Time For A Change

After building cars for others, Ken Rice decides to finally craft a twin-turbo Nova for himself

- Joe Greeves

Some folks are lucky having a job and hobby that blend together. During the day, Ken Rice, from Russiaville, Indiana, worked as an electrician on the GM assembly line in Kokomo, Indiana. After hours, he worked on hot rods, building more than 20 cars over the years for customers and friends in his well-equipped home shop. Now retired from GM, he decided it was time to head in a new direction and create one of his own. He’s had several Novas over the years so nostalgia played a role when it came time to select his retirement vehicle. Luck was a factor, too, with Ken discovering his future ride at a swap meet in Indianapolis. Unfortunately, his luck ran out during media blasting. He thought he had bought a nice 1967 Nova and felt he paid premium money, but as each inspection process went a little deeper, the car proved to be a combination of filler and rust.

The disassembly began in earnest and once the fresh metal additions were complete, Ken had replaced everything but the quarter-panels, roof, and doors. Even the firewall was new. With the body finally solid, the rejuvenation process moved forward with a frame rail kit from Jegs that he adapted to fit, adding 2x3-inch rails of his own design as chassis stiffeners. He added a TCI Engineering four-link kit with adjustable QA1 coilovers and Panhard bar in the rear along with a TCI front end with tubular A-arms, 2-inch drop spindles, and Mustang power rack-and-pinion steering. The aftermarket suspension upgrades were augmented with GM disc brakes, giving the half-century-old ride slot-carlike handling.