CorvairJim

The 1955 Nomad was styled after the Corvette-based 1954 Motorama Nomad show car. It had the Corvette style open wheelwells. When they decided to build the actual car on the regular Chevy body, they decided to go with the open wheel openings of the show car. They add a distinctive look to the car that none of the other Chevys had in 1955. In 1956-7 they reverted to the standard production style "teardrop" wheel openings. What Glen said about the smaller openings on the rest of the line throughout the tri-5 era is absolutely correct. That's why almost every tri-5 Chevy drag car from the era had it's wheel openings rediused. Nowadays, people just tub the heck out of the cars and leave the quarter panels alone! Notice also that the Nomad had exclusive side trim in 1955. It didn't have typical Bel Air spears on the quarter panels; it had the spear flowing from the headlight "Eyebrow" back onto the door instead.

Nice and crusty-rusty. I really like both models! The Chevelle looks very nearly used up. Only one little nit to pick: The beautifully rusted-out right quarter panel on your Chevy Cameo pickup wouldn't have riusted out that badly: The outer bed of the Cameo Carrier pickup was fiberglass panels laid over a standard Chevy pickup bed. You did a great job with the rust-out effect, but unfortunately on a completely rustproof panel! That's OK - Not too many people today realize that. I've been a die-hard Chevy guy roughly forever, and remember reading about these pickups when you would still see one on the road occasionally in the late 1960's, when I wasn't yet 10 years old.

I have one of these in the works currently for the "Parts Box" CBP. I'm using up parts left over from the Jo-Han '60 Fury wagon/'57 Chrysler 300C kitbash that I'm building for the "Cannonball" CBP. The body of the Chrysler has already been converted into a decent looking ute. Sadly, it has to go on the old, way simplified Jo-Han Plymouth chassis with the "Lump Of Plastic" Jo-Han Plymouth engine. It will most likely become a curbside. Still, I may just have to withdraw it from that CBP and come up with another idea for it so that I can enter the Chrysler ute in THIS one! I also have a "Corvair Camino" that stalled a few years ago that I could dust off for this thing.

Some of these are among the best-looking Mustangs I've ever seen, but that's not saying a whole lot from where I sit! I especially like the red and white wagons and the silver-blue pickup. On the other hand, some of them are downright goofy looking: The white one with the exhaust stacks and the limo especially. If I liked Mustangs (which I most assuredly DON'T!), I'd say those two were wastes of perfectly good cars... which I really don't think they werre in the first place! Harry, your Photoshop work is first-rate as always.

You did your best for what you had to work with - I know the series and it ain't too hot! For a one-day fun build, I think it came out OK. I have to find that paint! It's just the shade I've been wanting for a build I've had in mind for a while.

That's just what I'm doing! I changed it's angle a smidge so that it's more upright, but it still uses the majority of the vertical rear section of the decklid. I've had to add some plastic to the bottom and sides of it to raise it into it's new position and still have it look right. I also added some to the leading edge of the horizontal cut where I sliced it off the top of the decklid so that I could reshape it to a straighter line without losing any height. I want the inner panel of the tailgate to be flat so that it's usable as an extension of the bed floor when open as you would any other pickup tailgate. I'm even going to say that it has a top-hinged panel that the license plate mounts to so that the plate is visible when driving with the tailgate open! Now I just have to remember to include some sort of handle or button to allow the 'driver' to open the darn thing!

Let's go with REAL for this one...

I just built this kit for someone else too! I transformed it from a '78 Trans Am to a '77 Esprit.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. That's one reason I didn't worry about the bench seat in my Sport Suburban. (BTW: As of this evening, "Yeah, it's got a Hemi"! The engine is mostly built and painted a nice bright Plymouth red.)

Thanks for the tip. I'll make sure it has the cutlines, but there's NO WAY I'm going to try to fab up a set of compound hinges for it! I'll just say the actual vehicle had 'em and call it good.

Update on my Chrysler Ute. It now has a name - it's a fictitious, long-lost Chrysler prototype called "The Westerner". I made some major progress on it over the last few evenings, so here's where it stands at this moment. The roof is pretty much laid up, with only some filling and contouring left to go. The basic bed is in place, but I haven't opened up the sides where the wheel wells will be yet. I want to make sure of the exact location before I go cutting anything! I've even made up a wooden bed floor for it, which still needs sanding. The photo shows the wood floor laid in place with a couple of wheel houses cut off of the chassis of what I think was an AMT '64 Impala from my parts box and smoothed out for use out in the open. Like the wood deck, they're just sitting loose to give an idea of what it will look like once it's completed: I've pretty much resigned myself to sealing up the back of the truck. There's no practical way to hinge a tailgate with that much horizontal curvature at it's base. I could reshape it so that it runs straight across, but 1) It wouldn't look nearly as cool and, 2) I'd have to reshape the bumper as well... That idea is strictly a non-starter!

I can't resist... I just CAN'T! Just for the heck of it, I went to Google images too and looked up "1948 Pontiac Silver Streak", and found THIS on the second page: Look familiar? It should, because it's this week's "Mystery car"! Hey, I don't care one way or the other. Harry showed the Pontiac sales brochure which clearly shows absolutely NO reference to the "Silver Streak" as a model name, and that's good enough for me. This photo just goes to show how the name has ingrained itself in the typical car guy's lexicon. It may not have been a Silver Streak when Pontiac built it, but it is one now (at least to the average old car nut... ).

Earl, this looks like your best one yet! I hope to be able to lay paint down like that some day. The engine looks great, and the other mods, well, I'm just looking forward to seeing more and more of this one, buddy!

I'm off and running on my Chrysler "Ute". They say "measure twice and cut once"? My take on this one was "measure once, grind off a little, measure again, take off a little more, measure AGAIN and sand it down a tad more... " Here's the first body mock-up. I've ground down the quarter panels beside where the rear of the decklid went to reposition it in a more upright position, but I'll still have to modify the rear of the decklid to fit the hole... I've been thinking about going curbside with this one. The engine bay "sheetmetal" I that removed from my Jo-Han Fury wagon got pretty tattered, and I don't know if I can salvage enough of it to be of any use.

It sure isn't! I specifically remember hearing the speech in which Al Gore told us how he invented the Internet back in 1969!

For the first couple of decades that I owned Corvairs, I made a habit of going to a Chevy agency's parts department and asking for a water pump for my Corvair. I don't bother anymore since most countermen nowadays were born well after the Corvair was discontinued in 1969 and they don't know that the car is AIR-COOLED! I think it was in 1984, when I worked at our local Chevy/Olds agency doing their used car detailing and new car delivery prep, I made a point to go up to Ed, the old veteran parts guy who had worked there for over 30 years (throughout the entire production of the Corvair) to ask for my water pump. Ed didn't bat an eyelash, just went over to the computer terminal to look up the part number. Well, after a couple of minutes, he reached under the counter and brought up a general GM parts book, saying that, for some reason, he couldn't find it in the computer. He went through that first book for 4 or 5 minutes, then went up into the loft to bring down the specialized Corvair-only parts book that they'd put in storage a couple of years before because there was such little demand for Corvair parts anymore. Well, this time it didn't take any more than about a minute before he stopped leafing through the pages and s-l-o-w-l-y looked up at me. I tell you, if looks could kill, I'd be 6 feet under right now! Meanwhile, the parts manager and his buddy the parts driver were standing right behind Ed, barely able to hold back the laughter! Happy April Fools Day, Ed, wherever you are!

Just a few comments: 1) I'm not really that much of a Mopar fan... 2) I'm not big into Pro Street either... 3) That is one TOUGH LOOKIN' DUSTER! It sits just right, and the hood scoop fits the style of the car perfectly. I'll be watching this one!

Always a good plan!

I just used the 300 kit as a parts donor for a Jo-Han '60 Plymouth wagon kitbash I'm working on for the "Cannonball" CBP, but I decided to use the leftovers for the "Parts Box" CPB just the other day as well (It's going to be "El Camino-ized... ). Sorry, the bumper is now spoken for.

I like where this is going. I'm using the 300 kit in a wagon conversion of another sort at the moment too - It's donated it's chassis and drivetrain to a Jo-Han '60 Plymouth Fury wagon.

My beautiful wife Rose and our late cat Agatha:

Another fine example from the "Yogi Berra Book Of Quotes" :lol:

I know about those antique Dremel Moto-Tools, having worked with the one my dad inherited from HIS dad when I was just beginning to try customizing back in the 1970's That tool had the handpiece connected to a soup can-sized motor by a 3' length of flex drive similar to a speedometer cable. It was a basic 2-speed unit: On and Off! Clunky and cumbersome to use when compared to today's Moto-Tool, but with practice just as useful. Oh, and happy birthday, Richard!

I think I've got it. The year and model might be off, but as for the make, yeah, I'm pretty certain. And Mike, the rear wiper was optional...

A 440? That little Rambler will be one SERIOUSLY fast "Granny-mobile"! I like the spoiler.