SOLVED: WTH # 101 - 1955 Chevrolet Nomad Playbunny Coach

[sixtee5cuda]

Only a complete answer will get the point for this puzzle.

What is the name of this custom wagon?

Who built it?  (More than one person is given credit for this car)

For the car it is based upon, specify the year, make, and model.

[Otto Puzzell]

Can it last all the way to the Pro section? 

[sixtee5cuda]

One week gone, moving Up!

[RayTheRat]

Playbunny Coach based on a 55 Chevy Nomad with a 409 motor, built in 1968.  Usually credited to Mike and Eric Ericson's construction, Mike Haas's paint and Ken Foster for the upholstery.  It's also been credited to Art Himsl.

[sixtee5cuda]

Ray The Rat has provided the correct answer, and earned a point.

Eric Medeiros has also been credited as doing work on the Playbunny Coach.  But he may have been responsible for the current pale blue/pink color scheme.

[RayTheRat]

It's had several incarnations.  It started out as a kustom Nomad in 68, then became the Playbunny Coach by the Erickson brothers in 1971,  Later it was redone by Art Himsl and then redone yet again, possibly by Medeiros.

Both of the attached photos are attributed to Himsl, but I'm not sure which is which.

I've also attached a period add for Himsl and Haas that shows the Coach.

[Otto Puzzell]

Mike Haas and Eric Erickson are credited with the build. The original paint was apparently designed by Jeff Scozzaro, and applied by Haas. Himsl resprayed the car when it was restored, Haas having retired by then. From Street Rodder magazine, 2009:

Mike's first big splash in the world of show cars was the "Playbunny Coach" (note that the other "P" word wasn't used, as to prevent copyright infringement--but I'm sure no one missed the idea), a radically chopped and sectioned '55 Nomad that he and Eric Erickson built. Mike then painted it candy red in '70-71. It was, in fact, the very same wagon that Mike had previously mildly customized (it had coach lights on the B-pillars) and candied in '67. In a recent conversation with Art Himsl, he divulged that he'd never seen anyone who could lay on candy apple red paint as well as Mike--high praise coming from a master of custom painting. (Note that this unusual creation, which is more show rod than what would be considered traditional custom, has recently been brought back to life, but not in its original paint and trim livery.)For the "restoration," Art Himsl was called on for the paint, as Mike has long retired from the limelight of car shows and painting, now chauffeuring limos in Sausalito, California, for his livelihood.

[Otto Puzzell]

Another period pic with 'bunny' paint.