll be back" to the police officer after he is denied access to Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) he drives what appears to be a 75 - 77 Nova through the police station and proceeds to shoot up the place. Definitely an all time great movie appearance for Novas. (Submitted by John Holdbrook.)

Three O'Clock High: There is a '69 or '70 Nova in the last fight scene in the high school parking lot. The bad guy falls on it when he gets punched in the face! It is only really shown for 2 or 3 seconds here and there. (Submitted by Mike Garvin.)

Twister, 1996: A '66 four door is in the opening scene where the tornado kills Helen Hunt's dad. (Submitted by Scott Toich.)

Two if by Sea: Dennis Leary comments to Sandra Bullock that he would not have had to rent a car if she had remembered to change the oil in her Nova. You never see the car, but it does get a mention. (Submitted by Maria Wysong.)

Used Cars, 1980: A 1968-72 Nova appears along with the rest of a gargantuan pack of cars speeding down the middle of the desert in this goofy movie. Kurt Russell and Jack Warden were both in it. I'm also almost positive that there is a '62-'65 vintage Nova in the same scene in Used Cars. (Submitted by Scott Toich.)

Warlock: The Armageddon: Lo and behold, there was a '70 Nova SS. ('70 was the only year with the funky hood ornaments, yes?) It was an ugly shade of bright orange (think Dukes of Hazzard orange here folks) with painted-to-match Rally wheels with the 'pancake' style center caps. The Warlock character bleeds all over it for a while, then kills the owner and drives it across America. Lots of great shots of this Nova. Pity the color and the number '6' painted on the side. (Submitted by George Kearns.)

I saw a movie but cannot remember what the name of it off the top of my head right now. It starred Kristy McNichol and was filmed in Canada. It's the story of a rebelluous girl that ultimitely got reformed enough to live a productive life. I have the copy on videotape somewhere. Timeline of the movie started out in the mid-1960s, anyway. In a scene, she drives away in a 1962 or 1963 brown Acadian Canso (Chevy II) station wagon. (Submitted by Larry Artz.)

Novas Elsewhere

Two recent commercials had Novas: one is a Bank of America "Banking on America" ad that shows a '62 or '63 convertible driving down a road. The other is a Pioneer commercial with space aliens. The guy rockin' out with his Pioneer deck is also in a '62 or '63 convertible. (Submitted by Scott Toich.)

Rencently Honda has had a commercial where a Honda Accord is sitting at a stop sign with a couple inside listening to classical music, when suddenly you here some heavy metal music, and a convertible '63 (black top) Nova pulls up on the right side of the Honda with two guys out cruisin'. The occupants of the two cars look at each other real strange for a few seconds, then the Nova turns right as you hear the purr of the dual exhaust system.

On a Castrol GTX oil commercial there is a 73-74 SS Nova being chased by cops. It is red with black stripes. (Submitted by BigB23Aaol.com.)

I haven't seen it myself, but I've been told that Super Dave Osborn once drove a red white and blue 68'-72 Nova, in great condition, off a cliff in one of his crazy skits. (Submitted by Don Baughman.)

240-ROBERT, 1979-81: The much forgotten TV in which the Nova 9C1 was used. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

We thought of one to add In the mtv s cartoon show "Beavis and Butthead" beavis and butthead's idol "Tod" drives a "70" ss Nova "green" rusted out in the rear end. (Submitted by Ben Oliva.)

In several Dukes of Hazzard episodes, villans use a 4-door Nova. (Submitted by Don Seributa.)

There is an old Dragnet episode where they drive by a Chevy dealer with about twenty Novas on his lot. (Submitted by Scott Toich.)

When I was reading through the list of sightings of Nova's in TV shows and movies, I was a little surprised to note that the episode of JAG last season ('96) wasn't included. A light blue, '68-'72 Nova was the transportation of choice for a group of Navy Seals on a mission to rescue Rab and destroy the operation of a drug cartel in Columbia. It was in as rough a condition as you might expect an older American car in a South American country to be, but it was definitely restorable. And since the episode was probably shot in Southern California, I hope someone else had the same thought. (Submitted by Jim Jones.)

Walker, Texas Ranger, Saturday, February 15, 1997: There was a 1973-74 Chevy Nova SS. It was yellow with black racing stripes. And perhaps a 454 turbo engine? It was the COOLEST!! (Submitted by Benjamin Miller.)

So the Chevy II is just a copy of a Fix Or Repair Daily?

Just sneaking in under my timeline, with a launch in late 1959, was the Ford Falcon. Contrasting it with the Corvair, we said: "Ford has taken the opposite tack from its major competitor and produced an absolutely normal compact car and in so doing has come up with something quite new." The Falcon was, in fact, the breath of fresh air the industry needed after the suffocating excesses of the late Fifties. GM immediately copied the Falcon, building the Chevy II, later the Nova. Without those new platforms, there would have been no Mustangs, Cougars, Camaros, and Firebirds. By celebrating simplicity, the Falcon set new standards. It's a lesson some could relearn today. (Emphasis added.)

-- Karl Ludvigsen from Car and Driver.

Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Aren Cambre.