It all started when Bill's wife, Phyllis, went into the art gallery business about fifteen years ago. She needed a delivery vehicle and wanted something different, a piece of automotive art to deliver works of art. Husband Bill was happy to help find one. They considered buying a ‘29 Ford sedan delivery street rod, but Bill found visibility to be very poor when he took it on a test drive. Then he considered the Chevy Nomads of the mid-Fifties. They were station wagons, with a large cargo area and plenty of windows. They also had a great image due to their popularity with the surfers of the Sixties. They heard about a ‘56 Nomad that the owner needed to sell and went to see it. It had just been painted and the mechanics were in great shape, with a 383 CID Chevy engine that pumped out 400 horsepower through a Turbo 400 auto trans. It wasn’t finished yet, with the paint not even having been rubbed out and a rough interior, but they liked it and got it for a good price. Since then, Bill has added power steering and power front disc brakes. To get a lower stance, he had the front spindles dropped. He has also had the interior completely redone and air conditioning added. It all took about two years. When it was done, Phyllis found it was not as good of a delivery vehicle as she had hoped and did not use it for that. However, both she and Bill liked it so well that they kept it even after Phyllis sold her gallery.

When they moved here, they joined the Roamin Angels and found people in the club who have helped keep their Nomad running, like Duke from Gin’s Little Valley Auto and air-conditioning guru Bob Madsen. Now they enjoy cruising around the area with fellow club members in their work of American vehicular art.

The first Nomad was a concept car shown at the 1954 Motorama, based on the Corvette. Although rather larger, the 1955 to 1957 Nomads kept that sporty two-door styling.

The 383 Chevy engine is known as a “stroker” because of its longer-length piston stroke, giving greater displacement and power–It is done by using a different crankshaft.

The dash of this Nomad is basically stock, with the exception of an Alpine AM/FM/CD with a hidden changer and a custom steering wheel.

2009 © Ron Cherry