The first car I had was a 1975 Camaro that fit the bill, but in all honesty, I would’ve taken just about anything that was set up like a 1970s street ride: slot mags, a bit of a hike in the back end, wide and wider tires, and an exhaust note that pissed off older people would’ve checked every last box possible. Blame it on my environment growing up…everybody who I considered cool owned some kind of machine like this, rowdy, rough, loud and looking more butch than even Detroit dared to try. Years later, I can tell you that a lot of the scene was all about looks, that few players really went for broke performance-wise, and that the stinkbug stance wasn’t a great idea. But even today I’d still rock the hell out of it.
Seeing this landau-roofed 1977 Pontiac Ventura on slots and some ancient white-letter tires makes me smile. Yeah, I know, weird 1970s car and performance leanings, the perfect car for the author. Fair play…but it’s a Nova wearing a mask, we all know it, and we all know that an X-body can be a violent little thing with even a hot small-cube motor. The idea of a Pontiac 400 twisting those rear tires into dust with those slot mags still bolted to the car just does the trick. You aren’t building this car to take to Optima. You are building this thing to roll around in. Seeing this car set up on BFG T/A radials, with a bit of fresh black paint and a clean interior would do the crossover-driving soul some good. Or it’ll offend them to high heaven…which is also good.
We dig the Ventura. We’ll dig it more drug out of the garage, cleaned up and re-powered. For $850, you can come up with ideas for a killer street-driven build that won’t break the bank, right?
Always liked these better than the ’75-’79 Nova. First thing to remove is that hideous lands top! For the price, can’t go wrong no matter what drivetrain you install.
This ROCKS! Those buckets… I’m quivverin’! Bought a ’78 Pontiac Nova… err, Phoenix, fer $50 back in the EARLY ’90’s, “turns over, but won’t start. I need the money.” Clean, somewhat dull (but not failed, like the late ’90’s) paint, rally wheels, bucket interior with console shift auto, 305 or 307, not sure. Checked it out: spark, fuel OK. Battery ran down, so I got the new battery out of my ’73 Monte beater, threw it in, and the sucker fired right up! The battery in it was just too low to spin it fast enough! Drove that thing for 4 years, one of the most reliable rides I’ve ever had. Spun a main and sold it to the junk man for $150! Oh, fer THOSE days again!