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

ZooMad75 said:
So in ‘57 as well as the 55’s and 56’s there were three trim levels. 150 series, base. 210 series mid level and then the Bel Air which was top of the line. 150’s have trim that is more like a ‘55 in that it’s only on the quarter and door area. 210’s match the Bel Air without the aluminum insert in the corner for the main distinction. There are other details that separate a Bel Air from the others. For the V-8 cars, all got the large V’s on the hood and trunk (or gate on a nomad/wagon) however only the Bel Air cars had them anodized in gold. Same for the Chevrolet script on the hood and trunk or gate along with the fake louvers on the front fenders and the grille mesh. 210 and 150 cars have silver grilles and trim. One other giveaway is the trim capping the top of the tail fins. Bel air cars have much longer trim capping the fin, including wagons. The 210/150 have a short fin cap that is 12” long.

On sedans there is additional trim that surrounds the windows on Bel Air and 210’s that 150 sedans lack as well. Probably some of the rarest ‘57 models are the 210 hardtops. Both in 2dr and 4dr variants. They follow all the same trim as the regular 210’s but the belt line moulding at the top of the doors is thinner than the Bel Air version. Add to that many 210 hard tops got converted to Bel Air status with the swapping of gold trim and inserts on the outside. But most don’t go as far as the top caps and belt line moldings.

The other major differences is the interior. They each had their own fabrics and patterns as well as trim/no trim on the dash.

If anybody has watched Mike Finnegan’s YouTube channel may remember the yard of 57’s in Texas they found and Newbern bought the 2dr hard top. It had Bel Air inserts but watch closely and you’ll see the skinny belt line molding on the doors.

So the grey/silver 2 dr wagon in my previous post is an obvious fake as the only 2dr wagon in the Bel Air series was the Nomad. The other 2dr wagons on the 150/210 lineups are sedan/post style. They did do a Bel Air 4 door wagon with the shared sedan style doors.

One of the rarest wagons though is the sedan delivery built with windows instead of panels. Often called “window deliveries” they share all of the sedan delivery characteristics with a single one piece lift gate unlike the regular handyman and 4dr wagons two piece lift glass and tailgate. They also had the bucket seats and unlike the 2dr handyman wagons they lacked a rear seat and the middle windows did not open. These special deliveries were usually ordered by the government and even some of them had a panel on the left and windows on the right. In my lifetime I’ve only ever come across one. Tried to buy it and the yard that had it knew they had a rare one and said it wasn’t for sale.

This concludes my 50000 foot level of ‘57 trim levels.
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Hey I did know something, cool.
Thanks for the in depth history lesson
 
76zimmer said:
Looks like a bunch of troublemakers out to have some fun!
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It was a good time. Great ride. I took a two lane state highway down and back instead of the interstate. Lower speed limit, zero traffic and perfect crisp fall weather. Actually had to wear a hoodie and run the heater!

The car ran phenomenal as usual. I restrained myself from driving it like a jackass and took it easy as I really wanted to see what it could really get on a longer road trip. Based on the raw numbers I got 18.6 mpg but that’s without correcting for the speedo/odometer running fast. Figuring I’m 8% off it works out to 17.14mpg. Which amazingly is right at what my Dad noted it normally got as it was written in the club magazine it was featured in.

Pretty dang happy about that. I cruised mostly at 60-65 where I could. It wasn’t too hard to keep my foot out of it.

I did stop to take some pics on the way back.
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All in all, it was a good little adventure.
 
Thanks guys. I’m happy to be able to get it out. The car gets looks everywhere. You can’t be shy with it that’s for sure. Guy chatted me up at the gas station at 6:30 in the morning.

Definitely gained some confidence on the car being good for a longer road trip.
 
Bored and digging around in my stuff I found some nomad related treasure.

My old club badge, a NNC patch and a button and dash plaque from the 1983 convention. You can tell it’s pre-PC days on the button as the cartoon. Character is an Arab guy cruising a camel. The joke being Arabs are nomadic people.
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These are my Dad’s club jackets. The black one is the original and the maroon one was his last one.
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What’s amazing is I’ve lost enough weight I fit in the black one.
 
ZooMad75 said:
Bored and digging around in my stuff I found some nomad related treasure.

My old club badge, a NNC patch and a button and dash plaque from the 1983 convention. You can tell it’s pre-PC days on the button as the cartoon. Character is an Arab guy cruising a camel. The joke being Arabs are nomadic people.
IMG_1661.jpeg

IMG_1661.jpeg



These are my Dad’s club jackets. The black one is the original and the maroon one was his last one.
IMG_1663.jpeg

IMG_1663.jpeg


IMG_1665.jpeg

IMG_1665.jpeg



What’s amazing is I’ve lost enough weight I fit in the black one.
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I don't think it's not PC, and I also think it's really clever.
There are still plenty of nomadic Arabs and they are proud of it.
I am mostly proud of you for fitting in the jacket, good job
 
imiceman44 said:
I don't think it's not PC, and I also think it's really clever.
There are still plenty of nomadic Arabs and they are proud of it.
I am mostly proud of you for fitting in the jacket, good job
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Thanks. Considering my Dad had that back in the 70’s when he was still fairly active and in his thirties, and he couldn’t fit in it later really made me feel good.
 
I remember when getting the club jacket was a big deal. I need to drag mine out from the days when we had the Cuda in a local club. The best thing is the jacket is purple!
 
mrk5 said:
I remember when getting the club jacket was a big deal. I need to drag mine out from the days when we had the Cuda in a local club. The best thing is the jacket is purple!
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In this club it was a big deal for sure. Early on the club officials wanted it to be if you left the club, you turned your jacket back in.
 
All y'all need to stop. We've been sub zero here for two weeks, just finally warming up to the 30's. First snow was Nov 18, and it's just piled up already. We've been here almost 13 years now...and this is the second worst it's been right after our very first winter here.

It looks "festive"?

Fock festive, I want palm trees and bikinis!
 
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