prototypes
What’s a prototype?
1951 How it all began
1952 Corvette EX-122
1954 Corvette Corvair Motorama showcar
1954 Corvette Hardtop Motorama Showcar
1954 Corvette Nomad Motorama Showcar
1955 Corvette Biscayne Show Car
1956 Harlow Curtis SR-2 Lookalike
1956 Corvette Impala Show Car
1956 Corvette SR-2 Sebring Racer
1952 EX-122 Concept Car
1957 Q Corvette
1957 Corvette SS Show Car
1957 Corvette SS XP-64
1958 XP-700
1959 Stingray Racer XP-87
1959 Corvette Stingray
1961 Corvette Mako Shark XP-755
1962 C2 Prototype XP-720
1962 Four Seat Stingray Corvette XP-720 2+2
1963 Corvette Rondine Pininfarina Coupe
1963 Corvette Grand Sport
1963 Wedge Corvette Split Windshield
1964 World’s Fair Styling Study
1964 Clay model for '66 update
1964 Grand Sport GS-II(b)
1964 CERV II
1964 Pontiac Banshee XP-833
1964 Corvette XP-819 Rear Engine
1965 Corvette Mako Shark XP-830
1966 Mid Engine Styling Proposal
1967 Astro I
1968 Corvette Astro-Vette
1968 Astro II-XP-880 mid engine
1969 Astro III
1969 Manta Ray
1969 Mid Engine XP-882
1970 Scirocco Showcar
1970 Corvette XP-882
1973 Corvette 2 rotor XP-897-GT
1973 Reynolds XP-895
1973 Corvette 4 rotor XP-882
Aerovette
1973 Corvette XP-898
1974 Mulsanne Showcar
1976 Corvette XP-882
1979 Turbo Corvette
1978 Corvette Astro-Vette
1980 Turbo Corvette
1982 4th Generation Concepts
1984 Bertone Ramarro
1985 Corvette Indy
1986 GTP Corvette
1987 Corvette Geneve
1989 Corvette DR-1
1989 Corvette ZR-2
1990 Corvette Conan ZR-12 V12
1990 CERV III
1990 Bertone Nivola
1991 ZR-1 Snake Skinner
1992 Stingray III
2001 Corvette Tiger Shark
2003 Corvette Italdesign Moray
2009 Sideswipe

1954 Corvette Nomad Motorama Showcar


The 1954 Chevrolet Corvette Nomad was a concept car built by General Motors and introduced at the 1954 General Motors Motorama in New York City. The Nomad was decidedly a sporty wagon way ahead of its time. The experimental Corvette Nomad made its debut along with the 1954 Corvette Hardtop and 1954 Corvette Corvair. Just like the Corvette Hardtop and Corvair, the Corvette Nomad concept vehicle looked like the 1953 Corvette that was a experimental show car at the 1953 Motorama. General Motors produced 5 of the 1954 Chevy Nomads for the auto show circuit, only 3 are known to exist. The Chevrolet Design Studio would created a forward thinking and forward looking design for the 1954 Nomad, including round headlamps mounted on gently curving fenders, a trademark Corvette grille and a forward sloping B-pillar.

Some have referred to the 1953 and 1954 Motorama as the birth place of the American Sports car. The 1954 Chevrolet Nomad Sport Station Wagon made a great impact on the attending public at the 1954 Motorama. So much so that Harley Earl ordered the Chevrolet Design Studio to apply the name and looks to a 1955 Chevrolet Station Wagon. The name Nomad would become classic over the next 50 years as thousands would be restored by old car buffs that grew up in the 1950s and 1960s.

The two-door Nomad differed from other station wagons of the era by having unique styling more reminiscent of a hardtop than of a standard station wagon. Chevrolet shared this body with its sister Pontiac, which marketed their version as the Pontiac Safari. While considered to be a milestone vehicle design, General Motors discontinued the original Nomad at the end of the 1957 model year due to low sales and the introduction of a new body for 1958.

For the 1958 model year, Chevrolet moved the Nomad name to its top-line four-door station wagon. Chevrolet continued to use the Nomad name until the end of the 1961 model year, when all Chevrolet station wagons adopted the names of the regular sedan models.

The Nomad returned again in 1964 and 1965 as a two-door mid-sized Chevelle 300 station wagon, and between 1968 and 1972 on the base station wagon model in the series. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the name returned again on a trim package for the full size Chevrolet Van.


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