One year ago, my colleague Mike Stephens covered this 1956 Chevrolet Nomad. It was an eBay bid situation with a BIN price of $40,000. I’m not certain what the outcome of the bidding process was, but here it is up for sale again, and things have changed. Now, residing in Kirbyville, Missouri, this iconic two-door station wagon is listed here on Facebook Marketplace for $25,000, OBO. Hmmm…OK, let’s take a second look and give a shout-out to Terry for forwarding this tip!
I suppose I was a teenager when I first encountered a Nomad. It was a beautiful 1957 edition, and it belonged to a mechanic who worked at the local in-town Chevrolet dealership. (Strangely, several years later, I ended up employed at that same dealership, and one of the body shop painters owned a ’55 Pontiac Safari – the Nomad’s similar cousin.) Anyway, I had a thing for Nomads and at one point even built a model kit of one. As we know, the Nomad moniker lived on beyond its glory years of 1955-1957, but it’s those three years and approximately 22K copies that are the ones most identified with, and valued, by the Nomad name. What drew me to this 1956 Nomad is its amazingly original condition. It hasn’t been modified, restored, or hacked up into some sort of shade tree hot rod. Nope, it’s just 70 years of slow degradation. It is complete, right down to the stylish, gold-finished “NOMAD” tailgate badge that often seems to go missing. The body appears to be straight, but I wonder about underside integrity.
Well, speaking of that, the floors appear to have seen better days, and that can be indicative of additional, more serious problems. The upholstery looks like it lost a battle with weasels, and the glovebox and radio are gone. While these are minor considerations, it’s the structural integrity that still has me most concerned. It would be nice to get a glimpse of the wayback and see what’s going on there.
It is often believed that all Nomads were powered by Chevrolet’s new small-block V8, but that’s not the case, as our subject features a 140 gross HP 235 CI in-line six married to a Powerglide two-speed automatic transmission. I will admit this is the first Nomad I have encountered so equipped. The seller states, “runs and drives.”
I’d suggest this is still a great find due to its originality and completeness, but it will take a lot of time, effort, and $$$ to get it just right. As for the substantial price drop, it sounds like reality kicked in. And I suppose the new ask of $25,000 is subject to debate. That OBO part of it might be the key to making a sale, wouldn’t you agree?
So – the Boomers are aging out .
And the post Covid Capitalistic price gouging mantra is coming down to earth.
40k to 25k – and this car needs full resto.
People need to realize real quick that your stuff is not holy grail money .
Great Nomad , needs help.
Back in my day this was an under 10k car .
Still wouldn’t pay more than $10k for this .
“Back in my day this was an under 10k car .”
So, I’m more or less on board with you – everything costs more and delivers less, right? But doubling the quantity of greenbacks in 2020, translated into 100% inflation, ultimately. So $10k pre-2020 is $20k post-2020, add a bit of appreciation for scarcity/demand/profit, and the ask seems about right, to my eyes. I’m obviously no economist, and I’ve over-simplified a complex system to make a contrary point, but it feels objectively accurate to me. Sure, I dislike dramatic increases in prices of the things I want/need, but a part of me recognizes that this is approximately the new normal.
I really like these, when they’ve been restomodded. Can’t honestly cay I’ve ever seen one with a straight six. Mated to a Powerglide? I’m sure it’s a bullet-proof drivetrain, but encased in that much steel, about as languid as it gets. The temptation to drop in a V8 would strong, but I’d probably give the original engine a summer, and if it’s good enough, leave it.
Back in the day… I’m 70 and I remember it. Sadly, we’re not back in the day. Today’s dollar only buys 11.6% of what it bought in 1970. Do the arithmetic. I drive by this car regularly but have never stopped. Not a fan of the 56 and do not want another project.
Nice write up Jim.
Thank you!
JO
Wow! Crazy!
Had an opportunity to buy one for $375 back in 1969. Neither my parents nor a bank would lend me the money. I’d probably still have it if I could’ve bought it.
Yep, aged out too, been selling stuff I’ve had for years, too old to take on a project like this, although the body looks pretty solid. It’s screaming for a sheet metal, license plate and dum dum floor patches with a Mexican blanket over the seat. Removal of the 6 installation of a period small block, brakes tires etc and drive it. Remember when missed out on a running, on the road 55 Nomad for $250 back in the 70’s
Sold my ‘57 Nomad in 1967 for $750. Had it a couple years, and bought it for $650. Thought I made a good deal! 265 2 bbl, had Harrison a/c, even.
For me, the time capsule picture is that one single line coming off the brake master cylinder. Brakes sure have come a long way….along with suspensions, transmissions, fuel delivery, transmissions, steering, tires, crashworthiness, not to mention seats, sound systems, HVAC, and doors that shut well. I’m 73 and grew up in a four-door version of this…same color, but Mom had the V8…..and it’s a wonder we survived. Nope, no nostalgia for me.
I get an email from Barn Finds every day. One of the worst things is that every day I see at least one car I want, and if I didn’t have a wife to keep a rein on me I’d have huge debts and a yard full of cars rather than the 10 I’ve got! Always wanted a Nomad, and 56 is my favorite year, this one would do me just fine! Only problem is I probably wouldn’t live long enough to see it completed. Gettin old sucks, but I guess it’s better than the alternative!
Back in my single days I wanted one of these real bad but never found one for sale.
Now I’m just too old to mess with a car needing so much repair but the ’56 is my favorite of the tri-fives,
Do a thorough inspection of the underside floor boards , inside rockers , bottom of tail gate for rusted out . Also take a can of starting fluid with you if you want to hear it bark back to life . The can on seat is empty.
It would probably take a “bit” of work, but with the 6 and that original air cleaner you would never be parked next to another one.
I like it.
I bought a ’56 Nomad from a farmer in ’69. Both quarters were shot. [rust] I went to my local yard and cut both quarters off of a [gasp!] ’56 convertible. It had the original 265 that ran well but puffed smoke at idle and an interior that needed 5 or 6 Indian blankets.
I got the quarters on by cutting them below the widows and splitting them down the tail lights. Didn’t do much else to it and sold it shortly thereafter for $450, thinking I had made out quite well…
Here’s the FB link again: https://www.facebook.com/share/19X5C3h7ET/
Thx, the link has been restored; don’t know what happened to the original one.
JO
I loved the 1955 Chevrolet when it came out around this time in 1954, because it was so startlingly new and modern, with such crisp lines (as opposed to the frumpy ’53s and ’54s, with their refreshed 1949 bodies and stove bolt sixes). Cadillac, Buick, and Oldsmobile, had given us a preview in 1954, but retaining their essential previous styling cues, so as not to shock us. Pontiac did the same, through both a modernising on the old body for 1954 and an evolutionary blending into the new body for 1955. But not so with Chevrolet! Chevy took-on newness with aggression for 1955, giving us something unrelated to what had come before, capturing all the attention, and with that “Hot One” V-8 to boot! That all-new dashboard looked Corvettish, with those two semi-circles. When you saw one of the new Chevies come by, you spun around to LOOK! (did you not?). And one in the supermarket parking lot had you rubbernecking through the window at its all-new interior (don’t lie — you KNOW you DID IT!). it was as startling an experience as seeing the 1949 Ford in June of 1948 (you young folks who’ve only witnessed “me too” jelly beans come out year after year know nothing of what I’m talking about, so sit down and just listen).
There WAS a time when the new models came out in August and Septemper of the previous year, and you were excited to see all of the new changes (right or wrong? — you know I’m right!). And Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, every one of the “motorhead” publications, even LOOK Magazine, all ran October spreads on all of the new cars (in case there wasn’t a Packard, DeSoto, Willys, or Hudson dealership near you). And you bought every one of the different auto-spreads, so as to be certain not to MISS anything, and to keep as souvenirs (at least until NEXT year). This was an annual ritual in 1950s America!
And in 1955, Chevrolet exploited this national excitement to the hilt!
Okay, by mid-1955, we’d SEEN it, and the excitement was over: we were then wondering what they would do for 1956.
And WHAT A LET-DOWN!!! It was essentially brought out as the same car, but with a more conventional-looking grille. Gone was that neat and unique rounded-cornered rectangular “egg crate”, so distinctly peculiar to Chevrolet; instead, the 1956 had an almost “generic” look which no longer stood-out as notably “different”. Same essential dashboard layout as the ’55 — boring by then, actually, simply a conventional place-holder car for whatever would come next year. What we had no way of knowing then, was that the new rearward sweep-down of the side-trim and minor tail-light area’s changed sculpting, were previews for what they had in mind for 1957.
Ford had got the jump on Chevy for that year, with an all-new body to replace their long-in-the-tooth, ahead-of-its-time 1952 shell which had carried them through 1956. Chevy wasn’t getting a new body, so they had to soldier-on for one more year with what they had. Totally fresh for 1955, it now was well-known and nearly outdated by 1957. Not as frozen in the past and defiant of effective up-dating as Hudson’s 1948 “step-dpwn” design had become by 1954; still, the lingering 1955 body of the Chevy needed SOMEthing of new impact for ’57! The windows, profile, size, and such features, were essentially set in stone, so how to make that old familiar package NEW again: that was the challenge. And Chevy met it by emulating aspects of Cadillac styling, getting rid of Chevy’s “I bought this because I couldn’t afford to exceed low-priced-three prices” reputation. Suddenly the lowly anad basic Chevrolet looked every bit as flashy as a true luxury car! The new 283 V-8 was more sprightly, and it could really make a car as light as a Chevy truly GO! The ’57 Chevy gained an all now “late 1950s” dasboard layout and a stylish new steering wheel for the Bel Air and the Two-Ten. They embraced the new “fins” era for 1957, but with far more class, restraint, and taste, making their 1957 version seem totally integral to the intended design of the body, instead of flaring out and threatening to poke some hapless pedestrian’s eye out or stab them through the chest like a sword fish (remember the Mad Magazine parodies on fins designs and the threatening injury from someone backing into an unsuspecting pedestrian? — I was supposed to be a dignified adult by then, but laughing at MAD was one of my secret guilty pleasures). The front end of the 1957 Chevrolet was utterly masterful! While not looking LIKE a Cadillac, it screamed of its own luxury bonafides, by looking as nicely done as any “expensive” make, especially in Bel Air presentation with the gold grillework, and prominent gold “V”, if you had a V-8. And yet, in the context of 1957, the excessive re-design of the new Chevy didn’t LOOK excessive in the least: it looked in every way “classic”. And the passing years have proved Chevrolet Division’s styling decisions for 1957 precisely correct for lasting appeal. The 1957 Ford was more striking and far more trendy to the time, and it easily out-sold the 1957 Chevrolet that year. But what is the value of a 1957 Ford NOW, as opposed to a ’57 Chevy? Even rhe drab and lowly 150 out-values the Fairlane 500.
To those who may know, is this color called Crocus Yellow?
I’ve an age-old memory of that name for Chevs but dunno which years…
Cowl tag shows the car was born with paint code 721 which designates a two-tone combination of India Ivory and Dawn Gray (Code 721L would refer to the Dawn Gray Metallic component). Trim code 611 on a 1956 Chevrolet indicates an interior featuring Charcoal Pattern Cloth and Ivory imitation leather (vinyl) designed for Model Code 1064, which is the Bel Air Nomad two-year station wagon.
So IMHO, this yellow could be anything.
I like it! $25K for a running Nomad. That’s right up there in the DD Speed Shop category. But he hates ’56’s. Anyway the green, 6 cylinder, Powergliide is interesting.
When you have a un-restored car and it is 90% complete and in 90% good condition;
it is only 90% to go to make it an auction car.
unsophisticated sellers look at auction results and perceive that is the value of their car.
“all it needs is an interior and a paint job”
yea
Has anyone noticed that the vin tag starts off with “V”…so it’s a factory V-8 car-(so the Vin tag says)…but the rad support and radiator are obviously an original 6 cylinder…so either the vin tag has been replaced…meaning what is really original to this car or real or someone spent and awful lot of time turning this car from a V-8 car into a 6 cylinder and they have to change the transmission and starter or at least the tranny bellhousing and starter to make it a 6 cylinder….HUMMMmmmmm what’s real on this and what has been changed???
I’d definitely want to see the title to this car before thinking about buying it because the VIN tag reads…
‘V’ means V-8,
‘C’ means Bel Air (including nomad),
’56’ means yes it’s a ’56,
‘O’ means assembled in Oakland CA,
the following #’s is the production #.
Yet there’s no “V” under the Chevrolet hood badge, which would denote a V8 engine.
JO
No chrome V8-emblem on the hood (under Chevrolet badge). The 1956 Chevy Nomad V8 also had two small chrome V8-badges under each tail light (like all V8 ’55s did). Those are missing. The VIN tag on the driver’s side A-pillar should read C56O031643.
Sale is pending. It’s up to the new owner now.