1954 Nomad and Corvair showcars

[unclescott58]

A great book I have on subject of he GM Motoramas and their cars in my collection. 

[unclescott58]

One last thing on GM Motorama show cars. I do know where the remains of one Motorama show car exists here in Minnesota. It is not one of the most exciting or exotic of the Motorama show cars. And the owner doesn’t what people to know he has it. This person has the interior and other Flamingo only trim pieces from the 1961 Motorama show car of the same name. The Electra these parts were used on for the show car are long gone. But, the interior and nameplate, etc, were saved. 

 

[RSchnell]

8 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

The question then is, what would a museum with reputation of the Gilmore have in lying about the history of the cars on display there? Many GM show cars that were supposed to be destroyed back in the day, were not. Several were sent to the Warhoops wrecking yard outside of Detroit, where they were cut up, but not completely destroyed. Several of the GM show cars in Brotz collection were pieced back together from cars found at Warhoops years later. 

Now I don’t know the history of what happen to the possible two original Corvair show cars when GM was done with them. But, the rumored story of the Nomad is that a GM exec drove it home and hid it in his garage when the word came down to destroy it. Then rumors claim that a collector in California got his hands on it, and stored in a warehouse in Long Beach for years. Unwilling to let anybody see it. Again, these are stories and rumors. Yet there are so many supposably lost and destroyed show cars that keep showing up years later. And I can not see any reason why a docent at the Gilmore would have been willing lied to me about the history of the cars on display there. Are these two I saw, original cars or not? I can only go by what the museum docent told me. 

I think the docent was misinformed. If these in fact are truly original it would be headline news. I've been messing with C1 Corvettes for 25+ years and have never seen any proof the original cars survive. 

I'm familiar with Joe Bortz and his collection of show cars. Met him at Amelia Island one year. Nice guy!

You can build your own Corvair starting with a body. https://backtothefutureproductsllc.com/53-55.shtml

 

[BlackSheep214]

If you’re  ever in New York, make a stop to Norwich, NY. There’s a beautiful car museum there. Every year they raffle off a Corvette. This year is the 1970 Mustang convertible. You can buy raffle tickets online too. Here’s the website:

https://www.classiccarmuseum.org/

 

I usually go there just about every year or so. Raffle tickets I buy every year - most of the time online.

 

Now the ‘54 Nomad. It is a gorgeous automobile. I absolutely love the blue and white scheme. Makes you wonder why haven’t they made kits of them. Such beautiful lines on the Corvette Nomad. That particular Buick I never knew the passenger seat can turn to face the rear seats. Cool concept. Imagine seeing that in today’s automobiles? Red flags big time. LOL!

 

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by BlackSheep214

[unclescott58]

3 hours ago, RSchnell said:

You can build your own Corvair starting with a body. https://backtothefutureproductsllc.com/53-55.shtml

 

I’d love to have a full-size 1/1 scale ‘54 Corvair. But, budget and space leave me looking for only 1/24 scale, or smaller versions. I do have a couple of Johnny Lightning 1/64 scale Corvairs. And at least one of Johnny Lightning’s 1/64 Waldorf Nomads. The Corvairs are are nice. But, Nomad has some problems. It just does look quite right to me. As much as I love these two cars, I’m still looking more for scale models of them to add to my collection.

[unclescott58]

3 hours ago, BlackSheep214 said:

If you’re  ever in New York, make a stop to Norwich, NY. There’s a beautiful car museum there. Every year they raffle off a Corvette. This year is the 1970 Mustang convertible. You can buy raffle tickets online too. Here’s the website:

https://www.classiccarmuseum.org/

 

I usually go there just about every year or so. Raffle tickets I buy every year - most of the time online.

 

Now own the ‘54 Nomad. It is a gorgeous automobile. I absolutely love the blue and white scheme. Makes you wonder why haven’t they made kits of them. Such beautiful lines on the Corvette Nomad. That particular Buick I never knew the passenger seat can turn to face the rear seats. Cool concept. Imagine seeing that in today’s automobiles? Red flags big time. LOL!

 

 

You say you own a ‘54 Nomad? Tell us more. Is if full-size or a model? 

[RSchnell]

3 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

I’d love to have a full-size 1/1 scale ‘54 Corvair. But, budget and space leave me looking for only 1/24 scale, or smaller versions. I do have a couple of Johnny Lightning 1/64 scale Corvairs. And at least one of Johnny Lightning’s 1/64 Waldorf Nomads. The Corvairs are are nice. But, Nomad has some problems. It just does look quite right to me. As much as I love these two cars, I’m still looking more for scale models of them to add to my collection.

Like you, I like the Corvair over the Nomad. I didn't know Johhny Lightning did the Motorama cars in 1/64. I need to hunt those down!

[Brian Austin]

The Jan-March 1972 issue of Special Interest Autos has an article on Nomads, and it includes the Waldorf Nomad.  One lovely illustration compares the show car with the production Nomad and its Pontiac cousin.  Note the show car's roof and greenhouse differs from the production models.

[High octane]

I believe that I have a promo of the Waldorf Nomad in one of my display cases, I'll have to check on that tomorrow if I remember. Or maybe it is a die-cast by Danbury Mint???

[BlackSheep214]

6 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

You say you own a ‘54 Nomad? Tell us more. Is if full-size or a model? 

My mistake. No, I don't own a '54 Nomad. I wish I did, though. LOLOLOL!!! I re-read my first post and realized "own" was accidently auto typed on my sentence reply. Sorry.

I did go to the Northeast Car Museum today by invite by my brother-in-law. Funny, I had mentioned about going there today with my wife but she wasn't interested in going. He and I split the cost of getting raffle tickets for the '70 Mustang convertible .... 15 tickets for $50

[unclescott58]

7 hours ago, unclescott58 said:

I’d love to have a full-size 1/1 scale ‘54 Corvair. But, budget and space leave me looking for only 1/24 scale, or smaller versions. I do have a couple of Johnny Lightning 1/64 scale Corvairs. And at least one of Johnny Lightning’s 1/64 Waldorf Nomads. The Corvairs are are nice. But, Nomad has some problems. It just does look quite right to me. As much as I love these two cars, I’m still looking more for scale models of them to add to my collection.

Clarification, on my above statement. When I referred to the Waldorf Nomad not looking quite right. I was referring to the Johnny Lightning version. I like looks of the Nomad okay. Just not the Johnny Lighting toy. They did a much better job on catching the lines of Corvair in 1/64 scale.  

[unclescott58]

54 minutes ago, Brian Austin said:

The Jan-March 1972 issue of Special Interest Autos has an article on Nomads, and it includes the Waldorf Nomad.  One lovely illustration compares the show car with the production Nomad and its Pontiac cousin.  Note the show car's roof and greenhouse differs from the production models.

Interesting illustrations. Note the exterior push button door release on the Corvette at the top. These were not seen on actual ‘53 and ‘54 (or ‘55) Corvette production roadsters. Only the Motorama hardtop and Corvairs had those type of door releases. The production Corvettes required you reach into the car, and open the doors using the inside door releases. To bad they don’t show the hardtop on the car then, or the Corvair for comparison in the drawings above. Other than that, I like the above drawings. And I don’t remember ever seeing them before this. Thank you for sharing them. 

[unclescott58]

A quick search online, I found the following photo of Johnny Lightning Corvette Corvairs and Nomads. 

 

[Vietnam Vet67]

Here is a link for the brochure for the 1954 Motorama showing all the cars.

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/chevy/54cvm/54cvm.html

[ChrisBcritter]

On 9/6/2021 at 5:51 PM, Brian Austin said:

The Jan-March 1972 issue of Special Interest Autos has an article on Nomads, and it includes the Waldorf Nomad.

Thanks Brian - I've been thinking about some mods to the '55, starting with aligning the roof grooves with the B-pillar (why didn't GM do that?) plus a 3" section and '57 Chrysler rear quarters. Quick and dirty 'shop:

[Brian Austin]

Interesting concept.  Running the grooves neatly at that angle on a curved surface will certainly be a challenge...

[misterNNL]

I'm a little surprised these aren't available in 3D printed form.