If you live in Arizona year round, we love this time of year!!! This morning l saw 59 degrees on my outside thermometer. A 100* day or high 90’s may still sneak in there, but that’s OK, we know they won’t last. The mildest, wettest summer l can remember is now in the rearview mirror and l’m so looking forward to the next 6-7 months of great Arizona weather.
I guess it’s about time for another Car-Nut-Ball (me) update. If you were watching the Mecum Auction from Las Vegas live streaming broadcast on Saturday, Oct. 9th at around 4:20pm, you probably saw my white 1965 Nova station wagon cross the auction block. I’m not exactly sure how l got such a prime time slot, not that it made that much difference. Leading up to the Nova, there were cars and trucks crossing the block that were beautiful examples of fully restored amazing vehicles. Each one selling or reaching high dollar amounts. There were $100,000++ vehicles being sold and lots of $50,000+ being sold or a few moving into Mecum’s Bid-Goes-On area that might sell later. There is no question that my Nova did not fit that high dollar car time slot. I even asked the Mecum folks if they wanted to change the time, but they said it was OK where it was.
I bought this ’65 Nova in early 2020 to be my street and strip cruiser. I had started doing modifications to transform it into that car, but, right in the middle of that process, l found an awesome ’56 Chevy two door post “gasser” and somehow managed to do a wheeler-dealer deal and now own the car. The ’56 Chevy then became my street and strip cruiser, which meant the Nova wasn’t needed. My friend Bruce Williams built a hot little 355 small block for the ’56 and it’s a pretty neat car. Car-Nut-Ball me started looking at the ’56 and quickly realized that turning that car into a Bracket Racer would ruin its value. I now have a rough and ready 2013 Chevy Caprice retired cop car as my street-strip cruiser. The Caprice has a modern 6.0 liter LS engine and six speed automatic transmission, probably a much better car for what l need it to do. By the way, the ’65 Nova wagon sold at No Reserve for $13,000 l will get $12,000 which is about $6000 less than l had in it, but the exact price l had paid for it last year. The Car-Nut-Ball in me had struck again.
I have to send a Very Special Thanks to Harley at Fast Motorsports (480-625-2085) in Apache Junction. He tried to help me by phone to repair an electrical problem on the Nova, but l still couldn’t get the fuel pump to work, so he let me bring it right in, ahead of several other jobs, so that l could get the Nova to Las Vegas on time. He fixed the problem in quick fashion and off l went. Also Special Thanks to Mark at Vintage Iron Restoration in Scottsdale (480-922-2480) who took in my ’57 Ford Ranch Wagon ahead of other vehicles and repaired the broken steering rag joint (couldn’t steer the car) and fixed several electrical gremlins and also got the rear hatch working properly. Now l can actually drive the Ford again.
