Naw, the Nova was so much smaller that they classified it as a compact muscle car when they made the SS. It was in the same class as the Darts, Duster, Falcon, Comet and Maverick. True muscle cars were large of stature. Hell, some even consider the Mustangs as Pony Muscles cars, anything that someone shoehorned a big engine into. Hell, even an original Shelby Cobra is considered a muscle car just because they put big blocks in them. The true definition of a muscle car is how you feel about it, I guess. Me, I believe a muscle car is a large full frame car that came factory equipped with a big block.