Oh, if cars could tell tales, imagine the tales they would tell. This superclean '63 Nova probably has some good ones. It was originally owned by a guy who worked as a salesman for a corned beef processing plant in Oakland, California. We can only imagine what his clothes smelled like when he came home from work. For years it was the conveyance of a person who made call after sales call hawking pickled meat to stores, restaurants, and maybe a few of those pastrami nacho taco stands we see in certain parts of town.
It must not have had too hard a life, because the car still has only 60,000 miles on it. For some reason, it was put into storage in 1980 and didn't see the light of day until 1993 when Bob Brynteson bought the car so he and his two sons would have a project to work on together.
Over the years, they steadily transformed it into the version you see here, and it's come a long way from its meat-selling days. It's a lot faster, for sure. Bob's son Joe is now the owner, and he credits his dad and his brother, Steve, for helping with the transformation. Steve built the 10-point rollcage and set up the ladder bar rear, while Joe and his dad did the paint and bodywork. Don Nelson at 5R Auto built the engine and transmission, and everyone was instrumental in putting the car back together.
Now in its new life, Joe's Nova has different stories to tell-tales of mighty burnouts and frenetic dragstrip passes. It smells better, too. Burning rubber is always preferable to corned beef.