Great story about a '56 Nomad....long read, but worth it.

[Ari]

A member of my local Classic Chevy Club recently had his car on the cover of Chevy Classics Magazine... It's a beautiful 1956 Nomad that he brought to the club monthly meeting last week. Great car and great story as well...a long read, but definately worth reading.

http://www.classicchevyworld.com/cover1108.asp

[NickP]

Good Stuff, thanks for sharing.

[Chevynut]

Cool story. I subscribe to the CC magazine so I already saw the story and the one on the Corvette. Both really nice cars. ;)

One thing that I notice with a lot of today's feature cars in all kinds of car magazines is that the owners farm out most of the work, it seems. They don't seem to really do much of the "hard" work on their own cars. This guy claims to have put 4000 hours into the Nomad...that's two years working 8 hours a day on what looks like mostly assembly work. Here's a few quotes from the story:

"we had a tech day at our garage and a bunch of guys and gals from the Heartbeat club came over and we blew the car apart in less than five hours."

"we hauled it to Gary Jensen our soon-to-be body man."

"The stock frame went to Steve Spirkoff, who welded-in side engine mounts, a transmission crossmember and rear shock bar. Then he fabricated stainless brake and fuel lines, a custom rear anti-sway bar ..."

"...iit went to Braun Mollenhauer just up the hill in Alpine, CA for paint. A combination of PPG single stage Zinc Yellow and Arctic white was applied."

"Kevin, at Ed Hanson’s in Spring Valley, built the custom-fit 2-∏ inch aluminized exhaust system "

"Raingear wipers, Specialty power windows, Halogen headlights, custom instrument panel by Hampton Engineering, American Auto Wire kit all patiently and meticulously modified and installed with the tireless and dedicated help of Bob Bishop."

"Special thanks to Wayne Hartwig for final assembly help with windows, doors and rubber moldings"

"Leon Smythe for his upholstery skills"

"Mike Reineccius for the custom black and white steering wheel"

"and John at Audio Plus for the cool, thumping stereo stuff."


Now here's a similar list from the Corvette story:

"I decided to go with a tube frame for maximum stability and handling. I contacted Mike Stockdale at SR111 Motorsports near Chicago because he could build one using stock Corvette C-4 Suspension Parts."

"Mark Campbell, at Street N’ Performance, supplied the chrome for the engine and the 6-speed transmission. While Mark was building the engine and transmission"

"Chris Stokes and I were working on the body."

"I took the car to Bookers in Dickson, TN for final preparation and paint. "

"I contacted S & H Chrome Plating to do the plating"

"Cliff Mottaz to refurbish the stainless"

" Bill Verboon in Sanford, CA to fabricate the custom dash and console."

"Al Knoch provided the dash pad and the black convertible top."

"The Glassworks, in Crescent, PA, restored the hardtop."

"Chris did all the wiring"

"the car was sent to Paul Atkins Interiors in Cullman, AL to be fitted with a new interior."


Maybe this is typical of a lot of today's car builds, and obviously these guys did a fair amount of the work themselves. They didn't just haul the car into a rod shop and walk away, to come back and pick up a finished car. But they still farmed out a lot of the work. Certainly I think most guys farm out paint and interior work, and some farm out bodywork. Chrome work is impossible to do yourself. But it seems like a lot of these guys farm out pretty much everything but the assembly, which is the easy part. ;)

At least they gave credit to those who did the work, unlike some people I've seen who claim to have done the work themselves. Maybe this is why i've been working on my car for the past 6 years, and they're finished. I may have to break down and farm out a little of my own. :eek:

[carls 56]

thanks ari! i did enjoy the reading(:eek: i'm not a big reader ). had to read it after a saw the color combo:). ...........i wonder why;)

[Ari]

Cool story. I subscribe to the CC magazine so I already saw the story and the one on the Corvette. Both really nice cars. ;)

One thing that I notice with a lot of today's feature cars in all kinds of car magazines is that the owners farm out most of the work, it seems. They don't seem to really do much of the "hard" work on their own cars. This guy claims to have put 4000 hours into the Nomad...that's two years working 8 hours a day on what looks like mostly assembly work. Here's a few quotes from the story:

"we had a tech day at our garage and a bunch of guys and gals from the Heartbeat club came over and we blew the car apart in less than five hours."

"we hauled it to Gary Jensen our soon-to-be body man."

"The stock frame went to Steve Spirkoff, who welded-in side engine mounts, a transmission crossmember and rear shock bar. Then he fabricated stainless brake and fuel lines, a custom rear anti-sway bar ..."

"...iit went to Braun Mollenhauer just up the hill in Alpine, CA for paint. A combination of PPG single stage Zinc Yellow and Arctic white was applied."

"Kevin, at Ed Hanson’s in Spring Valley, built the custom-fit 2-∏ inch aluminized exhaust system "

"Raingear wipers, Specialty power windows, Halogen headlights, custom instrument panel by Hampton Engineering, American Auto Wire kit all patiently and meticulously modified and installed with the tireless and dedicated help of Bob Bishop."

"Special thanks to Wayne Hartwig for final assembly help with windows, doors and rubber moldings"

"Leon Smythe for his upholstery skills"

"Mike Reineccius for the custom black and white steering wheel"

"and John at Audio Plus for the cool, thumping stereo stuff."


Now here's a similar list from the Corvette story:

"I decided to go with a tube frame for maximum stability and handling. I contacted Mike Stockdale at SR111 Motorsports near Chicago because he could build one using stock Corvette C-4 Suspension Parts."

"Mark Campbell, at Street N’ Performance, supplied the chrome for the engine and the 6-speed transmission. While Mark was building the engine and transmission"

"Chris Stokes and I were working on the body."

"I took the car to Bookers in Dickson, TN for final preparation and paint. "

"I contacted S & H Chrome Plating to do the plating"

"Cliff Mottaz to refurbish the stainless"

" Bill Verboon in Sanford, CA to fabricate the custom dash and console."

"Al Knoch provided the dash pad and the black convertible top."

"The Glassworks, in Crescent, PA, restored the hardtop."

"Chris did all the wiring"

"the car was sent to Paul Atkins Interiors in Cullman, AL to be fitted with a new interior."


Maybe this is typical of a lot of today's car builds, and obviously these guys did a fair amount of the work themselves. They didn't just haul the car into a rod shop and walk away, to come back and pick up a finished car. But they still farmed out a lot of the work. Certainly I think most guys farm out paint and interior work, and some farm out bodywork. Chrome work is impossible to do yourself. But it seems like a lot of these guys farm out pretty much everything but the assembly, which is the easy part. ;)

At least they gave credit to those who did the work, unlike some people I've seen who claim to have done the work themselves. Maybe this is why i've been working on my car for the past 6 years, and they're finished. I may have to break down and farm out a little of my own. :eek:

One thing he doesn't mention...most of the people he had do the work are also members of the car club. So, he's has some friends in the biz that do the work and he helped along the way as well. Not a drop off and pick it up, as it seems. More of a drop it off, come back with cold beer, work on it together, and off to the next phase.... But yes, most people farm out the work - whether it's time, money, or machinery, most people are short on two of the three.

[Chevynut]

Maybe I need to join your club. :D

[Gregs210]

Nice story and car.


Greg