JANUARY 2017
Feature Car
Having been owners of a 1955 Nomad for over30 years, we had always liked the way a 1957 Nomad looked and wanted to own one. A friend of ours, Fred Hensley, had a black 1957 Nomad that he wanted to sell. The price was right and we purchased the Nomad from Fred in 1994. We drove the Nomad for a while, but it was an original style car and needed a lot of work. We decided to start a complete frame off restoration on the 1957 Nomad.
While we were in a local Chevrolet dealership we saw a 1996 Corvette with this beautiful blue colored paint but it had white racing stripes on it. I told Larry that the blue was going to be the paint color on the 1957 Nomad, but no white racing stripes. We looked up the paint code and started preparing the car for paint. The frame was the first thing to get worked on. Larry put a 1992 Corvette rear end and suspension on the frame. The engine is a 1999 LS-1 built by Street & Performance and installed in 1999 with several modifications to the pan. After almost 6 years of working on the car a few hours a night or even a few hours a week, the Nomad was nearing the final steps. We had hoped for several years that we would be done with the 1957 Nomad and could take it to the Chevrolet Nomad Convention of that particular year. That particular year ended up being 2003. That year, the Nomad convention was held in Park City, Utah and the 1957 Nomad made the trip without any problems. We had only taken the 1957 out for some short local trips before we took off for Utah, so we didn’t know how it would perform. It performed wonderfully. We got excellent gas mileage.
On the first trips, the Nomad had “run flat@ tires on it and it made for a rough ride. We have since put softer tires on the car and it has made such a difference.While we were deciding on the interior colors and trim, I thought that if we could stick to a simple color combination, it would make an outstanding car. That is the reason that there is blue, gray and chrome as the colors on the car. The only gold on the Nomad is the Nomad script and V on the tailgate. They are the originals and the V is brass. The rest of the trim on the exterior is for the 150 Chevrolet. Someone recently asked me why we didn’t put the insert panels on the fins of the Nomad. I replied that I didn’t want them on the car. I wanted it plain.
We built this Nomad for driving and driving we have done. We have driven the Nomad to many shows over the past years going border to border and coast to coast and in doing so, we have put over 98,000 miles on the car since it was finished. We will more than likely put many more miles on it before we retire the Nomad.
We have put a lot of miles on the 1957 Nomad since it was finished. It is always a pleasure to see people turn and look at the Nomad as it passes. We have even had some close calls. People are looking at the Nomad and they slowly creep over into our lane and almost push us off the road before they realize that they are merging into our lane.
Our oldest son is now showing our 1955 Coral and Gray Nomad at the Nomad conventions. We purchased a 1956 Nomad and Larry is working on assembling the car. So look for another Nomad from the Myers family to appear soon.
Specifications:
Paint: Akzo-Sikkens Base coat/Clear coat
Painted by: Larry Myers and Jeff Smith
Color: 1996 Corvette Dark Cloisonne Metallic
Engine: 1999 LS-1 engine built by Street & Performance
Interior: Gray leather 2000 Yukon front seats with 6 way power and seat heater, gray leather back seat and gray plush carpeting
Bumpers: Stock rear and Smoothie front
Rear-end: 1992 Corvette
Wheels & Tires: 1999 Corvette chrome wheels with chrome dust shields, Nitto tires (17" on front & 18" on back)
Suspension: Fatman A-frames, front and rear disc brakes, front and rear sway bars
Steering: Ididit , 605 steering box
Transmission: 4LO60E
Exhaust: Aluminized steel exhaust with 4' stainless glass pac mufflers
Gas tank: 18 gallon with internal fuel pump
Headlights: Clear lens halogen
Misc.: Raingear wiper system, Vintage Air System, Analog white face custom rod gages, LeCarre steering wheel, Painless wiring harness, Street & Performance computer wiring harness and dress-up kit, Global Cruise Control, Kenwood AM/FM Cassette radio.
Mechanical, fabrication and assembly: Done in our own shop at our home by Larry Myers and assisted by Curtis Welch
Article written by: Annette Myers
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