Nickey Camaros

[BBIGG BLOCK 396]

I was just reading a little article in Jan 1967 Car Craft magazine and was just wondering if any of you guys had ever heard of this.Article reads as follows:Chicago and not Detroit...may soon be known as the Motor City as far as high performance cars are concerned.At least it will if the guys at Chicago's big Nickey Chevrolet have their way.Dick Harrell and others at Nickey Chevrolet were somewhat disappointed when Chevy didn't furnish the new Camaro with a mill hotter than a 350 cubic incher.(Rival Mustang now has 390 cubes availiable)So they decided to do it themselves.The result? A Nickey Camaro with a 427 cubic inch mill,for strip or street.The pack includes heavy duty suspension and radiator,a traction setup for the rear,a completely blueprinted engine,7 inch wide oval tires in back and Bill Thomas 4 tube headers.The 427 cubic inch engine will be availiable in two versions,either a tripple two-barrel version putting out 435 horses or a single four-barrel 425 pony version There will also be a Nickey Camaro with a 396 cubic inch engine For your wife or mother to use while running for groceries.ALL THE NICKEY CAMAROS WILL COME WITH CRAGAR WHEELS WITH SPECIAL HUBS SAYING "NICKEY CAMARO". Dick Harrell told straight scoop that the moment word of the project got out,they had a COUPLE HUNDRED INQUIRIES and a DOZEN SOLID ORDERS.While Nickey is building these SUPERCARS,Bill Thomas is building Dick Harrell a 67 funny car,an all glass Camaro With the front extended 10-inches.Look for more about all these projects in car craft soon soon.
Any of you remember the cragar center caps saying Nickey Camaro,and what was the name of the all glass camaro built for Dick Harrell.Reckon this is where the term GROCERIE GETTER CAME FROM!!

Bobby "67 Chevelle SS" Please excuse any mispelled words! I am so slow it took me 30 minutes to type all the article but I wanted to get it word for word as the article said! /ubbthreads/images/icons/tongue.gif

[Rat_Pack]

Bobby, the Nickey Camaro center cap decal was used in 67-68 for sure, but I am not sure if it was used after that. It was silver with a checkered flag in the center and the words Nickey Camaro around the outside edge. The printing was a redish maroon color. Sixtiesmuscle has a set on his two cars and they look neat.

There was a Camaro f/c built by Bill Thomas for Nickey but it was never campaigned by them or Dick Harrell. I am not sure of all the details as they happened chronilogically, but I do know that the business arrangement between Nickey and Dick Harrell disolved and Bill Thomas was stuck with that funny car. Nickey never paid him for it so he put it on the open market later on. I think there is an advertisement for it somewhere in one of the magazines of the day...................RatPack..................... ....

[sixtiesmuscle]

Yep, and I don't know if it was the first to use the term "grocery getter", but, Arnie Beswick used that on his '63 Super Duty Tempest wagon. "Mrs. B's Grocery Getter" I believe.