Car Spot: 1955 Chevy Nomad

Another Harley Earl design ahead of its time

When a conversation starts about the great US car designers, names that would pop up would be Virgil Exner Sr for his work at Studebaker and Chrysler, Alexander Tremulis who designed the Tucker and Harley Earl for his work at GM, and specifically this week’s spot a 1955 Chevy Nomad I found this past summer and a car and airplane event I was at in Oconto, WI.

This Grandmaster of Automotive Design introduced the world to the vehicle in 1954 as part of the General Motors Motorama line of dream cars. which included the Pontiac Bonneville Special and Oldsmobile F-88. Utilizing the front end of the Corvette it was light years away from the current selection of people haulers introducing a forward-slanting B-pillar and nearly wraparound rear windows. The public loved the cars so GM approved the Nomad for 1955 production, however, it had to be adapted to the standard A-body Chevrolet chassis, both larger and more widely produced than the Corvette.

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At $2571 ($29230.93 today), the Nomad was considered pricey and on the higher end of Chevy’s lineup. It shared the front fender trim and door trim with the Bel Air and unlike other Chevrolets, the Nomad was designed with fully radiused rear wheel openings similar to the Corvette. To emphasize its roofline, the Nomad shared its front doors with the Bel Air hardtop and convertible using frameless door glass. It received interior trim similar to the Bel Air sedan and was the only two-door Chevrolet wagon fitted with interior carpeting and cloth seats. Standing out was its forward-sloping rear window, tailgate, and B-pillar. Also, included was a two-piece split tailgate and flat-folding rear seat. A 265 cubic-inch V8 was standard equipment. From 55 to 57, there were just over 22 thousand sold with 57 selling 6,103 Nomads and a highly collectable car. According to Hagerty one in Concours condition will sell for just over $85 grand. Concours condition Nomads after that drop dramatically in value going for considerably less.

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The Nomad, in one form or another, carried on though 1976 when it was an available option on the Vega. There was a van, Chevrolet Van Nomad built from 1977–1981.. The Nomad was manufactured all over the country at various GM locations like Baltimore, MD, Flint, MI Janesville, WI Lakewood Heights, GA Leeds, MO, North Tarrytown, NY Norwood, OH St. Louis, MO, and Van Nuys, CA.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my latest spot along with some of its history. Come back next Friday for another one of my spots and have a great weekend.