1954 Chevrolet Corvette Nomad - The Waldorf Hotel - 53

After searching for the original Chevrolet Corvette station wagon show car for four decades, American John Bolsted decided to build his own ” but better.
Fifty years, or half a century if you want to make it sound even longer, is a hell of a decent stretch of time to hold on to an obsession. Most people simply don’t have the staying power to stick with a dream for that long, but then California-based retired fireman John Bolsted is not most people.
It was 1954, and John was a young freshman at high school. “I was flicking through a Life magazine, and came across an advertisement for AC Spark Plugs,” he recalls. “The ad featured an image of a car like nothing I’d ever seen ” the Chevrolet Corvette Nomad. I wanted that car so badly, and spent the next 40 years looking for it.”
It seems at first as though John must have been looking in all the wrong places, considering his four decade-long unsuccessful hunt. But the truth is, despite the various rumours and hoaxes that pop up every now and again, that particular concept car ” and the four other examples made ” were most likely destroyed by Chev before the 1950s were even over.
Now known as the Waldorf Nomad, the car was first shown on September 22, 1954, during the Chevy Motorama event at the Waldorf Hotel in New York, and it has since become a Holy Grail of sorts for Chev fans. A crazy mix of Nomad station wagon and Corvette sports car, the Waldorf Nomad was by all accounts the first sports wagon ever made. It had a complete first generation ’Vette fibreglass front end, an exceptionally low profile and aggressive, muscular styling. It is safe to say the Nomad/Corvette was well before its time, and why Chevy never put the car into production remains a mystery.
Never Give Up
As far as fans go, none was more die-hard than John, and although he gave up on his search, he did not give up on his dream. “About 10 years ago, I finally decided I would have to build my own version of the car as there was just no way I would ever be able to find an original. I started searching for a suitable Nomad wagon to convert and eventually found something that would work in Rhode Island, New York. The owner said I could easily drive it back to California, so I booked a one-way ticket and went to get the car. When I arrived, I found the Nomad sitting in the garage, held together with duct tape and bailing wire ” literally. I said no thanks and flew home.”
This is where John’s story takes a turn for the better. “Once back in California, I was talking to some of the firemen I had worked with about the trip, and one of them mentioned that he had attended a house fire in that area and it had got into a neighbour’s garage that just happened to have a 1956 Chevy Nomad restoration project in it. The owner decided it wasn’t worth his trouble rebuilding it and eventually agreed to sell it to me.”
No Going Back
After media blasting the car, it began to dawn on John just what he had got himself into, but not being one to quit, he sat down at a desk and began to study vintage photographs of the original Waldorf Nomad. Although you can get a rough idea of the shape of the car from pictures, the hard part lay in the dimensions. But John had a plan. “It is fairly common knowledge that the wheels on the Waldorf car were 15-inch. Knowing that much I used it as a scale to get the dimensions of the rest of the car from the pictures I had.” Once John had worked out all his measurements, he took his car to master body-man Dick Dean, who helped John chop the roof two inches, pancake it a further inch, and sectioned  the body three inches, thus creating a much lower profile overall. Next, Dick set about splicing Corvette with Nomad, grafting on the fibreglass rear end and complete fibreglass tilting front clip. Fibreglass was also used to create the swinging rear tailgate, complete with electric window.
Once all the glass and heavy body mods were completed, John towed the car across to Bad Boy Customs in Idaho, which detailed the body, painting it in two-stage urethane 1958 Cadillac Lake Placid Blue and 1955 Chevy India Ivory. Then, finally, chrome trim from a 1954 ’Vette was customised and added to the car to complete the body look.
Because John wanted the exterior to stay true to the original, he chose old-school stock steel wheels to roll on, clothed in skinny 225/70R15 whitewall tyres and genuine Corvette wheel covers, which he picked up for the princely sum of one dollar many years ago. The wheels fit nice and snug into the Corvette guards due to drop spindles in the front and re-arched leafs in the rear, all dampened by KYB shocks.
Modern Interpretation
As for the powerplant motivating the Nomad, John felt he could take a little artistic license since the original show car never actually had an engine or transmission at all. In the interests of reliability and power, he went for a late-model LS1 5.7-litre V8, pulled from a 2002 Chevy Camaro. The injected LS1 has been left mostly to its own devices and simply benefits from a new exhaust system. A custom alloy radiator, designed to barely clear the bonnet, has been fitted as the Camaro option simply was not compatible with the low-slung ’Vette front end.
That same donor Camaro was also relieved of its Tremec T56 six-speed gearbox, which found its way into the Nomad and pushes power out to a 10-bolt Chev rear diff with 3.73 gearing via a custom driveshaft.
As with the engine situation, there was little information to go on for the Waldorf Nomad’s interior, so John took it upon himself to come up with something that he felt fit perfectly. Trimmed in blue material and white vinyl, the Nomad’s living space is a mash-up of different bits and pieces: front seats from Toyota, rear seats from a Chevy Celebrity, a 1958 ’Vette steering wheel, a 2002 Camaro shifter ” the list goes on. A set of Auto Meter gauges was also installed so that John had a good, reliable eye on his engine.
No Trailer Queen
Finished a good four years ago, John’s Waldorf Nomad is a one-off that has received many accolades and trophies. Although it seems extremely doubtful that an original Waldorf will ever be found, that’s something we are prepared to accept if people like John keep the golden era of American motoring alive with cars like this one.
Since it was finished, John’s car has clocked up in excess of 120,000 miles (193,000km) thanks to his penchant for hot rod tours and car shows all over the States. If there’s a better way to spend your time in retirement, NZV8 can’t think of it.

1954 Corvette Nomad – Specifications

Engine: LS1 5.7 litre, Corvair turbo mufflers, custom exhaust, custom alloy radiator
Driveline: Tremec T56 Camaro six-speed gearbox, custom driveshaft
Brakes: Front S-10 Chevy disc brakes, factory Camaro rear drums
Suspension: KYB shocks, re-arched leaf springs, 3-inch drop spindles, custom rear sway bar
Wheels/tyres: 15×5-inch stock steel rims, 225/70R15 whitewall tyres, 1958 Corvette wheel covers
Exterior: 1-inch roof pancake, 2-inch roof chop, 3-inch body section, Corvette fibreglass tilt front end, Corvette fibreglass rear fenders, custom rear lift gate, custom electric window, 1958 Cadillac Lake Placid Blue paint, 1955 Chevy India Ivory
Interior: Customised Toyota front seats, Chevy Celebrity rear seat, 1958 Corvette steering wheel, early Chev van tilting steering column, 2002 Camaro Hurst shifter, Auto Meter gauges, modified ’55 Chevy dash, Vintage Air air conditioning, Alpine sound system