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Car of the Day: September 1, 2015; Johnny Lightning '57 Chevrolet Nomad
Topic Started: Sep 1 2015, 05:05 AM (547 Views)
Dean-o-mite
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Muscle Car

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Today's car of the day is from corvairjim's collection, and is Johnny Lightning's 1957 Chevrolet Nomad.


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Wikipedia
 
The Chevrolet Nomad was a station wagon model made off and on from 1955 to 1972, and a Chevy Van trim package in the late 1970s and early 1980s, produced by Chevrolet. The Nomad is best remembered in its two-door 1955-57 form, and was considered a halo model during its three-year production as a two-door station wagon. The two-door Nomad differed from other station wagons of the era by having unique styling more reminiscent of a hardtop sedan than that of a standard station wagon. Chevrolet shared this body with its sister Pontiac, which marketed their version as the Pontiac Safari. The Nomad's unique design had its roots in a General Motors Motorama show car of the same name that was based on the Corvette. The Concept was introduced at the GM Motorama in 1954 as one of Head Stylist Harley Earl's "dream cars". It followed the introduction in 1950 of the Ford Country Squire two door station wagon. GM approved production of the vehicle if the design could be transferred to its standard model, because top GM brass felt that they could sell more models if it were attached to the popular Bel Air model. In fact, following the product debut in 1955, it was not uncommon for the car to be referred to as the Chevy "Bel Air Nomad".



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For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Chevrolet Nomad


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Wikipedia
 
The Nomad's relatively short wheelbase and overall length in comparison to Chevrolet coupes, sedans and station wagons of the same time period show modern similar characteristics to hatchbacks in later years. The platform used was GM's smallest, a two-door bodystyle with a rear bench seat that folded down to accommodate cargo, and a two-piece tailgate with a glass upper portion that swung up, with a tailgate that folded down were the features that made the Nomad very popular. V-8 engine displacement grew to 283 cubic inches (4,638 cc) from 265 in 1957, with the "Super Turbo Fire V8" option producing 283 horsepower with the help of continuous fuel injection. These so-called "fuelie" cars are quite rare, since most Bel Airs were fitted with carburation. While considered to be a milestone vehicle design, General Motors discontinued the original Nomad Sport Wagon at the end of the 1957 model year due to low sales and the introduction of a new body for 1958.



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Hobie-wan
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Great looking Nomad.
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daniel60
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She's a keeper!
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JeepXJLover
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Small casting, but one of my favorites. I think I have all the stock looking releases of this casting.
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juantoo3
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Only the second small scale diecast 57 Nomad I ever recall seeing, the first being a crude example most would call generic, I don't remember now if Zylmex or someone else. I'm sure better could be done now, but it certainly is charming.
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Dean-o-mite
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:link:
Car of the Day: Zylmex '57 Nomad
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juantoo3
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's the one.
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corvairjim
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I've always liked station wagons. I guess that comes from having a succession of 3-seat Chevy wagons when I was a kid. The Nomad was the first 2-door wagon I was familiar with, as a result of my Antifreeze Green Hot Wheels Nomad that was in my stocking on Christmas 1969 (or was it 1970???). That car was my favorite when I was a kid Then 2-door wagons made their return in a small way with the Vega and Pinto wagons. Thing is, they were clapped-out disposable cars while the Nomad just oozed STYLE. Fast-forward to roughly 2010 and my return to the diecast car hobby. Johnny Lightning soon became my favorite brand...AND THEY HAD NOMADS!!! It took me while to score this little beauty, in that I found it in a vendor's tent at a huge car show in Macungie, PA (that's near Allentown for those of you not in my neck of the woods). The guy has probably 600 Johnnies on display for just $4 each every year. Every year I pick up 10-15 cars from him that I didn't have yet. OK, I'm rambling. Bottom line: This is probably my 2nd-favorite Nomad in my collection, second to the Antifreeze Green Hot Wheels Nomad that a friend RAOK'ed to me when I mentioned in a post of his on Hobby Talk that I wish I'd seen the auction on eBay that included the car in a multi-Redline deal.Unfortunately he's disappeared from the website and, as far as I know, all other diecast sites as well. If he's on Swifty's, He's using a different screen name.

(If anyone wants to RAOK me my second-favorite childhood Redline, feel free to pack up that purple Olds 442 - You know, the ultra rare one. I'd be a friend for life! I made the mistake of including that one in the box of my old cars that I gave my kids to play with. One day my son got REALLY ticked off with me and went outside with the box of cars, and methodically flattened them on the sidewalk with a brick. I came outside to see what that strange sound was just as the brick came down on the 442. :angry: )
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pjedsel
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:toy: Station wagons are always great to see in small scale die cast and this one from JL is a winner. I liked that they did the Tri Five series in wagons. I, too, am a big station wagon fan having just retired my trusty "Quirky" '00 Taurus at 250,000 miles. I grew up in a '55 Chevy 210 Handyman 2 door wagon.
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JeepXJLover
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Still hunting for the copper one with gold flames and gold roof. Then I will have all the releases of this casting that I want.

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corvairjim
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Sweet collection of Nomads! I want to find a few more but, with JL being defunct, that won't be easy. version of this great casting.They missed the boat by not doing a BWF
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Dean-o-mite
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Each of the Johnny Lightning '55, '56, & '57 Nomads were done in BWF.

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corvairjim
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Cool! That's one I need to be looking for... And the other two as well.
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