The '72 Chevy Nova

Beautiful, shiny tail fins, immaculate whitewalls, and mirror-perfect chrome reflecting in the sunshine. I love love classic cars. (And I WILL own one someday.) Due to the unforgiving nature of North Dakota winters, most classic car owners keep their precious rides in storage half the year, so when I spotted a pristine yellow Chevy Nova weaving its way through traffic today, my heart swelled at the thought that summer is nearly upon us.

About a million years ago, I worked at a Blockbuster Video with a girl who owned a Chevy Nova. It was the first one I'd ever seen, actually. And I have never forgotten her, or the car. At the time I thought Blockbuster was the greatest job ever. I got to watch new releases before the general population, all my rentals were free, and sometimes (drum roll) I got free movie posters. I was nineteen and green, and the job. Was. Awesome. Carissa joined our staff after I'd been working there for about a year.She was described to me by a mutual acquaintance as a stuck-up and snotty popular girl, but I never found her so. (For all I know, she could have been a total bitch in high school, but I was in my first year at the local university, so it was no skin off my nose if she was a mean girl. I didn't have to go to school with her.) The Carissa I knew was a delightfully candid and rather flighty blond who always had a smile, and giggled at her own (frequent) ditziness. (For example: The movies at Blockbuster were arranged in alphabetical order, but for some reason Carissa could never find where anything went.) She was friendly with the staff, conversational with the customers, and despite being alphabetically-challenged, she was fun to work with.

I didn't own a car my freshman year of college, and although I usually had transportation, every once in a while I bummed a ride from a co-worker. One night Carissa gladly agreed to give me a lift back to the dorm, and strolling through the dark Blockbuster parking lot, I scanned the spaces for her car. Being a 'stuck-up popular girl' I assumed Carissa drove some kind of sporty little two-door vehicle, paid for by her parents. I was guessing it was probably a new(er) Mustang, most likely cherry red. Instead, she veered towards a banged up old blue muscle car. I actually stopped walking. "This is your car?" I could hardly keep the disbelief out of my voice. "Yup." She scurried around to the driver's side and unlocked the door. "Um...did you pick it out? Or did your dad?" I opened the heavy passenger door and climbed inside. It was like sliding onto the seat of a school bus. The steering wheel was as big as an oil drum. "What kind of car is this?" Carissa turned the key and the car growled to life. "I picked it," she said cheerfully. Then she looked at me sideways, clearly a little miffed that I even had to ask. "It's a '72 Chevy Nova. I love this car." I was caught somewhere between shock and awe. Rusted out and in need of a tune-up, this was the last car on earth I expected this blond-haired, blue-eyed giggle box to be driving. I would have been no less shocked if she'd climbed behind the wheel of a giant tractor. And despite the rust and the rather concerning noises coming from the engine, there was no question that the Nova was probably the coolest vehicle I'd ever been in. I was speechless. "Wow," I said. "It's awesome, Carissa." We gossipped a bit on the short drive to my dorm, and said friendly goodbyes as I hopped out of the Nova and slammed its giant door behind me. I eventually quit my job at Blockbuster, and haven't seen Carissa since. I have no idea what happened to her. However, thirteen years later, I still think of her every time I see a Chevy Nova. I wonder if she went off to college and started a career, or ended up with six kids in a trailer park somewhere. I wonder if she drove that Nova until the wheels fell off, or if she married a plastic surgeon and had it fully restored, and has it resting under a tarp next to her husband's Lexus in their suburban four-stall garage. I'll probably never know. But I thought of her today, and I smiled.