Restoring and Custom Painting TacoPoPo's '69 Chevy Nova

Get the car here:

Realistic handling and 4k paintjobs for Taco's 69 Nova add on.
Handling is based on real life experience driving a built 350 4 speed Nova. Performance data such as quarter mile time and top speed are based on the rare optional L78 396 big block V8 available in the Super Sport package. Top speed is about 140 and quarter mile times will be in the high 12-mid 13 second range.
I changed the plastic filler panel between the grille and bumper to textured silver/grey plastic. A lot of Novas had this piece painted later to match the body but silver was actually the factory color for this trim piece. I also gave it realistic looking vinyl top textures with my first attempt at texturing on a piece of metal vinyl top trim and I lightly rusted/dirtied up the bottom of the car so it would look just dirty enough for either clean or rusted liveries.
There are 7 different style liveries with color and rust variations for each available. Number 1 is "rally" side stripes inspired by the stripes from the "Rally Nova" optional appearance package. Comes in black or white, with or without matching vinyl tops and rusted variants. This is just minor edits to the original side stripe livery the mod came with. Credit obviously goes to the original livery maker but my edits are a big improvement. Number 2 is a choice of 3 different levels of rust with or without black vinyl tops. I gave choice of light, medium and heavy rust/paint distress because lighter looks better on darker colors and heavier looks better on lighter colors. Lots of love went into this one and it is the base for the other paintjobs rusted variants. It has rust in most of the places a real Nova would. I tried not to overdo it this time so no swapped panels and no really serious salt water looking rust like some of my other jobs. Just simple weathering and rust in realistic places and patterns. Number 3 is a choice of light, medium and heavy rust on the awesome flame livery the mod came with. Credits go to the original livery maker although I had to move the original flames to cover a gap on the hood. Number 4 is a choice of black, white or red Chevelle/Camaro SS inspired stripes that unfortunately were never a factory option on SS Novas. Matching vinyl top is available for black and white stripes. Rusted variations for black and white are included. These stripes took a long time to line up properly due to the way the texture is laid out and the fact that you can't see the trunk texture in the model viewer so I had to start the game every time I made a change to the rear deck stripes. Number 5 is four simple "two tones", with choice of black or white upper half and black or white lower half. Rusted versions included as well. Number 6 is just some basic vinyl tops. Color choices are black, white and the God awful puke green. Number 7 is Yenko SYC side stripes and hood point in black or white with matching vinyl tops and rusted variants. Despite being overshadowed by it's big brother the LS6 454, the L78 396 was one of the muscle car era's hottest engines and was the largest engine available from the factory in the Super Sport package. Obviously when stuffed into a relatively small economy car like the Nova that was originally designed for a 4 cylinder this engine has more than enough power to haul the groceries. Even with this large cast iron engine total curb weight is only 3370 pounds. To put that into perspective a 95 Supra weighs more than this classic muscle car at 3415 pounds. Despite being relatively light and small handling of the big block SS Nova is not the best. While based on the same platform as the better handling first generation Camaro the big block Nova SS has much more wight on the front end and braking and handling suffer a bit as a result.

---

First Upload: November 13, 2024 Last Updated: November 13, 2024