Notice: The Chevrolet Nomad Association Cannot Guarantee The Appearance Of A Dream Car At Every Nomad Convention.
The last two years it's just happened to work out that way.
Scheduling the 12th Annual CNA Convention in Spokane, Washington, for mid-July, prompted Tom Armstrong, a CNA member from Issaqua, Washington, to drive his modern recreation of the Waldorf Nomad across the state to attend. Convention planners were so impressed that they had Armstrong set the car up in the hotel ballroom as a centerpiece for the awards banquet.
Last year in Nashville, Tennessee, a similar place of honor was occupied by Chevrolet's 2000 Nomad concept car. But Armstrong's unique, black sports wagon wasn't the only attraction. A total of 94 1955-56-57 Nomads driving Spokane streets for various convention activities had area motorists wondering if they'd passed through a time warp. People's choice judging is traditionally scheduled early in the week, on Tuesday morning, so participants can drive and enjoy their vehicles the rest of the week without worrying about keeping them show-shined.
With judging out of the way, the Nomads drove to Riverfront Park near downtown Spokane to provide local residents a lunchtime car show. Later, a poker run took the caravan to the Hot Rod Cafe in Post Falls, Idaho, for another exhibition. A boat excursion on Lake Coeur d'Alene was also scheduled during the five-day convention, which ended with the awards banquet on Thursday night.
Best of Show Modified honors went to Art and Joyce Cheff of Snohomish, Washington, for their mint green '56 Nomad featuring a late-model Chevy small-block engine and cream-colored leather interior. Voted Best of Show Original was a Dusk Plum and Ivory '56 shown by Steve and Marguerite Edwards of Oak Park, California. Restoration of the wagon was completed recently after Edwards had acquired the car literally in pieces.Tom Armstrong didn't enter his Waldorf Nomad clone in the judging. In fact, he didn't arrive until Wednesday. Sports car racing enthusiasts, he and his wife raced their vintage Corvettes in Oregon on the weekend, then took the racers home and switched cars for the drive from Spokane.
Tom Armstrong's clone of the Waldorf Nomad is compared with Roger and Susan Worf's restored '55 Nomad from Beaverton, OR.
The original Nomad sports station wagon based on a '54 Corvette was designed as a possible companion to the Corvette roadster. It was first shown at the GM Motorama at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and was later destroyed. Armstrong's recreation, while quite faithful to the original Waldorf Nomad styling, is thoroughly modern, with an '87 Corvette suspension and a '90 ZR-1, 32-valve engine and six-speed transmission. A sectioned '55 Nomad body and a modified fiberglass reproduction '54 Corvette front clip form the basis of the custom body. It was built over a three-year period by Dan Petersen at Hot Rod Enterprises in Auburn, Washington.
The 2001 Nomad Convention is scheduled to be in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, July 16-20. So if you have a wagon that's nearing completion, or just want to check out for yourself how cool these classic rides are, contact CNA at 8653 W. Hwy. 2, Dept. SC, Cairo, Nebraska, 68824 for information on the convention and joining the club. Maybe we'll see you there!
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Best of Show Modified was Art and Joyce Cheff's '56 from Snohomish, WA. These folks enjoy modern ZZ4 power, a 700-R4 trans, Halibrand wheels, and beige leather furniture. | 
The Nomad was originally conceived as a Corvette model, but was switched to the passenger car line for production. Dan Petersen sectioned a '55 Nomad body and added a repro '54 Vette front clip, plus late-model Corvette underpinnings, drivetrain, and interior to build Armstrong's replica. |