Corvette Nomad, et. al.

[sequoiaranger]

I used to do many custom HO vehicles for my brother's train layout (sadly, he never actually built the layout, but accumulated all the stuff necessary). I wish I had taken pictures of them---some of them were clever and intricate.

The "Corvette Nomad" is a real-life whif that GM made two or three of in 1954. The all-new Corvette had its debut in 1953, and GM was "testing the waters" in 1954 for a variant by showing it around their wildly popular "Motorama" exhibitions. It was the test-bed for the now-familiar Chevy station wagon "Nomad" that came out the next year (1955).

I have posted a few photos of my little car (being passed up by an old Volvo??), and then a photo of the original Motorama show car, then....a pic of an Chrysler Imperial LeBaron that I custom-built that has a penny by it for size comparison (of course the Corvette is even smaller!). When I picked up my photos from some drug store and looked at them in front of the clerk, he remarked, "You either make HUGE coins or really tiny models!"

[Brian da Basher]

Those are some really cool Motor Trend-style shots there Sequoiaranger!

Where do you get those giant pennies from?

Brian da Basher

[Sauragnmon]

Sweet work, man.  Real small scale.  There's one of the boys over at MWS that does 1/700 deck vehicles, too... I work in small scales, and curse building 1/700 aircraft, but gott in himmel, man.  That's some sweet detailing you did.

[puddingwrestler]

Wow! HO scale customs! I can hardly ever get mine looking the way I want in 1/25!

Now I guess the challenge is to produce a Z scale customised motorbike

[Sauragnmon]

Heh.  That would be bloody interesting to see, a Z scale Custom chopper.  That would be definite kudos.  Forks made with 28ga wire, etc.

[BlackOps]

Nicely done!  I always wanted to set up a nice HO scale train set but have never had the space for it. I could see it becoming very addicting so it's probably better that I don't have the space. 

[noxioux]

Beautiful work!  Amazing.

I don't know if too many people know this, but the Corvette was always used as sort of a testbed for new features and untested options.  I believe the 'vette had the first fuel injected motors, and the first V8 engines, etc. . .  They also did a later 2+2, for the very same reason, which helped open the doors for the F-body cars.

[sequoiaranger]

Thanks, all, for the kudos.

>Wow! HO scale customs! I can hardly ever get mine looking the way I want in 1/25!<

One "luxury" of the small scale is the ability to overlook so much detail. If you inspect the model closely (as if it WERE a 1/25), there are many "flaws".

>I believe the 'vette had the first fuel injected motors, and the first V8 engines, etc.<

Definitely NOT the first V-8 engines. Heck, the 1940 Lincoln had a V-12!! Ford made the first V-8's, I believe, in the early 1930's. They were flathead-valved, not overhead-valved like the '55 Chevy 265 that was the first CHEVY V-8. And certainly not the first fuel-injection motors. German aircraft in the 1930's had fuel-injection. Diesels are all fuel-injection. The '57 Chevy 283 was among the first fuel-injected AUTOMOTIVE gasoline engines for passenger cars, however.

I just found out that the show-car Corvette Nomads had no engines or drivetrain--they were merely shells and had to be pushed/towed to their display sites. 


P.S.--I made a stretch Cadillac limousine for my brother by cutting out the center section of a Caddie to add to another Caddie. With the remaining parts, I slapped them together for a shortened, '55 T-bird lookalike (large two-seater) and sent that to him along with the Brougham as a sort of joke. My brother was DELIGHTED, as (again for a Motorama concept car) GM had made, unbeknownst to me,  JUST such a vehicle---the Cadillac Le Mans. Some high muckety-muck in GM got to drive it as a "company car".

[Hobbes]

Those are very good!

I believe the 'vette had the first fuel injected motors

No. The first fuel-injected petrol engine appeared in the first-generation Mercedes 300 SL.

[Just call me Ray]

I just found out that the show-car Corvette Nomads had no engines or drivetrain--they were merely shells and had to be pushed/towed to their display sites. 

If you think that's sad, most if not all of these shells were probably crushed when their purpose was done with 

Anyway, excellent model! May I ask on what the alternative history of the automotive world if we ended up with this Nomad on our streets in '56 instead of the Bel Air-based one?

[jcf]

Those are very good!

I believe the 'vette had the first fuel injected motors

No. The first fuel-injected petrol engine appeared in the first-generation Mercedes 300 SL.

You forgot two modifiers : production and automobile   

jon

[puddingwrestler]

Dunno who made the first V8, but not ford. Ford had the first affordable V8 in a mainstream family car. Previous to that, they were all in big expensive luxo barges.
The corvette injection - well, not the first injection, but the first offered by any of the 'big three' at any rate.