The Bill Thomas "Novel Nova"
May 2011
The Car Today
Final Touches
Bill Thomas completed construction of the Novel Nova in late 1965. The AHRA (American Hot Road Association) was a very popular drag racing organization at that time, and was in direct competition with NHRA and NASCAR for drag racing events.
The history of the classes the altered wheelbase Novas ran in the different sanctioning organizations over the years could be an article in and of itself; however, we have completed the car in the proper configuration of a 1965 AHRA S/SX drag car. S/SX was the AHRA designation for Super Stock Experimental, as opposed to A/FX in NHRA and S/US1 in NASCAR.
Incidentally, NHRA would not allow this car to compete in the popular Factory Experimental class at the time because the Nova was not officially factory-built, as were the Fords and Mopars. NHRA typically relegated these Novas to the B/A (B/Altered) class until the spring of 1966.
Additonally, we painted the one-piece fiberglass front end because Bill Thomas told us previously "No car left my shop without paint!" Apparently the Novel Nova was not quite finished when Hot Rod Magazine arrived for the November '65 photo shoot - hence the primed front end in the magazine article!
Not satisfied with the color of the interior and trunk paint, we dis-assembled the interior and re-sprayed both areas with the proper tone and texture of paint - as was in the car originally.
The Novel Nova is now complete and operational, providing another
fascinating link to the history of Bill Thomas.
The Bill Thomas "Novel Nova" is available For Sale
For Inquiries, please contact J. Tinberg at jtinberg@sbcglobal.net
