Rick Stauffer’s Chevy Nomad

The ringtone on Rick Stauffer’s BlackBerry is “Surfin’ Safari” by the Beach Boys, circa 1962. You might know it. He owns a 1957 Chevy Nomad, in showroom condition — maybe better.

What is a Chevy Nomad? Well, they look like a heavy-duty station wagon, but best not call them “station wagons” around a Nomad owner. Chevrolet produced the Nomad in 1955, 1956 and 1957. The Nomads were designed to live out of, with the back seat folding down, and the tailgate opening up for ease of entry and to make a sleeping compartment. The Nomads were popular with the surfin’ crowd of the ’50s and ’60s. In 1957, depending on what organization you talk to, there were between 6,103 and 6,534 Nomads made. Rick owns number 4,060.

Rick is 58, going on 16. He’s originally from Wayland and Washington, but now lives in Mt. Pleasant with his wife, Christine. She was his junior high sweetheart.

Rick always was into cars. While in high school, he worked in a garage in Olds. His first car was a ’64 Chevelle Super Sport. His second, a ’66 Chevelle. He’s also done his share of stock-car racing as well as go-kart racing, having won two state championships.

He always wanted a Nomad. A friend of his had an old one in his backyard and sold it to Rick for $800. Rick put a lot of money and time into the Nomad. He roughly calculated that he would spend $25,000 on the restoration. He blew by that figure like it was standing still. How much is the ’57 Nomad worth now? Are you sitting down? Let’s put it this way: Rick turned down an offer for $150,000!

For any ’57 Chevy lover, Rick’s Nomad is a heart stopper. He has restored every detail to original condition, right down to the tar-top battery; bias-ply, wide whitewall tires; and the bug screen in front of the radiator. His Nomad sold for $4,400 new — $1,700 of that was in options. There is factory air conditioning (almost unheard of in 1957), power steering, power brakes, power windows and seat, automatic transmission and spinner hubcaps. Some cute options include a factory compass with the Chevy bow tie (emblem), an “idle” knob for increasing engine speed if the car is in traffic with the air conditioner running, a Wonder Bar Radio (for scanning stations) and a traffic-light viewer on the dashboard. What is a traffic-light viewer? Well, in the Nomad, the driver sits back so far and the roof of the car is so low that the driver cannot see traffic lights change while sitting at an intersection. The “viewer” reflects the traffic lights. Nifty.