1958 Chevrolet Nomad

The 1958 model year was a year of big changes in the auto industry. Car makers doubled two to four. Cars got four headlights, the Thunderbird get 4 seats and the Nomad got 4 doors. This Nomad is an unfinished project listed here on craigslist in Sacramento, California. The seller thinks it’s worth $15,000 and there may be someone willing to pay that much. It has an LS3 engine and a six speed automatic. The interior was redone at some time and there’s a carpet kit ready to install. There is even a 4 wheel disk brake kit included. The body is in good shape with no rust. Few pictures are provided and the photography is very selective.

image: http://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/dash-3-630x355.jpg

The dash looks original and complete except perhaps for the radio knobs.


This is the only view of the upholstery provided. It looks plain but in good shape. The door card is missing. Does the blue paint indicate a respray?


This closeup view of the LS3 shows very little. The big unknown here is how well the engine and trans were installed and the quality of any other work that was done. It looks like the engine might just be set in place. The headers don’t seem to be installed.


The back bumper will need some work, but it looks like the trim is mostly complete. It will take a close inspection to see what it will take to complete this project. Perhaps this fellow bought this project believing it was, as he claims, an “Amazing easy finish project”. It’s not likely this Nomad is worth anywhere near the asking price. What do you think it might be worth? Besides walking away, what would you do with this project?

Source: barnfinds.com

1936 Stout Scarab

American aeronautical designer William Bushnell Stout modeled this sturdy Ford Tri-Motor after his own 3-AT aircraft. The futuristic Scarab (named for the Egyptian symbol based on a beetle) has a smooth and startling shape, with a tubular frame covered with aluminum panels surrounding a rear-mounted Ford flathead V-8. The Scarab’s passenger compartment is positioned within the car’s wheelbase. Access to the interior is through a central door on the right side, and there is a narrow front door on the left for the driver. This unusual configuration anticipated the first minivan. 

The “turtle-shell” styling celebrated the Art Deco influence, beginning with decorative “moustaches” below the split windshield. It continues to be evident in the headlamps covered with thin grilles, and culminates in fan-shaped vertical fluting, framing the elegant cooling grilles. The Scarab’s design was even more radically different than other cars of the era like the ill-fated Chrysler Airflow. At $5,000, it was very expensive, and the Depression-wracked buying public did not recognize its many advantages.
Stout’s investors, like William K. Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate, and Willard Dow of Dow Chemical, purchased Scarabs, as did tire company owner Harvey Firestone and Robert Stranahan of Champion Spark Plug. At least six cars were built; some sources say nine. Scarab number five was shipped to France for the editor of Le Temps, a Paris newspaper. In the early 1950's, this Scarab was offered for sale on a Parisian used car lot and returned to America.

Source: Internet