Quentin Tarantino Has It Right: The Nova Is Cool

My ‘93 Ford Escort is a dependable car. I have no complaints.

Well, maybe a few. I’ve had it towed three or four times, but none of the repairs has been major. I had a timing belt put in before it went out and left me stranded as my previous Escort had. The trunk leaked, which was odd but fixable. The gas gauge is broken, but it would cost more than the car is worth to get that fixed. No big deal. I just have to remember to buy gas every hundred miles or so.

My car has no airbags, so I’m reluctant to invite anyone to ride with me.

But other than that it’s a fine car. Really. But it’s no Nova.

I’ve lost track of all the cars I’ve owned, but my fondest memory is of a gray ’79 Chevrolet Nova, known in our family as the Gray Ghost. I drove it for seven years, including several trips to and from Jackson, Mississippi to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Then my youngest daughter drove it when she was in high school. She backed into telephone poles and parked cars the way new drivers will, and we just said, “Oh well, one more dent in the Gray Ghost.”

When my youngest daughter went to college, the Nova ended up with my middle daughter and her husband, who had no use for it even though it still ran like a champ. I think they sold it for a couple hundred bucks, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were still on the road today.

I was sad when Chevrolet discontinued the Nova in 1988. I’m not the Nova’s only fan.

In the 1984 movie Beverly Hills Cop, Eddie Murphy drove an early 70’s Chevy Nova. In Pulp Fiction hit men Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta held philosophical discussions en route to their latest job in a green ‘74 Nova. And in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming movie Grindhouse, Kurt Russell reportedly drives a ’71 or ‘72 Nova. The car has pop culture cache.
 
In the Nova, I felt safe. It was an eight-cylinder tank that could pick up enough speed to pass a rickety old pick-up truck hauling unsecured furniture and merge onto any highway with ease. Heat spewed out of the vents at all times, but I got used to it. If I wore shorts, my thighs stuck to the maroon vinyl seats. I didn’t mind. I felt safe.

A lot of women today feel safe in SUVs.