This Nomad has been around this club and the old club since the beginning back in 1971. I purchased the car east of San Diego for $100, mostly stripped out. Good body, except for a seriously rotted out roof, but nothing else, 6 different colors. I used a 57 convertible as a donor for a driveline and whatever else I needed to get this Nomad on the road. (no, folks, the convertible wasn't fixable. 100,000 Minnesota miles plus 100,000 more Iowa miles saw to that). Barely running in time, I drove it to the Colorado Springs convention in 1971, with a 6 color paint job. I drove it through the 70s, getting it presentable in 1973 in time for Reno. Soon after that, I figured it wasn't right, and finally took it down in 1983 to re-do it, but never got back to it. Most folks that have been to national meets remember it showing up from 1987 to 1998 wearing primer. Right before the 1999 Nashville convention, I pulled it out of the garage to replace the neutral safety switch, then backed it into the garage. Brakes went out, tailgate down, big mess. Luckily that didn't happen on the streets or on the interstate somewhere. I put down the garage door, then waited for a restorer's slot to become available. Finally, I have one. The adventure continues below. Every brake part has been replaced, and the tailgate no longer is bent. The roof was replaced in mid-August 2006. Paint was on in time for San Antonio, but I am still dropping a few thousand a month as it sits in the restoration shop. Detailing continued for another year, and it didn't make Charleston. Hoping to prove that you don't have to have money to be happy next summer in Boise. I am closing on flat broke, but almost driving something I am not embarassed by. Car looks to be done, soon, I hope (before I am completely broke).

Loading it on the truck	Loading it off the truck	Finally in the shop 24 Apr 06
End of Apr 06
Dash still looks good	Rear roof corner doesn't	Passenger side patch
Driver door patch off	No rust over headlights	Some at bottom of fender
Aerial view of rear corner	Naked Nomad 16th May	Naked on the left, too
Back fender to fix	Soon an interior here	Left fender has a hole
Right fender has swiss cheese	Now let's see, where's the motor?	Oh yeah, over here.
Looking at the dash thru the tailgate.	bare body shot	Floor is fixed right
Looks good in the back, too	Still looks right under the dash	Hey, the roof is here
Looks straight from this side	It's good in the corners	Just a bit of surface rust
Let's check this roof out.	from all angles	and clean it up for install
Ooh, a bare body	Finally cleaned out the garage	Fender has been patched
but more finishing to do	Top is all cleaned up	even in the back corners
Closeup of only hole (it's teeny)	Starting to work on the engine room	Also starting to work on the rusty fender Don't much like swiss cheese
and time to un-bend the tailgate, too.	Before cutting top off, need to weld in temporary braces	The top comes off a chunk at a time.
Another view of the braces	Braces must be at several angles to keep body from flexing	Carefully remove only the top, and not any part of B-pillar
View from inside car, leaving some parts of top	Leave enough of the windshield area to get a good fit with replacement top	Final view with top completely off
The roof area around the B-pillar	the support area near the upper liftgate	full view of all the supports and braces
Windshield area detail	Windshield detail of replacement roof	B-pillar area of replacement roof
Windshield detail of replacement roof	Getting ready to separate roof from the rest	Straight on view of B-pillar area
Had to drill out individual spot welds	Finally, everything is ready to reassemble	So pick it up and put it on.
Now that it's back on, finish it out	windshield area looks like it will fit	windshield area from the front
driver side area looks good, too	and straight from the back, too	Tailgate is looking much better now.
This is what B-pillar looks like unfinished.	This is what it looks like finished.	Oops, found a ding in the door
One fender still needs a bit of work	But the other one is mostly done	Still not bad for a 1983 paint job
Done here in 1983, too	And the fix for bad brakes continues	Now, to get to the fenders.
But gotta have some relief that the top is back on	Time to look at the engine parts to make sure its all there	Seems to be there...
Keep the crud out of the moving parts	This will be an engine again someday	Almost ready to paint that fender
Let's fix the quarters, too	Lookin better after straightening	on both rear quarters
right fender almost ready	passenger door in paint booth	driver door, too
left fender, you're next	looks good with paint on it	from any angle
can't wait for paint on this	side or that side either	Soon there will be a 265 here
but it's still over here	final clean up on the left fender	and on the doors
left fender looks better painted, too	We gotta check the stainless and chrome soon	but that poor old beat up tailgate still needs help
and so does the liftgate end of the roof	need some inspiration from the fenders again	OK, now we can finish up the doors
Whoa, that feels much better	OK, now for the tailgate	inside first
Is that pretty or what!	Gotta look at it from all angles	Final buff out on the doors
and this looks good, too	Alright, unload the chrome closet	Lets get the hood ready, too
A little primer wouldn't hurt a bit.	Looks even better with paint on it.	But then if ya rub it out
it looks even better	Getting the underhood ready	looks good underneath
especially the tirewell and rear end	Poor lonely 265 still being ignored	but it won't be long
Oops, found a bit of rust under the tailgate lip	Dern timworm got in there between the panels	a few patches to make Safari roof a Nomad roof.
Yep, my Nomad is in there	You can see it if you look close	Getting it ready to paint
Looks like Dawn Grey and India Ivory	Even when all masked off	but that goes funny with Matador Red
So lets put a bit of red on it	and it even looks good in the dark	Heck, it glows in the dark
Lets get a couple more before the battery quits	Hope they're not too bad. Oh darn.	Poor lonely drivetrain. The car is over there
A new battery takes better pictures	Getting it wetsanded for the next coat	But it looks better than it has for 25 years anyway
Let's see, the motor goes here	Can't wait until this is done.	Right side with the masking off
Firewall looks good, too	Left side with the masking off	Rear view
"before" picture of the Wonderbar	"after" Wonderbar is fixed	Rear view
Getting ready for detailing	Say ahh	from the back
Then work on the bottom	check out the tank	and the chunk
and the front suspension	looking good from all angles	Clean all underneath
more parts detailing	Spring comes to Texas	don't sit down now
Looks good inside	not bad on the	outside, either.
Tailpipe on front room floor	Got a spare?	Still working on wires
Soon to look at this	Radio back out for space	and back in again
More parts here	less parts here	Gettin better all the time
Still wanna sit here	Lookin down on it	glass in
Jerry's piece back on	Windshield in	trim on
and tailgate on	just waiting for the engine	bars on
I got a t-shirt like this	engine's coming	just add oil
and pump it through	coming out where it's needed	and cap back on
Engine and tranny in car	Soon, it runs again	No longer a 25' special
tailgate detail right	Master cylinder in when valve comes	picture coming soon