1954 Chevrolet Nomad

Mysterious Disappearance

By David W. Temple

After launching the Corvette in mid-1953, months ahead of its planned 1954 model year release, GM began work on three types of show cars to represent Chevrolet at its next GM Motorama scheduled to begin at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria in January 1954. One was a fastback version of the Corvette dubbed, Corvair; another was a modified 1953 Corvette with features predictive of the 1956/57 production cars including a detachable hardtop and roll-up windows (replacing the snap-in plexiglass windows). The latter car would join the show at the GM Motorama's second venue, the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami in February. Completing the trio was a Corvette-based station wagon design called, Nomad. The Nomad is probably the most well-known of all of the dream cars built in the 1950s. It is also the inspiration for numerous semi-replicas built over the last decade or so. The real Nomad seems to be forever lost to car enthusiasts. However, rumors of its existence date back decades. Also, claims of it being scrapped by GM date back almost as long.

Every rumor, though, presumes only one example of the 1954 Nomad was built. No GM official appears to have ever indicated the contrary. There is evidence to support my belief more than one was built; indeed as many as three may have been assembled! This evidence is detailed in my book, "Motorama: GM's Legendary Show and Concept Cars," published by CarTech, Inc. (Purchases can be made by clicking the picture of the front cover shown to the right of this blog; this takes the reader to the listing on Amazon.com.)

The purpose of this blog is to uncover PROOF at least one 1954 Nomad exists today. If anyone reading this post has any information on this dream car, please post it here in the comments section.

This blog will be updated with any new rumors and/or interesting photos if/when they become available. Meanwhile, I hope you purchase "Motorama" and find it to be the next best thing to going back in time to attend the exciting GM Motorama!

PART 2
A number of close replicas of the 1954 Nomad have been crafted over the last decade or so. Here are some links to a few photos of them.
http://www.carpictures.com/pics/full/13BMG41500095326/Chevrolet-Corvette-Nomad-Concept-Re-creation-1954-13BMG41500095326.jpeg

http://image.streetrodderweb.com/f/26932424/1004sr_17%20lost_in_the_50s_sandpoint_hot_rod_show%201954_chevy_corvette_nomad.jpg

Here is a modern street rod version...
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=960&bih=617&q=1954+Nomad&oq=1954+Nomad&gs_l=img.3..0j0i24l3.1180.4385.0.5385.10.8.0.2.2.0.110.693.7j1.8.0.msedr...0...1ac.1.60.img..0.10.692.OL8S1zgmQ1c#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=nFflKRbkSd4nRM%253A%3BeqQ9JfKkATW1EM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.hotrodscustomstuff.com%252FOLD_SITE%252FCars%252F54NomadVette.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.hotrodscustomstuff.com%252FOLD_SITE%252Fnomad-vette.html%3B720%3B416

And here is GM's modern interpretation...
http://media.caranddriver.com/images/04q1/267421/chevrolet-nomad-photo-164979-s-429x262.jpg