You may be familiar with Tom Bailey’s Sick Seconds, the first incarnation being a 1969 Chevy Camaro door-slammer performance car with a 10-liter V8 capable of 3,500 hp.
Enough for a six-second quarter-mile time, the drag racer gained notoriety until Sick Seconds 2.0, which made a 5:77 time on the quarter mile at 259 mph. Bailey is a multi-time Drag Week champ, and his son Aydan is an up-and-coming racer that is readying his new – or old – build, this ’57 Chevrolet. A classic car that just happens to be a drag strip warrior, although not yet.
Hoping to be ready in time for Sick Summer which starts in the first week of June, the team (or Aydan specifically) have not more than a week to get prepared. This latest video update on Tom Bailey’s YouTube channel gives a teaser on how the Chevy is going to look when it’s up and running.
This ’57 Chevrolet Nomad Is Also A 1000-HP Drag Racer
According to the video, the car is far from ready. There is a pile of parts that need re-attaching to the classic car. Windows need to get replaced, which happens over the course of the video, where we can see the Bailey family discussing Aydan’s project.
It looks different from how it used to, as according to Holley, performance specialist, the performance car previously got built and used by another team and the photos show it covered in faded blue paint and stickers.
Now it has a sheet of patina brown over the whole body, looking like a rusted barn find, but with potential under that sheep’s attire. Called S_Box Of Doom (SBoD), Bailey references its name with ‘Deuce Box’. Holley also mentions that it features a 6-liter LS V8 with approximately 1000 hp from a twin-turbo setup. Details will surely follow from the Baileys in due course when the build gets sorted out.
How Much Is A 1957 Chevrolet Nomad Anyway?
This build undoubtedly will affect the car’s value, but ’57 Chevrolet Nomads are worth an average of $85,000 at auction. Produced from 1955-1957, the Nomad was a wagon version of the Bel Air, and the Nomad’s engine was either a 4.3-liter or 4.6-liter V8.
The ’57 Chevy Bel Air is worth about $73,000. Power started at 162 hp for the early 4.3-liter engines and the newer 4.6-liter unit called the ‘Super Turbo Fire’ V8 made up to 283 hp, a useful increase.
It will be interesting to see this Aydan Bailey ’57 Nomad on the strip to find out what it can do, and so far the classic car’s design is pure old school, with the patina hiding what is sure to be a capable performance car underneath.