Bob Rohatch, of Livermore, seems together with his 1957 Chevrolet Nomad.
Editor’s be aware: David Krumboltz’s common column is on hiatus till additional discover because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we’re operating a few of Dave’s favourite previous columns. This one initially ran in September 2015.
Vehicle firms spend loads of money and time in deciding names for brand spanking new fashions. It’s fairly essential to select a reputation that matches the automotive and provides to its desirability, however they don’t at all times get it proper. Chevrolet realized that the laborious means when it named a brand new mannequin the Nova. GM later realized that “no va” in Spanish means “it doesn’t go,” so Latin People wouldn’t purchase it. GM needed to discontinue that mannequin in Latin America.
They did higher with the Nomad identify. It’s form of a cool identify — one might envision being a wanderer, a drifter, a rover or a vagabond whereas cruising in Chevrolet’s most alluring station wagon. In mannequin years 1955-1957, it was additionally Chevrolet’s costliest mannequin, excluding the Corvette, promoting for about $2,600 ($22,865 in 2015 {dollars}) to $2,650 ($23,300 in 2015) greater than a Bel Air convertible, usually Chevrolet’s costliest automotive.
Proudly owning a traditional 1955-to-1957 Chevrolet Nomad had been a longtime dream of Livermore resident Bob Rohatch. He’s very keen on 1957 Chevys, this being his sixth. He had been on the lookout for a Nomad for a while earlier than he found this one.
“I discovered the automotive on eBay,” he mentioned. “There have been loads of footage, and it seemed good, however you don’t actually know till you see it. The previous proprietor had it for 18 years, nevertheless it hadn’t run in 12 years. I purchased it for $30,000 in 2008 and had it shipped out from Illinois.”
Naturally, there have been some surprises. A giant one was that his new 1957 Nomad had been hit in the back and front however the vendor failed to say that element earlier than the sale. The excellent news, although, was that Rohatch’s son’s brother-in-law has a store close to Santa Rosa and will do — and did — nearly all of the restoration. The dangerous information was that it took 8½ years to get it accomplished, about six years longer than Rohatch anticipated. However he’s excited now, as he simply obtained the automotive final month.
The restoration included new purple paint, brighter than the unique manufacturing unit purple. The truth is, it’s so purple that it makes hearth vehicles look boring. The red-and-black inside was redone based on manufacturing unit specs. All new glass was put in; the chrome is new, as are the tires and wheels. A brand new exhaust system offers the 350-cubic-inch V8 engine an ideal sound. The automotive has a Chevy computerized transmission with the shift degree on the ground, giving it a guide transmission look however the comfort of an computerized. This automotive is loaded with chrome, even below the hood.
To the untrained eye, the outside of the automotive seems because it did when new, nevertheless it has been lowered just a bit. The entrance wheels are an inch smaller than the 18-inch rear wheels. The heavy tailgate with seven daring chrome perpendicular strips slants ahead and folds down for cargo. The rear window opens upward.
Not solely was the restoration properly accomplished, the automotive was extraordinarily properly styled from the start. In response to HowStuffWorks.com, Harley Earl, GM’s head of styling, usually is given credit score for the Nomad, nevertheless it was actually the work of Clare MacKichan and Carl Renner. It was form of an unintended late entry into the 1955 Chevy lineup. The unique prototype Nomad was a Corvette Nomad, ready for GM’s 1954 Motorama present. Nevertheless it was the bizarre mixture of hardtop styling with a station wagon that made it distinctive.
One styling characteristic that made the Nomad a head-turner was the glass. The motive force and entrance passenger home windows are like these on hardtop coupes — no railing on the doorways to help the window. The automotive had a curved-glass windshield, as did all GM vehicles in these three years, however the rear aspect home windows have been additionally curved, giving the automotive a really glossy and sporty look. One other distinctive characteristic was the “fluted roof,” which had 9 transverse groves. The unique plan was to make the roof retractable, however administration correctly put the kibosh on that plan.
Pretty much as good-looking because the Nomad wagons have been when constructed, and the rave critiques they acquired, one would possibly suppose they have been an enormous gross sales success. However no. In 1957, Chevrolet offered 1,515,177 vehicles, however solely 6,103 have been Nomads. It wasn’t the styling or efficiency that restricted the gross sales, it was the value (as a aspect be aware, 1957 was the primary 12 months since 1936 that Ford outsold Chevrolet, however solely by 7,229 vehicles). Rohatch estimates he has invested a further $40,000 to $45,000 within the restoration and believes the present market worth to be between $75,000 and $100,000.
“It’s some huge cash,” he mentioned, “however this can be a onetime factor for me.”
Have an attention-grabbing car? Contact David Krumboltz at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To view extra images of this and different points’ autos or to learn extra of Dave’s columns, go to mercurynews.com/writer/david-krumboltz.
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