The NOMAD badge has always had a certain cachet, beginning with the day it starred in 1954's GM Motorama show. A 2-door station wagon with sporty overtones, "the Nomad" had several Corvette styling hints and became an instant hit with showgoers. Chevrolet management agreed to produce it but only as a Bel Air model due to the latter's popularity. From 1955 to 1957 the car stayed fairly close to its roots although sales weren't as brisk as hoped.

So what's in a name? Chevrolet may have lost interest in the sportswagon idea but it liked "Nomad" well enough to stick the label on a flashy 4-door wagon, beginning in 1958 when Chevy's all-new styling bowed. Chevrolet continued to use Nomad for various models through to the early 80's, none of which had any connection to that revered Corvette-based show car. Yet the name refused to die. At Detroit's 1999 Auto Show a new concept was shown, looking like a contemporary update of the 1954 Motorama car, again to an enthusiastic reception. In 2004 still another Nomad sportswagon concept appeared, this time on a stretched version of the Kappa platform that underpins the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. More applause, no action.

Now we hear through "Autoblog" that the name will reappear on a crossover beginning in 2009. At GM it seems you can't cross a sports car with a wagon and expect it to be produced but it's okay to cross a wagon with an SUV. A Nomad crossover? Yawn...