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Dad's 'Mad, The no longer hibernating 1957 Nomad.

Sounds like a good time! :saweet:
Hell yeah it is. It’s way more rowdy than I remembered.
If you need any help let me know.
Totally will.
Man it must be so cool to have a car like this in your garage!
It’s pretty amazing. I definitely find myself hanging out in the garage and working up plans for it.

I need to grab some stuff this morning before I make a second run at it. I have some ideas to try and help the fuel pump to pull fuel.

I need to pin down if the pump is shot or not. Age and lack of use is not on my side here but I’m going to give it a swing regardless.
 
For me a Nomad like that is unobtanium. I don't even recall having seen one in person at car show. I'm excited to see what you do with it.
 
No worries on the examples Rene. All good!

For me a Nomad like that is unobtanium. I don't even recall having seen one in person at car show. I'm excited to see what you do with it.
Trust me, the car would normally be unobtainium for me too. That fact is not lost on me. This car has been in the family a year longer than I have. Having grown up within the club around these cars I’m very familiar how rare they are and the crazy values they hold. I’ve wanted my own Nomad since I was a kid. We’d been looking since then too. Even 40 years ago Nomad shells were going for silly money. Nothing really fell in place even when I shifted my focus to any ‘57 short of a 4dr sedan or hardtop (because I couldn’t stomach a more-door unless it was a wagon).

Giving my Dad credit, knowing we probably wouldn’t find another ‘57 in our budget, he always referred to this and the other cars as “our” cars and not “his”. It was a great gesture to let us have a shared feeling about the cars. So I’ve always felt I held a share in the car.

I've been blessed to grow up with the cars and within such a cool car club with all the members that treated me like I was one of their sons. They were always cool to me and helped teach me about these cars and cars in general. Think of it as what I feel CK5 is now, but in the old analog before times. They were all proud for me upon my graduation from college and going to work in Detroit for GM. Even coming back as an adult the members in the club had been cool and welcoming to me. Unfortunately, most of the old members have passed and what was left of the local club disbanded a few years ago. It bummed me out but there are a couple of guys left I need to reach out to.

But for those that haven't had the pleasure of seeing a Nomad at all, might be blown away seeing many together at once. So here's some shots from the Archives of the Mile High Nomad club and the National Nomad club (I ended up with the photo albums somehow). Back in the beginning the club was very active with weekend trips, parades and local car shows.
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This was taken at the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Canon City.
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Chugwater Wyoming for a club run.
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Vail NNC convention in 1976
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Indy NNC convention 1977. Our car in the top right pic near the bottom corner.
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On the infield at the Brickyard.
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I think this convention had one of the biggest turnouts of any of them. Look how many are on pit road!
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You see here kids, you don't need your phone for panoramic shots.
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Omaha 1983
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Rapid City 1984
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The club rented out an entire drive-in movie theatre for a screening of American Graffiti. Probably one of the coolest things I remember as a kid was seeing all these Nomads together watching one of the coolest car movies ever.

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I've got many more where that came from.
 
You don't see Nomads anymore because, they are all tucked away in museums or private collections. Never to be driven again.
Yeah, I get how some stuff gets shuffled to the back (these zoo family cars are prime example)

The "I bought it to park here" or "its ok if it takes 15 years before it running again, as long as it's perfect" are both selfish ideologies


Its why the younger generations don't drive classics.
See also why I make a point to talk to them when they ask questions about a 55 year old car
 
Rene’ …Thanks for the examples and description of the models. I never realized there was a different height to the roofline either.

Rob …what fantastic historical photo collection. Please post up more, cuz who doesn’t like to see those cars in abundance?

Wade … although they're nicely preserved, its a shame people don't get to enjoy the feeling brought by driving them.

Mark … I think it's pretty cool when a kid takes interest in the classics. I too encourage them to ask questions, and I like to get them in the car at times to get a feel of old school coolness!
 
Rene’ …Thanks for the examples and description of the models. I never realized there was a different height to the roofline either.

Rob …what fantastic historical photo collection. Please post up more, cuz who doesn’t like to see those cars in abundance?

Mark … I think it's pretty cool when a kid takes interest in the classics. I too encourage them to ask questions, and I like to get them in the car at times to get a feel of old school coolness!
The hard part is you have to learn a lot about what they are doing with their import or whatever so that you can carry both sides of the conversation
 
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I talk to the young people na matter what kind of vehicle they are into. I have learned little things from all of them on how they fabricated something to do what they needed it to do.
 
I always talk to the younger guys and ask them about their cars. I have zero interest in tuners, but they do not need to know that.
I’ve owned a 350z and Infiniti g37s. The tuner crowed is different but don’t discount the love of cars. The stuff they do with those cars is insane.
 

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