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markm
12-18-2012, 07:35 AM
A friend of mine bought a running 55 Nomad in the early 80s for $400 and sold it for $1200. Ok I believe that much, I saw the car in his yard at the time. Here is where it gets wormie. The other day he tells me it has a "west coast frame " which has an X member like a convertable. I have never heard of a convertable frame under anything but a vert.

chevynut
12-18-2012, 07:49 AM
A convertible frame will "fit" under any model. In fact, all the basic frames are all the same. The only differences are of athe addition couple of body mounts to the HT frames behind the door, and two others on the convertible frame just behind the top of the hump. All you would need to do is remove the extra body mounts if you wanted to. The one exception to this is the 4DHT which uses the same basic frame, but the center outer body mounts are in a slightly different location.

My guess is someone swapped the convertible frame under the Nomad for some reason.

Rick_L
12-18-2012, 01:04 PM
What they (mistakenly) call a "west coast frame" is the seamless frame. No X member, just a different design of the basic frame. The seamless frame was used at all assembly plants, as was the 2 piece welded frame.

markm
12-18-2012, 01:17 PM
What brought the subject up is a mutal friend is buildind a low milage 56 Buick Special 2ht, it has a very stout frame with an X member. He says just like his Nomad, I said maybe seamless but no X.

chevynut
12-18-2012, 01:52 PM
All the convertible frames are 2-piece, with the x-member added. There is no such thing as a seamless convertible frame. I wouldn't doubt that a Buick had a crossmember, but the frame is completely different.