1964 Chevrolet Nova SS 283. Photo from www.mecum.com

By 1964, Chevrolet was waging war in the compact car market but eager to jump into the high performance battle, added a V8 offering to the budget minded Nova crowd. The budget friendly little basic car now had some teeth and was gaining fans quickly.

Gear heads recognized the 1964 Sport Coupe SS with the V8 option as a real sleeper car and flocked to get their hands on one. This was a car that you could still consider a compact car but still fit a family of five. Number 4 on our top 5 list of Novas, is the third year Chevy II/Nova of 1964.

What makes the 1964 Nova worthy of being on a top 5 list, is the availability of an optional V8 for the first time. The small-block 283ci V8 came in the SS option – which was also available with the straight 6 engine – and could be ordered in a convertible body style. The convertible SS Nova with the V8 remains one of the more collectible cars in this line.

The 1964 Chevy II Nova was a compact car platform with some muscle under the hood. This was instant success with the public. Photo from www.mecum.com

Sales of the ’64 Nova suffered however, when the Chevelle was released. The hardtop sport coupe was not initially in the ’64 Nova lineup, but public demand caused Chevrolet to bring the sport coupe back mid-year.

The marketing department had a way of making things interesting, and an ad at the timed for the ’64 Nova SS summed up the car with spot on perfection. “It’s a nice, quiet, sturdy, sensible, unpretentious car… with sharper teeth.” Confident yes, but apparently, not pretentious. This makes it worthy of the number 4 on our top 5 list of greatest Novas of all time.