This one’s tough. We want to dog the heck out of this lifted and ‘froaded-out Nova, but we’re in too much pain to really rail on this conversion nearly as much as we should.

Why? Sadly, the owner of this Nova is a self-proclaimed “muscle car lover.” Yet, as much as he “loves” muscle cars, he woefully stripped any muscle out of this original Super Sport long ago.

Despite its original “SS” and “350” badges, the Nova is hiding quite a bit more punch beneath the hood. Equipped with a built and bored 454, this lifted SS has never seen duty in the mud but has apparently hazed the big knobbies on the back. We spotted this Nova over at Oh So Country blog and were, well…heartbroken.

You might think we’re overreacting, but we’ve seen more examples of classic muscle cars turned into bizarre halfbreeds than we’d like admit.

We’ve seen Dodge Chargers on Dodge Ram chassis, Corvettes turned into station wagons, Camaros turned into amphibious watercraft, and much, much worse.

While the physical execution of this Nova 4×4 conversion is, for all intents and purposes, well done, we still can get ourselves to appreciate this degree of customization. People like to justify these mad scientist creations as nothing more than creative “hot rodding,” but that only holds so much credit.

When does art cease to be art and become obscene? When does hot rodding cease to be hot rodding and become destructive?

We suppose these are questions that each muscle car lover must ask themselves.