Having a 1969 Nova as your first car can definitely give you a “cool” status in high school.

When it comes to a teenager finally getting a “first car”, quite often, that car is a hand-me-down. We’re not saying that makes them a bad car, but if that hand-me-down is a beat up Cavalier or Chevette, let us be the first to issue our condolences. Luckily for Andrew Petty, his first car might not have been a hand-me-down Cavalier, he was fortunate enough that his first car was definitely something cool – a 1969 Nova. According to Andrew, “My parents purchased the car back in October 2002. I was 16 years old, and it was my first, real, daily driver. When I started driving the car, it had just over 10,000 miles on the odometer.”

The interior truly epitomizes the sleeper look.

According to Andrew, the car was the typical “little old lady car.” He tells us, “When I got the car, it was super solid and straight. It had just been gone through by the nephew of the elderly lady that owned it.”Andrew says that his favorite quality about the car is how bare bones it is. From the factory, the Nova was equipped with a six-cylinder engine under the hood, and shifting gears was handled via a Powerglide transmission. The Nova even had a rubber floor mat, not carpeting. At one time, it did have the amenity of air conditioning, but apparently, it stopped working, and was removed from the car years ago. The non-power-assisted items like steering and drum brakes help Andrew get his daily workout, and Andrew says, “Although the car was pretty solid, it leaked a quart of oil every week.” Adding oil to the engine each week not only dents the wallet, it’s not very cool to leave your mark wherever you park. So, within the first few months of owning the car, he installed a Chevrolet Performance crate 350 cubic-inch HO Deluxe. Since upgrading was the task, the Powerglide was also yanked, and placed on back up duty, to make room for a freshly-rebuilt Turbo 350. “I drove it daily for about four years like that, and in 2004, I got a truck and the car has been a toy ever since.”

Although the Nova was no longer a daily driver, the upgrades didn’t stop. In 2006, he had the car repainted, and added a Camaro rear spoiler, Hotchkis springs, and then started entering autocross events with the car. Andrew is quick to point out that the Nova might not be the most outrageous car on his block, but it has managed to handle everything that he has thrown at it over the years. The car has truly been performance tested, as it spent its early life with him, first as a daily driver, then with added trips to the drag strip (where the car ran a consistent 13.8), and finally, hitting the autocross events for about three years.

Nowadays, Andrew has continued to upgrade his car while trying to maintain a sleeper appearance. “I have been working on finding the right mix of factory sleeper with a little bit of my personal style.” The latest upgrades include a set of two-piston SSBC disc brakes being added to the front, a pair of Hotchkis sway bars, Ride Tech HQ shocks, poly bushings, and stock steel wheels. Andrew says, “The car rides and drives the best it ever has, and still keeps the sleeper mentality.”

The GM Crate engine does a great job of motivating the Nova.

Since a sleeper look is the priority with the Nova build, Andrew freshened the interior with reproduction interior parts like new door panels and dash pad. Additional interior improvements include a new steering wheel and an AutoMeter tachometer. Andrew tells us that the car still gets to stretch its legs each week, running around town and attending some shows and cruise-in’s, but regardless of where he drives to, it is the enjoyment of putting miles on it that keeps Andrew sitting behind the wheel.

Do you own a Home-Built Hero? We want to hear about it. Since we’ve started the Home-Built Heros series, we have received more than a few candidates, but we still need more. If you want to see more cars built by you the readers, send us a few pictures of your car with all of the pertinent information, and we’ll make you Internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].