Looking at cars for sale is a big part of the automotive obsessed lifestyle. Every once in a while when you are scanning ads one car will stand out for no particular reason and stay with you. That is exactly what happened when we came across this 1956 Chevrolet Nomad currently on Ebay, and a strong desire to own it has been with us ever since.
Two pictures and a one line was all it took to start dreaming about cruising in my very own ratty Chevy Nomad. That is the dangerous part of constantly looking at car ads, eventually you find something you really want. It starts with an idealized version of what owning a car would be like and eventually ends with the less ideal reality of something old and rusty sitting in your yard.
Coming across this example from 1956 reminded me of my deep desire to own a Tri-five Nomad. The two door stylized wagons are pretty rare, very cool and quite collectible. As is often the case with cars that fit this criteria, early Nomads are also quite pricey. I think that is what is so appealing about this particular example, the $5900 high bid makes Nomad ownership seem like a realistic possibility.
Do I know what this car actually needs? No. Would getting this car into safe and functional driving shape be a big undertaking? Probably. Is the idea of owning and driving a ratty Nomad enough to blur these two realistic objections and feed my desire to make this piece of project car hell mine? Absolutely.