Houlton native enjoys tinkering with his big toys

Carl Stover formerly of Houlton, and now living in Warner Robins, Georgia, stopped by the Southern Aroostook Agricultural Museum's service station while visiting the area. His '63 Nova has won more than 30 first place trophies. (Courtesy/Karen Donato)

HOULTON, Maine — The Fourth of July in Houlton is a huge drawing card for former residents to return to their childhood hometown to visit family, former classmates and neighbors.

One such attendee this past summer was Carl Stover, now of Warner Robins, Georgia. He grew up on Sterritt Street in Houlton and graduated from Houlton High School in 1969.

Stover was an inquisitive child always trying to figure out how things worked. Much to the dismay of his folks, Doris and Clifford, he disassembled numerous items such as lawn mowers, snow blowers and several other items that triggered his curiosity. Stover joked that he was much more adept at disassembling than reassembling.

As he tinkered more and more with whatever he came in contact with, he became the expert in modifications. He polished and sharpened the runners on his snow sled so that it would cut the drag and be the fastest sled on Reservoir Hill, as were his bobsled and toboggan. Both his lawn mower and snowblower received a head gasket change that added compression to develop more power and he even modified the family car a few times. His dad wasn’t the greatest fan of that tinkering, but his mom was a speed demon and liked it just fine.

After receiving his driver’s license, Stover did the same to his motorcycle and his cars. He got the racing bug and learned as much as he could from reading high performance magazines. He started applying his knowledge by working on various vehicles and at local businesses such as: the Arctic Cat Race Team out of Houlton’s Mack Garage, then J.K. McKay’s Chevrolet dealership, Allied Sales and finally Jim Ward’s Gulf Station. He pursued his love of mechanics by enrolling at Northern Maine Vocational School, now Northern Maine Community College, earning a diploma for automotive studies.

Just after completing the program, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as a weapon’s specialist. It was a mechanical career field that covered all weapons and munitions systems used in the Air Force. This included aircraft guns, bombing and missile systems maintenance. He later became the Air Combat Command weapons system manager for fighter aircraft. There he managed all the tactical fighter weapons loading and release systems to include conventional and nuclear weapons.

Stover continued to purchase and update numerous cars and trucks over the years. He drag raced at what is now called “The Strip” in Las Vegas. He took his only means of transportation, a Chevy Vega, and replaced the four cylinder with a fire breathing V-8.

The Vega was very light and with a 425 horsepower it really flew. He also built and raced several trucks in the Mint 400 Desert Race. One of the trucks was a brand new 1978 Chevy 4×4. After the race he built it up to drive the Alcan Highway to Alaska.

While in Alaska he worked on it more to drive on the tundra and survive minus-40 degree weather. He then drove it to Utah where he used it for a hunting vehicle. Stover still has the truck, now with more than 500,000 miles on it. He did a full frame restoration and it is now ready for another 500,000 miles.

In 1998, Stover retired from the Air Force and took a job as an equipment specialist for the Department of Defense. He eventually became the supervisor for the armament branch for the Air Force. His team managed all the weapons systems for the Air Force to include small arms, fighter and bomber aircraft weapons release systems, fighter aircraft gun systems, special operations aircraft gun systems and conventional/nuclear release systems. They were the trouble shooters for the Air Force and on 24/7 deployment worldwide for any weapons release/gun system issues.

Another interest of Stover’s is pro street cars. These cars are really drag cars that are somewhat street legal. They usually have 500 to 1,000 horsepower and are detuned some to allow them to run on 93 octane fuel. Stover owns two of these.

One is a 1986 Monte Carlo SS, and the other a 1963 Nova that he purchased in Georgia in 2013. The history on that one includes that it was driven daily by its first owner and then converted to a drag car for 30 or more years. It has 61,000 miles on it. The second owner of the car was a collector who made it into a show car. He invested $60,000 in its restoration and showed it at International Show Car Association events, where it won in its class numerous times.

When Stover acquired the Nova in 2013, the only thing that didn’t need attention was the paint job, which had been done in 1997. Stover redid most everything else, spending more than $40,000, not including his labor, to prepare it for drag racing and street use. It has won more than 30 first place trophies and several “Best in Show”, “Best Paint” and “Best Engine” trophies.

During his working career, he collected as many as 11 vehicles, all registered and street legal. He now is down to eight.

As he perfected his art of modifying these vehicles, he became particularly fond of Corvettes and racing them. Stover now owns three Corvettes. One is a very rare 1996 Grand Sport, which is almost stock. Another is a 1996 collector’s edition, for which he built the engine and drivetrain for drag racing. It has more than 100,000 miles on it. He also has a 2016 Stingray, and will modify it when the warranty expires.

Stover is a lifetime member of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and represents central and southern Georgia as a master ambassador. With this designation, he has met Corvette plant managers, design engineers, numerous GM executives and Corvette enthusiasts, all of whom share a passion for fast sports cars.

Planning for his trip back to Houlton this past summer took about a year and included purchasing a new truck and a trailer to haul the ’63 Nova. The truck and trailer combined were 55-feet long. This made for some strategic planning when stopping at restaurants, gas stations and hotels, as it needs a fair amount of space to park and back up. The trip was well worth it though, as he displayed his Nova in Market Square and answered endless questions from the crowd attending Midnight Madness. He even enjoyed a few photo ops and allowed spectators behind the wheel for their own dream picture.

This boy with his toys is far from done collecting and racing. Maybe next year he’ll bring one of those jaw dropping Corvettes.