Little red Nova’s long journey to Wichita

Roger Berry wasn’t sure that the slick little 1963 Chevy Nova SS convertible was the right car for him when he spotted it for sale locally on Craigslist. He had sold his GTO recently and was looking to replace it, but despite the fact the Nova was a completely finished, professionally built car, he thought it was awfully pricey.

“I’ve always been a MoPar kind of person,” he said. But when the Nova disappeared from the online listing as fast as it had appeared, he was intrigued, especially after he learned the history of the car.

“It was the last year for the Nova convertible,” he said. “A gentleman in Phoenix had the car built. He wanted to make sure it was a real SS car. He found it in California and had it shipped back to Arizona.

“From there, the Nova was sent to Street & Performance in Mena, Ark.,” Berry said.

There it received some serious mechanical upgrades, the main one being the installation of an LS6 crate engine and a T-56 Borg-Warner 6-speed manual transmission out of a late model Z06 Corvette.

The Nova also was treated to a complete Heidt’s front suspension system, complete with tubular down bars, disc brakes and a Mosier rear end.

“It is like a Corvette. All the stuff in the car is Corvette, the computer and everything. That 6-speed transmission is out of this world. It is very responsive, it doesn’t drive like older cars, the ride is amazing,” Berry said.

The fuel-injected LS6 engine is rated at 405 horsepower. When you figure that it originally chalked up acceleration times of 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and 11.97 seconds in the quarter mile in a 3,115-pound Corvette, the 2,760-pound Nova “would be a little better than that,” according to Berry.

Jerry Johnston, the previous owner, insisted that the Nova remain outwardly stock-looking, so he sent the car on to Jack’s Body Shop in Siloam Springs, Ark., where it was painted a brilliant “Firecracker Red.”

“There’s nothing on the outside of car that isn’t original,” Berry said.

He could have had a better grille installed, but he kept the original one. They did a complete nut and bolt restoration on the body.

But inside, a set of Recaro seats upholstered in light tan leather, along with a full length center console dividing a pair of custom rear seats, give the Nova a more modern feel. A new tan power top was installed and the dash got a set of Dakota Digital instruments and Vintage Air air conditioning.

Sadly, Johnston’s failing health didn’t allow him to enjoy his car and he moved back to Wichita, where his son lives. The car ended up in storage here. After Johnston died, his son put the car up for sale.

After lengthy negotiations, Berry finally made a deal to buy the Nova last May. But he still wasn’t sure it was what he was after.

“This is a woman’s car,” he said, noting that a woman had remarked, upon seeing the little red convertible in traffic that it looked “like a little Barbie doll car.”

“I thought about getting rid of it, but my wife, Jane, really likes it. It brings her a lot of pleasure,” he said. “We had to find her a Frankie Valli CD for it. It just goes with the car.”

So the only change he has made to the Nova so far is swapping the white cue ball shift knob for a flashier red one.

“I don’t have the experience to do more stuff. I wish I did, but I would be lost,” Berry confessed. “I love going to car auctions, but I have never bought a car at one of them. If I was a bazillionaire, I’d be like Jay Leno.”

So it turns out the little Nova with the big Corvette engine was the right car after all. Roger and Jane Berry enjoy taking it to area car shows and their twin 3-year-old grandsons, Spencer and Liam Burch, are always up for a ride in Grandpa’s red car.

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Little red Nova’s long journey to Wichita."