Reader's story
ME AND MY RESTO: Alistair Clyne revived his futuristic kit car after 25 years in storage
WORDS MATTHEW MACCONNELL PICTURES JAMES WALSHE
I recall reading about the Automotive Design and Development (ADD) Nova in kit car magazines and, as a teenager, saw one for the first time at a local car show. It’s Beetle-based but I loved its unique design and finally, at the age of 27, I bought my own. The car had been built in 1983 but by the time I got it three years later, the red gel coat had faded to a pale brown.
I hadn’t the money for a respray so I began doing other jobs like redesigning the rear end by extending the panel downwards to hide more of the engine. I'd learned to work with fibreglass by building dinghies and the Nova only required basic work. Sometime after, following a few beers at the pub, my friend Ian Reid offered to paint it for the price of the materials. I simply couldn't refuse! In the end, I chose an Audi metallic blue. We also de-seamed the body and changed the rear lights to Vauxhall Cavalier MkII and the front indicators to Ford Escort MkI, which I think really suit the car’s slick lines. By that time, I was the Scottish Area Rep for Club Nova, and in 1990 I drove the car to the National Kit Car Show at Stoneleigh with my friend John Henry in his white Nova. It was great fun driving together down the M6 — a 750mile round trip.
In 1991, life became busy, and I took the Nova off the road. By 2016, I began to consider selling it. However, I discovered the Euro-Nova forum online, and began chatting to other owners who persuaded me to restore it. The chassis was heavily corroded, but the body was sound. I had driven it into the garage, so I assumed the engine and gearbox should still be ok. The mice had chewed the electrics and devoured the interior, which smelt awful, and I knew that I was looking at restoring the chassis too.
I started a full ‘body off’ restoration that year – the first job was to strengthen the garage roof so I could suspend the body from it! Space was cramped, but I managed to strip the chassis back to the central tunnel and carry out welding repairs to the front frame head, remove the floor pans and replace them with new ones. The original floor pans had been lowered by 2.5in at the seats, so I replicated this like-for-like with the new ones. I also replaced the entire front suspension and fitted adjustable rear suspension, new wheel bearings and replaced the entire braking system.
I dreaded the electrics, but the CBS Module, supplied by Car Builder Solutions, came ready-made with fuses, relays and spurs for each circuit. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable bits of the resto! I fitted new Smiths gauges and illuminated billet aluminium switches to a redesigned dashboard. The MkII ‘sweeping’ dash was replaced with an enlarged MkI dash pod. I then replaced the square headlights with twin round motorcycle headlamps.
The engine was fine, but I replaced the dynamo with an alternator. The 009 centrifugal distributor was swapped out with an SVDA one, which had an electronic ignition, and the original Holley carburettor was replaced with a 39 PICT unit. The engine started out as a 1300cc VW Beetle flat-four, but Mike had the case machined to take a 1776cc big bore kit. I replaced the cooler and filter with new ones, repainted the engine, and added lots of chromed cooling tinware. In April 2023 it passed its MOT with no advisories. Since then, I’ve enjoyed taking it to shows with the only two other road-legal Novas in Scotland. Incredibly, at a show last year I bumped into my old friend Ian who had painted my car — I hadn’t seen him for over 30 years! I’m also still in touch with Mike, the man who first built it. Isn’t it great how classic cars can bring people together?
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