So how do you spot and confirm a Nova Sport is a genuine example?
The only true way to have a Nova Sport confirmed is to have the chassis number confirmed by Vauxhall Heritage and checked against the original manifest held by Andrew Duerden – Vauxhall Motorsport and Heritage Archivist. You can find out how to do that on our page How to Verify your Sport page.
Andrew Dureden with Sport owners @ Billing 2014
If you have not yet asked for confirmation from Vauxhall we have a guide to give you a head start to help identify a Nova Sport. The guide below is an extract from an article written by Jon Walsh for Total Vauxhall. Jon has kindly given his permission for us to use the article and we hope it helps you. The list remains more or less unchanged from when he wrote it, but we have updated some areas and added some additional information below. The full article is very comprehensive on the development and history of the car and is worth taking a moment to read. You can read the full article by clicking here.
You may also be interested in visiting our Magazine Articles section where we have several other magazine articles that have been published over the years, and hope in time to build a comprehensive library of features for you.
Jon Walsh
Nova Sport Features list
- Brown interior with Daytona check SR seats
- Rear seat is a one piece bench seat
- Basic dark brown dashboard with no outer face vents(Blanking plates in place)
- Usually no clock but most have had one fitted by now
- Early orange needle SR 6 dial instruments
- Two speed heater fan
- ‘Floppy’ type drivers door mirror, passenger mirror was an optional extra! Passenger mirror is also a different size although most Sports now have later mirrors fitted
- No rear seat belts, also an optional extra
- Usually no radio although in recent years several cars have been identified to have radios
- Early Round lock rear tailgate
- AC Delco 236mm Small solid disc front brakes were fitted even though the brochure describes Astra GTE 9.3″ vented brakes being fitted
- Irmscher inlet manifold
- Special Weber DCOE carburettors numbered 143 & 144 with vacuum advance take offs and manual chokes
- Irmscher UK air-box
- Special upper & lower alternator brackets
- Base model front one piece bumper with white decals and stripe
- No side repeaters on the wings
- Did you know early door handles are a different size!
- Full decal set
- 13×5 et49 steel wheels with what were described as “Smooth aerodynamic” wheels trims
- “Low profile” Firestone tires
- Carburetor stickers for hot air feed on wheel house and service instructions on dash
We would like to thank Jon Walsh for his input and support of the Nova Sport Register.
Additional Information
Additionally to the list above it is worth checking the chassis vin plate on the slam panel for colour code E452 for polar white and trim code 321 for Daytona interior. The trim and colour code helps narrow a car down to a White Nova with Daytona interior. You can then narrow it down further using the type approval number 0930106v for a 1.3 Nova. If you have all of this information mentioned above on your trim plate, then you have at least got a 1.3 Nova with Daytona interior which would only have been available with a Nova 1.3 SR, or Nova 1.3 Base (Sport).
There is an additional way to potentially identify a Sport, if you wish to contact us we will be happy to help with this. But in the interest of keeping this check valid and to prevent people forging cars we have decided to keep this check secure. Please contact us for help.
