Barn find cars are pretty hot, but this barn fire 1973 Chevrolet Nova got a little too hot. Sadly, the classic American muscle car was quite mangled by the inferno, as one might imagine. The paint has been scorched, plastic trim pieces are melted into deformed shapes or completely missing, the tires look about the same, and just about everything on the vehicle looks awful. Yet YouTuber Junkyard Digs decided getting this Nova running again and driving it home was a good idea.
The trope of a YouTuber who fixes barn find-condition cars on the spot and drives them home instead of doing the sensible thing and loading them onto a trailer has been done a lot at this point. Sure, those videos can be really entertaining, especially as you watch to see if the ancient tire sidewalls will withstand the pressure of highway cruising, but this takes things to the next level.
At least for us, the biggest concern isn’t whether or not this guy can get the engine going and that the running gear will work correctly. Of bigger concern is if any of the electrical wiring has been melted into pools of copper, rendering vital systems like the horn, headlights, etc. completely nonfunctional.
Just as concerning are the tires. This goes beyond someone driving on tires which might have some dry rot, which is scary enough. We’ve seen what driving through forest fires can do to car tires, but this Chevy Nova has been through far worse.
While not as big of a concern, there could be a number of other unforeseen difficulties. Maybe there’s something wrong with the interior or pieces of the car could fall off at speed. Granted, more modern cars with more plastic and composite components probably would be even more damaged by a fire, showing that they really don’t make them like they used to. Hilariously, all the Bondo used on this Chevy was consumed by the fire, so that’s helpful.
Anyway, the video is long but it’s entertaining. Trust us, this is better than the slop they broadcast on television these days, so check it out.