There's a great chance that if you looked up to your big brother when you were growing up, and your older brother was a gearhead, you may well become a motorhead too. Especially if your older bro owns an American muscle machine that he uses to drive you to school - that's a sure-fire recipe for imprinting in the muscle car section of your brain an ambition to own a similar vehicle someday.

Mention the Chevy Nova today, and most people will envision a high-performance muscle car. However, the Nova's beginnings were much less glamorous than that—it started out as an optional trim level on the unassuming Chevy II commuter car. The Nova's image has changed so much, most people even forget the car wasn't offered with a V8 engine for the first two years of its production, even in its top-of-the-line Super Sport form. Back in '62, you got to choose between a 153ci four-cylinder or a 194ci inline-six—not particularly exciting.