When Cobourg, ON’s Jim Chapin was a kid, the first model car kit he built was Sam Hollingworth’s 1957 Chevy Nomad put out by Revell. “It was Candy Gold with Gold Pearl flames and was on the cover of the May, 1967 issue of Rod & Custom magazine,” says Chapin. “It was photographed on the beach in Palos Verdes, California and is considered to be one of the all time great custom cars.”
     About 38 years after building that kit Chapin was driving a lowrider ’54 Chevy pickup and still thinking about Hollingworth’s Nomad. “I wanted something with some room and a place to keep the luggage out of the rain,” says Chapin. He also really wanted a ’63 Chevy wagon, but it took him six months to find the right one. “So many rotted away or ended up in demolition derby’s.”
     He purchased the 1963 Belair 4-door, 6 passenger wagon in September of 2005. Though the car was built in St.Louis, MO, it spent most of its life in New Mexico, so  the body and floors were solid. The car’s overall esthetic, however, was not so pleasing. “It had a complete faded out blue velvet interior,” says Chapin. “Velvet covered the dash, seats, headliner, door and rear panels and there was even a pleated velour on the floors as carpet. All the trim was gold plated.  “It was like sitting in Elvis’ coffin.” A business card found under the rear seat listed Low Rider Upholstery of Phoenix, AZ as the probable culprit for the velvet orgy, but a quick phone call determined the company no longer existed.
     As for the outer skin, the car had been painted twice prior to Chapin’s purchase.  The car had been powder blue and navy blue with a white top. When Chapin removed all the paint he found a very solid body and floors. The bottom portion of each front fender had been patched, so Chapin cut out the brazed in old panels and replaced them. Then he got to work shaving the door handles, emblems, side trim and outside mirrors. The firewall was smoothed and filled and then he coated the entire car in House of Kolor silver metallic primer. Then he sprayed on coats of Bittersweet Pearl with Orion Silver flake on the roof.
     The owner applied the flames using Goldmine Pearl and the graphics were also his handiwork. The lettering and pinstripping around the flames and graphics was done in lemon yellow and tan by Thrall.
     As you might have noticed, the wagon can lay frame thanks to a Air Ride Tech “Coolride” air bag system with a Ridepro 4-way control system and a 5-gallon tank with adjustable panhard bar. Up front are 2-inch dropped Fatman spindles and a set of 12” IROC rotors and calipers (11 inch drums out back) with a Corvette master cylinder and booster helping bring the land yacht to rest. Wheels are  Coddington Junkyard Dog with 17x7 up front and 17x9.5 out back. All four wheels are wrapped in BF Goodrich G-force tires, 225x45 up front and 255x50 out back. The rear end is rebuilt stock unit with 3:36 gears. The frame was painted satin back with the underbody finished with black spray on truck bed liner. The engine is a 350 which “had to be rebuilt after the first couple of miles when the oil sump fell off,” says Chapin. “A tip: Always tack weld the sump. It took out the cam, lifters and all the bearings.”
     A buddy rebuilt the motor in exchange for a paint job on his ’71 Camaro pro street car, using, not surprisingly, a ’71 Camaro cam with Crane Rollers Rockers. The stock heads were ported and polished and an Edelbrock Performer Intake sports a 600 Edelbrock carb. The tranny is a Turbo 350 with a B&M shift kit. Ceramic coated block hugger headers run into a 2 1/2 inch dual exhaust system with homemade S/S tips that exit in front of the rear tires. Using exhaust pipe and sheet metal, he built an  air breather to look like a surfboard.
     The interior makeover started with removing the dash pad and filling and smoothing the dash. The front seats are 1964 Pontiac units. Custom Auto Upholstery stitched the tan vinyl and gold/black leopard print cloth upholstery. “I felt the leopard print interior...enhanced the car’s ’60s surf theme,” says Chapin, who also constructed the custom console with surfboard lid. A 28” Lokar shifter topped by a Tiki shift knob also enhances that theme.
     The car debuted at the ’08 Performance World show in Toronto and simply floored judges and spectators alike. The car won Best Custom, Best Custom engine, Best Custom paint, Best Display, Best First Time Shown, Competitor’s Choice and Best Custom Pick by GM Canada.
     Maybe Revell should make a model of this Canadian custom classic.