But as the platforms proliferated across the GM divisions and each brand now carried four, five and more model lines, the task grew geometrically. After all, GM had plenty of talent and there were more than enough ideas to go around. And when each GM car division had one or two platforms, maintaining the product distinctions among the five car brands was a manageable task. In truth, platform and component sharing went back many decades at GM. They were all pretty much the same car, more or less. The first letter of each name-Nova, Omega, Ventura, and Apollo-spelled out “Nova,” and under the all-too-similar exterior sheet metal, their chassis and drivetrains were similar as well. And so Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick got their own minimally facelifted versions of the Nova X-body platform. Driven by the OPEC oil embargo and other factors, Americans were buying smaller cars, and naturally, all the GM car divisions wanted a piece of the action. The muscle era was nearly over.īut behind the happy Nova story, trouble was brewing for General Motors. There was even an SS box that could be checked on the order form, but in reality it was essentially a $125 appearance package. The old Powerglide automatic transmission was finally retired on both the six and V8 models, replaced by a Turbo-Hydramatic 350 three-speed, and the standard V8 was upgraded from 307 to 350 cubic inches. Despite only a few nearly imperceptible trim changes over the previous year, more than 390,000 of the popular Chevy compacts were sold in ’74, including around 80,000 three-door hatchbacks-a trendy body style introduced to the Nova line the year before. Introduced on Septemwith the rest of the Chevrolet model line, the ’74 Nova was another solid success for General Motors. Meet the popular Chevy Nova lineup for 1974, which now included a three-door hatchback and an updated drivetrain.
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