What Makes A 50’s Chevy Wagon A Nomad?

We had the pleasure of featuring this 1955 Nomad wagon a couple of years ago.

We’ve been lucky enough in the past to feature a first year Chevy Nomad wagon, when one of our neighbors picked up one of these unicorns of the station wagon world. The question from younger car enthusiasts is always the same, “What is a Nomad wagon?”

The Chevy Nomad wagon had styling that was extravagant for station wagons of that era. Nomads followed the rules for hardtop coupes more than sedans with the roof line and door post style. Trim on the tailgate shows how glamorous these long-roofs were.

Chevrolet did something completely out-of-the-box in 1955 with the Chevrolet Nomad wagon. Station Wagons were becoming a large part of suburbia with almost every household having a wagon in the driveway.

Chevy designers got the brilliant idea of creating a wagon that was different than other wagons of that era with styling that was more sedan/coupe than that of a station wagon. In doing so, they created a wagon that no one wanted at the time. Nomads were the answer to a question that was never asked.

Not only did the Nomad’s body style go to the extreme, Chevrolet put the top-of-the-line trim inside the car. This made it one of the most expensive cars each year that it was offered in the first generation form. Nomad production started at 8,500 in 1955, and sunk rapidly. In the last year that the original Nomad was offered, Chevrolet only built around 6,500 of the two-door wagons. As it turned out, families didn’t want an expensive, over-the-top wagon.

The roofline was different than any other station wagon being made in the mid-fifties.

The 1955-1957 Nomad was a one-of-a-kind car, because it was completely different than than other wagons of it’s time. The roof line and two-door body style was a cross between a sedan and a sport coupe. At that time, two-door hardtop had no post (side door-window surrounding framework), where the sedan did. The Nomad had no posts on the doors, and wasthe only model in the Bel Air series that did not. This makes the Nomad a two-door hardtop wagon (heavy emphasis on the hardtop designation).

The doors on the Nomad had no posts at the rear, unlike other Bel Air sedans. This made the Nomad more coupe than sedan.

As far as trim and options, the Nomad was available with anything and everything offered by Chevrolet at the time. From air conditioning to fuel injection, you could get the Nomad dressed however you wanted it. Aside from the extravagance and design, the two-door wagon without posts, received a seat-cover pattern in the early models, that used the waffle pattern  that was also used in the mid-fifties Corvettes. Of course, most car enthusiasts look for the pillar behind the doors for the Nomad’s easy recognizable forward slant.

About the author

Bobby Kimbrough

Bobby grew up in the heart of Illinois, becoming an avid dirt track race fan which has developed into a life long passion. Taking a break from the Midwest dirt tracks to fight evil doers in the world, he completed a full 21 year career in the Marine Corps.
Read My Articles

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