NUMMI-licious Chevyota Nova Twin Cam

In the 80s, the Domestics resurrected some names which were thought to be lost in the 70s.   Plymouth briefly brought back the Duster name, as documented in Jalopnik’s excellent coverage of the resultant Cocaine Factory ad.  Chevrolet also brought back the Nova name and put it on a version of the Toyota built at their shared “NUMMI” plant in the Bay Area of California – the same plant now turning out Teslas. Our subject car is easily the finest and most interesting version of said “Corrolova”, what with its high-revving, twin-cam four.

Hemmings published an article on this particular Nova variant in 2013 and, if you compare it with the ad text below, you’ll see that the seller found it, copied it and pasted it.  That means the ad text doesn’t really say anything about the condition of this example.  Fortunately, eBay had one other slot for a description, so the seller added a short note, as follow:

“Good rust free, unrestored condition. Original black paint is in good condition with some light scratches and clearcoat peeling on passenger quarterpanel. Good driver condition or restoration.”

Click for eBay ad
Spokane, WA
$3,500 with ZERO bids and 3 days to go

Ad text:

In 1988, Chevrolet launched a new model variant that came to market with the brand’s first-ever four-valve-per-cylinder head, dual overhead camshafts, electronic fuel injection, a variable induction system to boost high-end performance and a stratospheric 7,500 RPM redline. As you’d expect, this mysterious car came with a four-wheel independent sport suspension and four-wheel disc brakes, too, but the car in question wasn’t a Corvette, Camaro or Beretta. Purists will argue that it wasn’t entirely a Chevrolet, either, because many of its parts came straight out of the Toyota parts bin. The mystery Chevrolet that few enthusiasts have ever heard of is the 1988 Chevrolet Nova Twin-Cam.
Knowing  that 1989 would be the final year for the Chevrolet Nova, its engineers decided to send the model off with a high-performance bang, and the one year, limited-production Nova Twin-Cam was born. Starting with the same AE82 Corolla platform that underpinned base Nova models, NUMMI added four-wheel disc brakes, stiffer springs, gas charged shocks, larger anti-sway bars and additional suspension bracing to make the car capable of better handling. While wheel diameter remained at 13 inches (same as on base Nova models), conservatively styled alloy wheels shod with 175/70HR13 Goodyear Eagle GT tires increased grip noticeably.

Better handling was one thing, but the heart of the Nova Twin Cam was, of course, its Toyota-designed engine. Originally appearing in the 1983 Toyota Corolla FX-16, the double-overhead-camshaft 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine boasted 16 valves and a healthy 68.75 horsepower per liter, not bad for a normally aspirated engine in the 1980s. Taking advantage of the car’s lofty redline, a skilled driver could take the compact sedan from 0-60 MPH in less than 10 seconds, running the quarter-mile in the 17-second range. While not particularly fast in a straight line, the 2,350-pound car was agile, and better suited to carving corners than many compact sedans of the day. By all period accounts, it was an engaging car to drive.
The Nova Twin-Cam came in any color the buyer wanted, as long as that choice was metallic black with a gray cloth interior. The same could be said of body style, as the Twin-Cam was produced only as a four-door sedan and not as a hatchback. Perhaps that played best to the Nova Twin-Cam’s “Q-Ship” mission; aside from the previously mentioned alloy wheels, only a red decorative rub strip was used to adorn the compact’s black exterior.  The 1988 Nova Twin Cam sticker price was $11,395.
The NUMMI plant produced roughly 3,300 examples of the Nova Twin-Cam during the car’s one-year run, though it’s not clear how many survive today. While the car may not be as memorable as a 1969 Camaro Z/28 or a 1990 Corvette ZR-1, it still deserves a place in Chevrolet history.