By Nick Licata Photography by Jason Matthew

intage muscle cars tend to go through a lot—a lot of changes, and in many cases, a lot of owners. This immaculate ’66 Nova SS was purchased by Eddy Zuchowski who bought it from Scott Jones who bought it from Midwest Muscle Cars in Jonesville, Michigan, that bought it from retired Alabama NASCAR driver Hut Stricklin Jr. This lengthy transfer of power started in 2015, and those are just the ownership changes that we know of, but there were likely others between 1966 and 2015 as well. For our purposes, we’ll focus on the car’s latest incarnation, which was started by Scott Jones back in 2018 and completed sometime in 2020.

Scott did some reconnaissance research on the VIN and cowl tags prior to purchasing the car and found it to be a true 118 SS 327/275hp, four-speed car with the rare W/A paint code (Chateau Slate/Tuxedo Black–painted top). His research also revealed this color combination was discontinued before the production year ended. Scott always liked vintage Novas, and the rarity of this one enticed him to pull the trigger and take it home.

“I purchased the car and drove it for about a year, but it wasn’t much fun. The suspension and brakes weren’t great, and to be honest the engine didn’t run well either. So, I went all in and did a complete restoration from the ground up,” Scott states. “After having it sandblasted the car appeared to be in pretty good shape, so we kept all the original sheetmetal except for the driver side doorskin and the quarter-panels, which we replaced with N.O.S. sheetmetal. While in there, we grafted in a set of Detroit Speed mini-tubs to accommodate the big tires and wheels I’d be running.”

Scott’s idea was to bring the car back to its original look with modern driveline and chassis components. He proceeded with the aforementioned Chateau Slate and Tuxedo Black roof, which carries onto the cowl hood. JT’s Custom Paint Garage in Moravia, New York, took care of bodywork business prior to Jason Baran laying down a decadent layer of paint and mile-deep clear. JT’s also filled the area above the trunk for a cleaner look.

Keeping with the factory motif, all the trim, bumpers, and sideview mirrors are rechromed stock pieces. The only hint of modern modifications are the LED taillights.

In the power department, Scott admits he’d have gone with an LS if given the chance for a do-over, but he was enticed to keep the car on the somewhat original side, at least in appearance. Besides, the small-block fell into his comfort zone and at the time he wasn’t poised to build a tire-shredder—just a “daily” with a little attitude and a cool stance.

Engine details were sparce, but we do know it’s basically a stock 336ci piece from 1966. Doug Holmes out of Auburn, New York, bored it 0.060 over and slapped on a set of Dart aluminum heads and a Dart dual-plane intake. He dressed it up with valve covers and air cleaner from Billet Specialties along with an aftermarket accessory drive system. The rumble comes by way of Church Boys headers and exhaust system.