Everyone loves a Nomad -today

 

 

 

This understated 1955 Chevy Bel Air Nomad mild custom drew a lot of attention at the 2107 "Autos of Alamo" car show.

1955 Nomad wasn't the first two-door station wagon that honor goes to the 1950 Ford Country Squire wagon, but it groundbreaking with styling that copied the Chevrolet hardtop sedan. The Nomad traced its origins back to the 1954 General Motor Motorama  "Dream Car" car of the same name.

Although today we look back upon this 2-door design as iconic, sales of the Nomad the most expensive car in the Chevrolet showroom ($2571 in 1955), never met expectations.  Introduced four months into the 1955 model year there were 8,386 1955 Nomads produced, but full-year sales totals actually dropped in 1956 to 7,886 units and dropped again in 1957 with just 6,100 Nomads sold. Future Chevrolet Nomads were four doors, except for the short-lived 1976 Vega Nomad wagon.

The Pontiac Division of General Motors shared the same body and sold it as the Safari wagon. The Safari was even more expensive that the Nomad with a list price of approximately $500 more and Safari sales were less than half those of the Nomad for the same three model years 1955-1957. After 1957 Pontiac Safari wagon featured a four-door body design.  

All photographs by the author

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