1997 Playing Mantis Speed Rebels Rat Attack (Chevy Nova)

During the ten years that I drove my Nova, my good friend, Brad, was always there to help me work on it. Together, we tuned it up, replaced fuel pumps and starters, rebuilt carburetors, switched out a rear end, replaced the exhaust system and lots of other odds and ends. It was always good to have some technical and moral support while making repairs – especially since it was my daily driver and I was typically on a rather limited budget.

These days, Brad and I trade die cast cars back and forth, and he’s always keeping his eye out for something to add to my Nova collection. Recently, he sent me this loose gold Chevy Nova, called Rat Attack, from the 1997 Speed Rebels series by Playing Mantis. Playing Mantis was the company that brought back Johnny Lightning during the mid-90s, although this series of Novas is a smaller-scale casting than the JLs. The Speed Rebels series also included the Vicious Villian, Alley Cat, Street Freak, Speed King, Wing Thing, Big Boss, The Dominator, The Spoiler, and Goat Buster – all of them customized American muscle cars.

1997 | Playing Mantis Speed Rebels | Rat Attack (Nova) | gold

Here’s a link to a page on JLCollector.net that shows all of the Rat Attack color variations. I already had this purple version in my collection of loose Novas, but it looks like I’ll have to acquire a few more before I have them all.

1997 | Playing Mantis Speed Rebels | Rat Attack (Nova) | purple