Ron Pircey Enterprises

The Barnett’s Nova “Purple Reign”

March 4th, 2019

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All cool projects begin with a plan: for Sherry and John Barnett who for decades raced fast Ford Mustangs, the switch to Chevrolet seemed inevitable…

The goal was to begin with a 1972 Nova and make it safe and capable of ET’s in the 7 second range at the dragstrip. The project got off to a bit of a rocky start as the Nova had some rust and pretty crooked rear quarter panels. As a result the body received the most work at least initially, as the rear quarter panels were replaced. Here are some photos of the Nova when it first arrived at Ron Pircey Enterprises for a new state of the art chassis:

Next are the bare components for the Rear Subframe, Suspension and 9” Ford Rear End Housing:

Then these components are set up on a jig table to be assembled into the Rear Subframe of the Chassis.

The finished Rear Subframe is then carefully installed in the back of the Nova body after removal of the stock rear trunk floor:

Note the narrow width of the 9” Ford Housing to accommodate the massive Hoosier Slicks….

The Main Hoop of the Roll Cage and its rear support structure were next on the agenda.

The remainder of the floorpan was removed to make way for the Main Rails and Front Subframe of the chassis. As you can see the car is really taking shape now… This view also shows the front Strut Suspension and Rack and Pinion Steering mounted and ready.

Here is a side profile view of the car in its current state at approximate ride height.

And a view with the fiberglass front end and doors mocked up…

This is just part of the tinwork that was hand built for the inteior of the car. Everything was dissasembled so that the project could make its way to the body shop for paint and bodywork.

Once the car returned to Ron Pircey Enterprises for re-assembly great care was taken not to scatch the freshly painted chassis and exterior… The grey chassis looks great against the fresh purple paint!!

Next are some interior photos of the powder coated tinwork:

And finally, a group of photos showing the flashy purple paint:

The finished project should be ready to run in the early part of the 2019 Drag Racing Season….

Congratulations to Ron, and the Barnett’s for a job well done!

Dan Davis – The Family Affair Nova

February 19th, 2019

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Imagine if you owned a car for almost 30 years, all the changes, and the memories along the way… For Dan Davis his little Red Nova’s story began shortly after he purchased the car from his friend Ted Gord in the late 80’s.

When he purchased the car, Dan found out quickly how clean the car was, the near perfect interior and bright shiny red paint quickly led to Dan, deciding that he would try showing the car at a few area “car shows” and driving it somewhat regularly on the street as the weather would allow…

Not long thereafter, Dan was bitten by the “drag racing bug”. Dan’s son Daniel was about 4 years old when this part story begins and once the racing bug hit Daniel was constantly bugging his dad to go to the races… By the time Danial turned 8 he was the “crew chief” helping his dad whenever possible and learning a lot along the way…

The duo won the Bremerton Raceway Track Championship during those early racing years…

Eventually the Nova was retired so Dan could focus on family and his used car business- HD Autos.

When Dan decided to return to racing he purchased and raced several other cars and fielding them competitively while the Nova sat idle in in the “showroom” at HD Auto’s for almost 10 years. Finally, the decision was made to make the little red Nova into a competitive bracket car, capable of eventually running in the high 8 or low 9 second range…

Dan chose Ron Pircey to transform the Nova using some of the best parts money can buy. Chris Alston Chassisworks unique Nova Front Clip and rear suspension was chosen to handle the job.

Here are some photos of the Nova when it arrived at Ron Pircey Enterprises:

Notice the stock floor, Roll Bar and 9” Ford Rear End, which were installed by Lyle Winters in the Nova’s early racing days…

The project begins in earnest with removal of the stock rear floor sheetmetal, new 2X3 Frame Rails, subframe connectors and additional floor bracing were then installed.