Cumberland, Md. – Every now and then, you run across a car that just reaches out and grabs you for one reason or another. It can be rusty patina, a monstrous blower sticking out of the hood, or maybe just a real race car with the immeasurable character of having lots of battle scars from who-knows-how-many passes down the track. Sometimes it’s just hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that reaches out and grabs us. The car of Al Pearce, from New Creek West Virginia, is one of those.

The first thing that pulls you in is the Candy Tangerine paint job (House of Color paint). If you’re not too close to the car, your first thought might be it’s a trailer-queen show car. But then you get closer and you start to think it might be a full-out, purpose-built, race car. Once you get past those two things, you start noticing the details.

The car itself is a 1963 SS Chevy II Nova, and is surprisingly all-steel, resting on a full-tube chassis. One of the things that will make your eyes pop if you’re at the back of the car is noticing the license tag. Not only is it the most ingenious use of the on-off switch you’ll ever see, it will make your jaw drop to realize this car is street legal! Under the hood rests a whopping 565 cu.in. Engine usting an F2 Procharger for induction. Transferring the power to the ground is a Transmission Specialties Powerglide with a 5500 Stall Converter. It took seven years to build with Al doing all if it, paint, chassis, everything, himself. And after it was completed? Al says with a smile, “I run the wheels off of it! It took seven years because I was working on everybody else’s car, had a tow company, and was working all the time. This is the first I had it out since last year, figured it had to rain.” The laughter in Al’s voice let you know he still enjoyed getting the car out and the rain didn’t take anything away from that enjoyment.

By now, you’d be curious about just how fast this car was, as was I, so I had to ask. According to Al, “It’s a fun car. It runs on E85 pump gas, with less than 10 pounds of boost it makes 1271 [h.p.] to the [rear] wheels. It went a 5.20 in the eighth, 8.20 in the quarter, cutting it off early. I thought it would’ve made it in the 7s if I hadn’t backed off.”

Al then told me of his love of hot rods and how it all started for him. “I like my Novas, this is his 5^th one I’ve had through the years, I like my Chevy IIs. I’ve had a pile of ‘em, I’ve had hot rods all my life. I was introduced into this stuff through my dad, my uncles, my friends, my dad’s friends, back when I was back in jr. High School, and I’ve been at it ever since. If you want to keep your kids from doing stupid [stuff], you stay out of bars and turn ‘em on to hot rods so they can’t afford to do nuthin’ else.” At this comment, all who were listening in to the conversation nodded their heads in agreement. Al just might be on to something here.

He continued, “I want something I can drive around. I wasn’t planning on all that power, but, it is what it is. I called Procharger and gave them specs on the motor and everything, and the guy goes ‘well you’re making 800 hp NA why do you want a Procharger?’ and my response was ‘why not?’ He goes, ‘I like the way you party!’ so we settled on an F2. I told him I wanted to keep it between 1200 and 1500, so I think we pretty much hit the target with 1271, with a mild tuneup. I’m itching to turn it up and everybody wants me to calm it down, and I’m like ‘ah, no, I want that 7-second time slip.’ I told my buddy I’ve had 8-second street cars, but I’ve never had a 7-second one. I think I have one. All I need is a little bit less than two tenths and I’m there. We’ll see how it goes.” I believe a lot of people will have an eye on Al and his car, just to “see how it goes!”