Meet the popular Chevy Nova lineup for 1974, which now included a three-door hatchback and an updated drivetrain.
Introduced on September 22, 1973 with the rest of the Chevrolet model line, the ’74 Nova was another solid success for General Motors. Despite only a few nearly imperceptible trim changes over the previous year, more than 390,000 of the popular Chevy compacts were sold in ’74, including around 80,000 three-door hatchbacks—a trendy body style introduced to the Nova line the year before. The old Powerglide automatic transmission was finally retired on both the six and V8 models, replaced by a Turbo-Hydramatic 350 three-speed, and the standard V8 was upgraded from 307 to 350 cubic inches. There was even an SS box that could be checked on the order form, but in reality it was essentially a $125 appearance package. The muscle era was nearly over.
But behind the happy Nova story, trouble was brewing for General Motors. Driven by the OPEC oil embargo and other factors, Americans were buying smaller cars, and naturally, all the GM car divisions wanted a piece of the action. And so Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick got their own minimally facelifted versions of the Nova X-body platform. The first letter of each name—Nova, Omega, Ventura, and Apollo—spelled out “Nova,” and under the all-too-similar exterior sheet metal, their chassis and drivetrains were similar as well. They were all pretty much the same car, more or less.
In truth, platform and component sharing went back many decades at GM. There was nothing new there. And when each GM car division had one or two platforms, maintaining the product distinctions among the five car brands was a manageable task. After all, GM had plenty of talent and there were more than enough ideas to go around. But as the platforms proliferated across the GM divisions and each brand now carried four, five and more model lines, the task grew geometrically. While critics often point to the front-drive J-body cars of the ’80s as examples of GM’s brand dilution troubles, we can see that the ball was already rolling a decade earlier. But never mind all that for now; let’s check out the Chevy Novas for ’74. Video below.
Bought a 1969 Nova Glacier Blue four door sedan for my petite 73 year old mother who was “lost” driving my recently deceased dad’s 1964 Mercury station wagon. I was a Chevrolet employee so got that discount on the purchase. The car was built to my specs with black vinyl top, full chrome trim, tinted glass, rally wheels, 307 V8 with Power Glide transmission. When my mom wasn’t able to drive anymore in the early ’90s, she gave me the car. More than once I left some surprised Mustang drivers behind when the light turned green…
My chief memory of these disco Novas is how the rear spring mounts would fail and the car would drive sideways down the street.
I think this era Nova was like the Vega of the same vintage, they came rusting from the factory. Quality control wasn’t job 1, a lot of stuff got out the door that shouldn’t have. Not many of them left around, I have a friend who has one he bought new. If he hadn’t of kept it garaged, I doubt it would still be here either.
I have to wonder how rigid the hatchback body was with the giant hole in the back.
A car spoilt by those FUGLY bumpers. The add is only for the 6. So the V8 was an option not catered for in the add?. And what 6 cyl engine did they actually use?
1974 = 250 CID Chevy Six. Powerglide was finally retired as the automatic for the six replaced by the th350.