Anderson, IN 46017
edlynn@iquest.net
"30 Years and Worth It"
I grew up with Chevrolet station wagons. My parents always had two in the driveway. They were all functional, no frills, grocery-getters for our family of ten. We took them for granted.
In 1972, I bought my first Tri-Five, a ’55 2-door 210 Handyman Wagon. It was a black rust bucket, with hand painted flames and cherry bomb mufflers, and I was hooked forever. My wife, Lynn, and I sold it after a few months, investing what we had in our first home. SOMEDAY, I promised myself, I’d have the real thing again.
Going forward thirty years, with two grown daughters and two college educations out of the way, I started looking again. I’m no mechanic, a construction/computer geek by trade, so we agreed on a budget for a Nomad that would be of "driver quality" and fairly well completed.
After about a year, I found the perfect 1956 Nomad on E-Bay, located 2500 miles away in Chehalis, WA. The ad included no pictures, but was within budget. The good Lord must have felt it was the right car for me, as I found a ‘friend-of-friend" living within 10 miles of the car. With his help on a cell phone, I bought it sight unseen. I contracted a car hauler over the Internet as well and held my breath for the next ten days until the car was delivered. I took delivery of "Fast Eddy" at 2:30 in the morning in a Wal-Mart parking lot, just in time for Father’s Day, 2002.
I could not be happier. The seller represented the car accurately. The Matador Red/India White paint is complimented by a red/white reproduction interior. It is running a 375 hp, 350 short block, double hump heads, and Holley 650 double-pumper carb, held to the pavement with a Muncie T-10 4-speed transmission. The stainless is complete and almost perfect. The exterior is trimmed in deep-dish chromed reverse wheels with Baby Moon caps. Fuzzy dice are still in the window and a Kenwood CD player rattles the glass. I went back to E-Bay and found an old "National Nomad Club" jacket with a red/white ’56 Nomad patch from the same city in WA. Maybe they were together at one time. Although it is a bit dated, by current upgrade trends, this bad ‘56 is perfect for Lynn and me.
We’ve got a thousand plans for our Nomad. We hope to get to the National Meeting this year , but it will take a lot of work to be road worthy for that many miles. We’ll see. Still, we get a lot of fun mileage here locally. The James Dean Run, the Ducktails Run, and other major cruise weekends are right out our back door. The Chevrolet Nomad Association will open a lot of doors to fine people and their Nomads as well. I can’t remember being more excited than when that car carrier rolled into the parking lot and unloaded my Dream Car. I am always ear-to-ear grins behind the wheel. It has never disappointed. Hang on to your dreams as well.
