Notable Nomad: A Gen II LT1 Engine is in this Tri-Five

There are few things cooler than a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Nomad. Rarely has style and utility blended so seamlessly. Louie Fesmire is a fan of the Bowtie classic, but his restomod version features its own twist with a Gen II LT1 engine, now a classic power plant in its own right.

Fesmire and his wife, Laurie, live in Guffey, Colorado, and estimate they attend 25 to 30 car shows each year. Among them in 2023 was November’s season-ending Goodguys Speedway Motors Southwest Nationals in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“I love the Goodguys shows because there's more to do here with [things like] autocross, we like watching that, and then obviously we like coming down here when it's 80 degrees here and freezing at our house,” Louie Fesmire said.

For showgoers, his 1955 Nomad was one of the event’s highlights, drawing plenty of attention as it sat near the WestWorld of Scottsdale entrance.

“I found the car in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, three years ago and always wanted a Nomad,” Fesmire said. “I had a ’56 Bel Air convertible and we did a trade that took a couple weeks. I brought it home and did a few things of my own, the cruise control and stereo system, and we've been driving it and having fun in it since.”

The Nomad also came equipped with a fuel-injected Gen II LT1 engine and a 4L60-E four-speed overdrive automatic transmission. The powertrain had been swapped out of a fourth-generation Corvette or Camaro.

“I have a Chevy Duramax and that motor drives and the car handles just like driving that,” Fesmire said.

“I definitely love fuel injection,” he added. “A lot of my cars just had carburetors and they're not the same. Having a fuel-injected car is completely different.”

When swapping a classic vehicle to a fuel-injected engine, the user often finds cleaner and more efficient performance, improved throttle response, optimized power and better cold starts.

The LT1 under the hood of Fesmire’s Nomad is one in a long line of historic engines to carry the LT1 moniker. They trace their roots all the way back to the high-output, first-generation Small Block LT-1 (note the hyphen) that appeared in Camaros and Corvettes during the muscle-car era in the early 1970s. Approximately two decades later, the LT1 re-emerged as the fuel-injected power plant in several General Motors vehicles in the 1990s. That’s what powers Fesmire’s Nomad today.

The LT1 appeared for the third time as the first Gen V Small-Block from GM, making its initial appearance in the 2014 Corvette. Today it is also a cornerstone of the Chevrolet Performance crate engine* lineup. The fuel-injected LT1 crate engine* is architecturally similar to those in the LS family, but has its own unique block casting, cylinder head design and oiling system. The newest LT1 also features a variety of modern technologies including direct injection and continuously variable valve timing.

In many ways, it is a spiritual successor to the engine in Fesmire’s car, which itself was an update to GM’s Gen I Small-Block.

The Nomad was its current black shade when Fesmire obtained it, and although he’s unsure of the original color, he thinks it may have been of the two-tone variety so often seen throughout the 1950s. A red leather interior complements the black paint.

The car is on its original chassis, but the front end and rear shocks have been updated. Fesmire also added four-wheel disc brakes and cruise control. The Nomad rides on redline tires wrapped around Billet Specialties wheels.

“It drives like a new Chevy now,” he said.

Fesmire owned a heating and air conditioning company in Pueblo, Colorado, but he recently retired and his son took over the business, providing the opportunity for Louie and Laurie to move into the mountains in Guffey.

Fesmire has built several vehicles from the ground up, including a 1948 Chevy pickup and a 1937 Chevy Cabriolet. He owned a ’41 Chevrolet coupe at one time, too.

He got into the automotive hobby after attending shows in his youth. With several of friends into hot rodding, it was a natural progression for him to start building and collecting his own vehicles.

Fesmire’s work vans were always Bowtie models, and his daily driver is that Duramax diesel-powered Chevy pickup while his wife drives a new Blazer.

“We’re Chevy people,” he said.

They’ve been attending Goodguys Scottsdale for 20 years and their travels have taken them to events in a wide variety of states.

“We like going to shows and hanging out and meeting people,” Fesmire said.

The LT1-powered Nomad is certainly a good conversation starter.

Be sure to keep watching The BLOCK for more on Chevrolet Performance and a variety of interesting vehicles from shows nationwide.

*Because of their effect on a vehicle’s emissions performance, these engines are intended exclusively for use in competition vehicles. These engines are designed and intended for use in vehicles operated exclusively for competition: in racing or organized competition on courses separate from public roads, streets or highways. Installation or use of these engines on a vehicle operated on public roads, streets or highways is likely to violate U.S., Canadian, and state and provincial laws and regulations related to motor vehicle emissions.