![]() The heavy tailgate with seven bold chrome perpendicular strips slants forward and folds down for cargo. The front wheels are an inch smaller than the 18-inch rear wheels. To the untrained eye, the exterior of the car looks as it did when new, but it has been lowered just a little. This car is loaded with chrome, even under the hood. The car has a Chevy automatic transmission with the shift level on the floor, giving it a manual transmission look but the convenience of an automatic. A new exhaust system gives the 350-cubic-inch V8 engine a perfect sound. All new glass was installed the chrome is new, as are the tires and wheels. The red-and-black interior was redone according to factory specifications. In fact, it’s so red that it makes fire trucks look dull. The restoration included new red paint, brighter than the original factory red. The popular but fairly rare 1957 Chevrolet Nomad, a snazzy wagon, owned by Bob Rohatch of Livermore. But he’s excited now, as he just got the car last month. The bad news was that it took 8½ years to get it done, about six years longer than Rohatch expected. The good news, though, was that Rohatch’s son’s brother-in-law has a shop near Santa Rosa and could do - and did - virtually all the restoration. A big one was that his new 1957 Nomad had been hit in the front and back but the seller failed to mention that detail before the sale. I bought it for $30,000 in 2008 and had it shipped out from Illinois.” ![]() The former owner had it for 18 years, but it hadn’t run in 12 years. “There were a lot of pictures, and it looked good, but you don’t really know until you see it. He had been looking for a Nomad for some time before he discovered this one. He’s very partial to 1957 Chevys, this being his sixth. Owning a classic 1955-to-1957 Chevrolet Nomad had been a longtime dream of Livermore resident Bob Rohatch. In model years 1955-1957, it was also Chevrolet’s most expensive model, excluding the Corvette, selling for about $2,600 ($22,865 in 2015 dollars) to $2,650 ($23,300 in 2015) more than a Bel Air convertible, normally Chevrolet’s most expensive car. It’s kind of a cool name - one could envision being a wanderer, a drifter, a rover or a vagabond while cruising in Chevrolet’s most alluring station wagon. ![]() GM had to discontinue that model in Latin America. GM later learned that “no va” in Spanish means “it doesn’t go,” so Latin Americans wouldn’t buy it. Chevrolet learned that the hard way when it named a new model the Nova. It’s pretty important to pick a name that fits the car and adds to its desirability, but they don’t always get it right. (Photo by David Krumboltz)Īutomobile companies spend a lot of time and money in deciding names for new models. This one originally ran in September 2015. In its place, we’re running some of Dave’s favorite past columns. A two-tone leather interior was offered as an option for the cloth upholstery fitted as standard.Ĭhevrolet offered the Nomad with the 265 or the 283 engines (3.9-liters and 4.3-liters) paired to a standard three-speed automatic gearbox.Editor’s note: David Krumboltz’s regular column is on hiatus until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The carmaker installed one of the most remarkable instrument clusters on the market, with a triangular-shaped speedometer and two gauges on the top. Inside, the Nomad featured a 50/50 split-folding front bench good for up to three occupants. ![]() A split opening tailgate created a sitting area with a roof over those seated there in the back of the vehicle. Its two-door construction with frameless windows and split side windows for the trunk and rear seats area were unique on the market, apart from its sibling, the Pontiac Safari. The chromed rings around the headlights and other shiny details on the bodywork made the Nomad a special vehicle. It was hard not to notice that the car resembled the Bel-Air lineup with its wrapped-around chromed bumper and broad grille. Chevrolet made the two-door station wagon a fancy vehicle, and people loved it. It was a true shooting-brake long before other cars could claim the rights for that styling. When a designer dreamed, a miracle car may happen, and that was the case with the Nomad. Designed for Detroit's 1954 Motorama event, the Nomad was one of the most expensive Chevrolets on the market, except the Corvette. ![]()
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