My sources tell me that Bel Air and perhaps Nomad may be nearing approval. If approved ....they'd be based off the SSr platform. You can bet that the 290 hp 5.3 would be incorporated.

I think that these could make neat cars.....for about $25K, that is.

If these cars come out with an SSr price tag (about $40K)....do you think Chevy will have any takers.

 

These cars are getting insane. The very last thing GM needs, let alone Chevy, is yet another $40,000+ niche vehicle. They wanna do the SSR? Fine. Do we need 2 MORE SSR type vehicles? Heck no! Where is the attainable car?

I made the point in another thread that Chevy is the "volume" brand in the GM portfolio. They're starting to prove me wrong with products and pricetags like these.

 

If these cars suffer from either one of the SSRs biggest pitfalls, price and weight, they'll be losers.

Assuming that the Bel Air concept was in any way indicative of a production example, this car is more of a Sebring Convertible than a high value niche product. This concept was more exciting as a possible base for a family of vehicles. If it comes out as a $48k, 4500lb slug, it will be a bigger joke than the SSR.

The '99 Nomad concept was a real stunner, and the details were amazing for a rush-job. Here is a really viable potential product, more so than any GM "dream car" in the last 30 years. The Nomad gets me excited.

Of course, the only problem I have with this news is that I'll probably have my new vehicle before either product hits the streets.

 

I can't help but think how popular these cars would be if the price were right. For all those complaining about the cost of IRS.....their truck based chassis' and V8 power would make great drag racers.....and if they were affordable I could imagine hotrodders embracing them.

If these were produced as cheap (albeit relatively crude) entry level V8 RWD cars, I wonder how popular they'd be?

 

The Bel Air would take on the exact same pattern as the TBird did.

GM can spend how many millions on cars that are nearly guarenteed to dead end in a 2-3 year life span, but they couldnt spend any money on a new Fbody platform, which had a pretty decent 35 year run. Unbelievable.

 

I agree. No Chevy concept that I can think of, so captured my attention. This years' "SS" concept paled in comparison.

I hope that Chevy produces the Nomad...but it needs to be fun and affordable. It needs to be to Chevy, what the PT Cruiser is to Chrysler.

 

I would love to see the Bel Air reshaped into a base/GT Mustang competitor. Give it the new inline-5 and a 5.3 liter V8 option. Since the 2005 'Stang is retaining struts and a live rear end, this could be a cheap, simple coupe and sedan. They could even use a cheaper T-45 5-speed. With the full-framed construction of the Bel Air concept, they could even give it a real 5,000lb tow rating. Now that would be a real "life-style vehicle."

Of course, that would leave room for a more performance focused F5 Camaro. Remove the need for the F-body 2+2 to be a "Jack of all trades," and it could be a real Cobra slayer. Call it a Z/28, and give it IRS and 400hp. One model, low design costs, and no !
Keep production volumes to about double that of current Corvette production, and you'd have a viable car.

 

I believe the 99 nomad concept along with the wedge of cheese looking Concept GTO were built off of the f-body platform- which may explain why they didnt make the cut then. Nomad should be brought back.

Nomad is another old model with still a large following. It would be alot cheaper to dust off a well known old name keeping in mind its heritage, than spending millions promoting some totally new unknown product. Ron Zarella should have known this from his consumer product days.

 

57 Nomad was almost as insanely popular as the 57 Chevy. It's still very fresh, familiar and nostalgic in millions of people's minds. That 99 concept was very promising. Leave off the concept's 69 Camaro front end but I'd love to see it put into production one way or another.

gt

 

 

The striking '99 Nomad was a "last minute" showcar with F-body mechanicals. Considering how it had a working sliding rear roof (think Envoy XUV), I think there was more to the design than Chevy admitted at the time. On the other hand, the GTO concept was just an enormous block of foam. As ugly as it was, it still looked better - and more like a GTO - than the upcoming Aussie blob.

As far as reintroducing the Nomad name, if they can produce a car with the features of the concept, the name will be deserved. Here was a "retro" design that was fully modern. It looked like a product that would be both unique and useful.

Then they gave us the SSR.

 

Yeah, I also would have rather seen a new Nomad over the SSR. I would also be intrigued by a stripped version that follows the formula of the Reg. cab Silverado SS seen at SEMA.

Bench seat, rubber floor mats, manual trans, $23,000.

 

Redzed, You are right about the block of foam Concept GTO. I did read somewhere recently that GM did look at one time into building a GTO on the f-body platform.

By the way the Nomad concept was shown at the Milwaukee auto show this past March-kind of interesting.

 

The end of the line for the F4 was always certain, but at one time GM did consider continuing production at Ste. Therese. A Nomad wagon and GTO notchback would have made a great combo.

By the way, was the Nomad concept you saw at Milwaukee repainted in black?

 

Redzed, the car was pictured on advertising cards that were given to dealers to display at their dealerships-believe it was green on the ad. I actually didnt go to that show, so I dont know what color was shown there. If I can find out will post here.