In 1971 the Ford GT40, Corvette and Lamborghini Miura were the dream cars of the day, and so the combination of the lines of these and other considerations were to bring about the birth of the Nova. Financed by John Willment, Richard Oakes managed to talk a friend of his into joining him, a guy by the name of Phil Sayers who had taken Richards old job at Davrian. After almost a year of designing and mock-ups, and many modifications they finally found a ship builder that would give them financial support and provide the necessary workshop facilities.
Finally, the Nova based on a Volkswagen Beetle chassis went into production from the Southampton works known as Automotive Design and Developments Ltd (ADD). This was to become the home of the company for the next few years and because Richard and Phil had got it more or less right first time, (kits were priced at £750) success came quickly. The Nova went on to be sold in many countries known under different names and model variants such as Sterling (USA), Eureka (Australia), Eagle (South Africa) and Puma (Italy).
