“I am originally from Tonawanda, New York, but now reside in Clarence, New York, just outside Buffalo. My father sold a Sebring Silver 1963 split window corvette back in 1993 to pay off the mortgage on the home and purchase this 1967 Nova so we had a father and son project”, is how Nicholas started his email. Since we love a good father and son story, he immediately had our interest.

A humble but solid beginning.

Nicholas told us the car originally featured an L79-spec 327ci engine and a four-speed transmission. In the early ‘70s, it caught fire and then sat in a back lot at a garage until 1993 when his father purchased the car as a project for the pair. Nicholas continued, “It was $1,000, and for a car that sat outside – in Buffalo – all those years, it was relatively solid.

The father and son team built their car into an amazing restomod, because in Nicholas’ words, “The popularity of these cars at the time was growing, and since it didn’t have the original engine or four-speed, we built what we wanted.” He continued, “Its value as a father and son project, and the fact that it’s my first car far surpasses its value to others, and the car will never be for sale.”

The build was first completed in 1999, and featured a 350ci small-block taken from a Corvette, and had aluminum heads and TPI. Behind that was a 700R4 transmission and a 10-bolt rear with 3.73 gears and a Positraction. The car sat on its original suspension, and got a lot of attention and won numerous awards at car shows. Nicholas spent considerable time behind the wheel, and he and the family enjoyed it very much. In 2001, he graduated high school and the car legally became his, as dad made it official.

In the summer of 2015, his dad and several close friends prodded Nicholas into another rebuild. Like many guys, he thinks he might have over done it, as he told us, “With all the amazing companies and all the awesome aftermarket goodies now available, I went for broke.” To that end, Detroit Speed Engineering, QA1, and Classic Performance Products were tasked to supply the suspension parts, a set of Wilwood brakes, Billet Specialties wheels round out the parts list. Under the hood, the TPI-fed small-block was retained.

The family friend that painted the car in 1996, did not need to repaint the car, but on this go-round, he did help in other ways. Nicholas says that even though the car was painted in 1996, everyone still thinks it was painted recently. Inside is a stock bench seat covered with tweed fabric, and the gauges have been brought up to date. Nicholas concluded by saying, “I don’t let this car sit, it gets driven and driven hard. Days after completion, I took it to an autocross event and did very well.”

Do you want to read about more Home-Built Heros? All you need to do is click here. If you own a Home-Built Hero, we want to hear about it. Since we’ve started the series, we have received more than a few candidates, but we still want to see more – we can never get enough. If you want to see more cars built by you the readers, send us a few pictures of your car showing the engine, interior, and exterior, along with all of the pertinent information, and we’ll make you Internet famous. You can send your submissions to [email protected].