By John Gunnell
The old Novel Nova was the inspiration for Tinberg’s Nickey Nova build.
John Tinberg made a living mixing concrete to build things in Central Illinois, but later he started mixing stock and performance car parts to create spectacular straight-axle nostalgic drag racing cars. As a Technical Advisor for Nickey Performance (www.nickeyperformance.com) of Loves Park, Ill. —the modern continuation of a famous muscle car dealership–Tinberg built his modern muscle cars in a 1936 Dodge dealership.
Tinberg cranked out an assortment of cars like ’55 thru ’57 Chevys, early Novas and C1 ‘Vettes that flash car enthusiasts back to the “gasser wars” of the mid-‘60s. That’s when drag racing changed from a sport for steel-bodied super stockers into a playground for professional fibreglass Funny Cars. The “little guy” gasser builders/drivers struggled to keep up with backed-by-big-bucks factory teams that used hired gun drivers to win.
The “Flying Dutchman” Dart, “Yankee Peddler” Barracuda and Dick Harrell’s 427 Chevy II were among the most popular cars with the blue collar drag racing fans. Bill Thomas Race Cars of Anaheim, Calif., was the builder of Harrell’s nasty-fast Nova.
Back in that era, John Tinberg was living in a foxhole in the central highlands of Viet Nam. Somehow, he had gotten a Nickey Chevrolet parts catalogue and read about how Nickey had teamed up with Bill Thomas to sponsor Dickie Harrell and his big-block Novas.
Tinberg had raced a Chevy 409 at U.S. 30 Drag Strip in Indiana, where he saw Harrell rip up the pavement with his Nova. The young GI scored a copy of Hot Rod magazine for March 1966 and read the article “A Novel Nova.” It hyped the Bill Thomas “Instant Funny Car” kit: a lightweight fibreglass nose for $295 and a bolt-on straight axle setup for $395.
Bill Thomas built 427-powered Novas and Dickie Harrell drove them.
The war ended and Tinberg returned home. His Novel Nova dream was shelved for 30 years as he raised a family and built a business. Then, in 1999, he read another Hot Rod article called “Ramming the Rat” that featured an altered-wheelbase ’63 Nova called “The Wilshire Shaker.” By then, Tinberg could afford his dream car. He found a ’63 Nova body, dug out his Nickey catalogue and got the 1966 issue of Hot Rod. The Instant Funny Car kit was history, so Tinberg fabricated parts. He built a car that came within ¼-in. of the exact Hot Rod specifications. He had no idea it would be the first of many.
The front suspension was moved three inches forward. The rear axle was mounted eight inches ahead of its stock position. John made Thunderbolt lift bars and wheelie bars. He got bucket seats from an old forklift. Rubberized industrial matting duplicated the floor mats. Tinberg added an 8-point roll cage covered with foam attached with electrical tape.
John mounted a period-correct, but non-functional Sun tach on the dash. The engine bay was old school, with hidden updates. He routed the fat tube headers through 3-in. diameter exhaust pipes to a pair of Flowmaster dual-chamber mufflers and hid the power brake booster inside a small, black Craftsman toolbox behind the driver’s seat.
The 4.5×15 front tires were mounted on 5-spoke wheels and 8.5×15 “pie-crust” racing slicks were put on the rear. Silver-blue paint, Nickey door graphics and period 396 engine call-outs were added. Then, Tinberg rumbled over to U.S. 41 drag strip to test his Novel Nova. It turned 10.99 sec. at 123 mph. The car was then pictured in the Chevy II Nova book written by Doug Marion, who had worked at Nickey Chevrolet. Small world!
Once he became a collector, Tinberg couldn’t stop. In the fall of 2009, he bought the real “Novel Nova”–the 1963 magazine car that was the first altered-wheelbase Nova Bill Thomas built. In talking to Thomas’ family, Tinberg found that GM backed Thomas to promote its new 396-cid V8. The Novel Nova was introduced at a party at John’s home.
Nickey memorabilia surrounded the car at its “coming out” party.
The home—a former Dodge dealership–has a car elevator in it and the Nova was showcased on the second floor with a lavish layout of food and drink surrounding it. Bill Thomas, Jr. came from California to rub shoulders with hundreds of other collectors who came for the private unveiling. It was quite a celebration of drag racing history.
Then, John Tinberg decided to make his own history. At around midnight he took a very fast midnight ride in his Nickey Nova clone car (see side-bar story). About a week after the Novel Nova introduction at John’s house, Bill Thomas, Sr., passed away in California. To honour him, the real Bill Thomas car was revealed to the public at the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals (www.mcacn.com) in Rosemont, Ill. Later, the car participated in The Milwaukee Masterpiece of Style & Speed in Wisconsin.
The Midnight Ride of the Nickey Nova
By John “Gunner” Gunnell
The Novel Nova party at John Tinberg’s place was going very well. John felt a little sleepy and started to dream. On the bottom floor of his two-story home in an old Dodge dealership building, John stores his straight-axle Nickey Nova behind a service door that opens to the street. In the dream, it’s midnight; the corrugated steel door opens and the silver blue Nova crawls out onto the white-striped asphalt ribbon in front of the building.
The Nickey Nova’s 502-cid 502-hp mill is thumping away like Godzilla suffering from supraventricular tachycardia. John revs the motor, while holding in the 10-11/42-in. single-disc Centerforce clutch. Then, suddenly, all hell breaks loose as he lets the pedal out and lights the BFG P275/60R15 Comp TA drag radials up. Noise, smoke and sparks announce the Nickey Nova’s midnight ride as it plays out inside John’s head.
The car makes one pass up the street heading west, turns around for a repeat performance in the easterly direction, then scoots back into the guts of the old dealership before red flashing gumball machines make the scene. “Dragster? What dragster officer? As you can see, there ain’t no dragster here!”
Needless to say, John’s dream machine had him slumbering in dreamland that night! So, we all know that “Midnight Ride” only happened in his imagination . . . or did it?
