Xplantdad
10-11-2013, 02:00 AM
Bruce, this story starts in early 2010. A friend of mine located the original owner via an old Drag News article. He asked if he knew where car had went to upon the sale in approximately 1990. He couldn’t recollect and said he would call if he could remember or located some paperwork he might have kept. At that point we figured we would never hear back.
To our surprise, he called a few months later with the dealers name he sold it to in CA. We called him and he remembered the car. He also had pictures of the way he received it, which was in outstanding condition with 8000 actual miles. This dealer did something that greatly helped this car ever being questioned during its life. He kept copies of all documentation which included original Nickey work order, window sticker, and title showing Nickey as the MSO dealer. So first piece of puzzle was laid out. We asked who bought the car and he indicated it immediately was exported to a dealer friend of his in Japan. That wasn’t promising! He got a hold of this dealer in Japan and he also remembered the car and who he sold it to. We hired a private investigator to find this person. You can imagine the issues with the language barrier!
The investigator actually found the second owner and he still had the car. The dealer in Japan agreed to drive 1000 miles and negotiate a purchase on our behalf. The current owner indicated the car would never be sold. After a couple of weeks of negotiating an agreement was made to purchase the car. Next step was a difficult one. Thankfully the dealer in California that purchased the car from original owner had a gentleman that worked for him that was not only Japanese, but had relatives in the same hometown as the car! We flew him over there for a week to take care of getting the car to the port in Tokyo.
I opened a bank account in Japan, wired money there, and after our contact inspected the car, etc., the money was transferred into the sellers account. The seller was being a pain as the exchange rate varied $300.00 in 3 days and he wanted the difference. Luckily our representative had the cash on him. The car then was flatbed trailered to the port in Tokyo. I believe it was 2-3 weeks to transport the car to Long Beach CA, then it sat a week for inspections, etc. I believe we missed the Tsunami by about a month! The dealer in CA was kind enough to pick it up for us and keep it at his place and arrange transport to Wheatland, Iowa. Quite an ordeal to say the least! Worst part of everything was getting the Japanese title translated and notorized. Noone would touch it for some reason. I finally paid an internet company $700.00 to do this!
Once it was here I was amazed at how nice the car was body-wise and mechanical-wise. The interior was trashed and it was painted the wrong color. Car had never been cut up or modified, minus a lower rear section of a rear quarter where a slick let loose. I had Joe Schoenthaler pull front clip/doors/decklid and reshoot car original Midnight Green paint and he did an outstanding job. I located dated correct parts for the interior and dyed them all as “Neutral” color interior is impossible to find. Other than that, polishing the original rims, new tires, exhaust, it was good to go. I opted for the L88 hood over the original flat hood. IMO all second generation camaros need an L88 hood. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif I also put electric exhaust cut outs on it. The eye sore of the car IMO were the aftermarket guages and tach that the Japanese owner installed. I had Rick Nelson install the correct gauge cluster, new wiring harnesses, take out the MSD and put in a rebuilt distributor, and other under the hood incidentals to get it back to its original condition, and he did an outstanding job! Everything is in working order now.
After most of this work was completed I took the car to Nickey Chicago to have it looked over by Steve and his crew. It was nice to meet Don Swaitek (Nickeys Hi-Performance manager back in the day) before his passing. Very nice man and it was nice talking to him. I have pictures of him in the car which are priceless IMO. Steve issued me a Nickey Certificate to put in the cars portfolio.
The original owner happens to live 30 minutes from my shop in Wheatland. He never moved since he bought the car in 1973, at age 23! He had vintage pictures, racing pictures, a World Record certificate ( 6-23-1974 / 8.12 in the 1/8th mile ), and some great stories. My favorite is that he was a school teacher after his service in Vietnam, thus naming the car the Educator. How cool is that!? He told me him and his wife drove to Nickey Chevrolet in 1973, picked the car out, checked off the goodies list: LS-6 Engine, Headers, Gabriel Hi-Jacker air shocks, Rocket racing wheels, traction bars, Lear Jet AM-FM stereo 8-track player, gauges. This car actually had Thrush mufflers attached to the headers when delivered!
When car was completed on April 18th, 1973, as Nickey advertised, they flew him and his wife to Chicago, and Al Seelig ( Vice President of Nickey ) picked them up at the airport and drove them to Nickey. Once the paperwork was done, they were on their way back to Mt.Vernon IA. He told me he had it sideways on a ramp onto the highway. They were also late to his wifes brothers rehearsal dinner that day I was told. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif
He raced the car and eventually sold it to get in his words, “something faster”. He was very successful with the car and won the points championship in 1985. He won a transmission which is currently in the car. His wife actually raced the car occasionally also. Best ET, with some modifications, was 10.52 in the 1/4 mile. Once he decided to sell it, all parts he had taken off were reinstalled before selling to dealer in CA. He really kept the car in superb condition. I can’t wait until he finally comes down to the shop and takes his wife for a spin in his old ride. We keep having schedule conflicts on hooking up to do this.
I have driven this car quite a bit and it performs and rides great. It has been at MCACN, Concours De’Elegance , and just recently at Musclecar Adventures. Steve Bimbi was responsible on getting it on the cover of Musclecar Review “Chicago Dealers” issue last year, as well as some blurbs in other magazines when Nickey is mentioned. Very cool car that I have been proud to own. The sound of this car will make you stop in your tracks. This is no trailer queen, it gets driven! It is crazy how it was 30 miles from me new, was in Japan for 20 years, and is now 30 miles from the original owner.
Thanks,
Dave
Nickey Ad
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_nickeyad1_zpsa2ca2bd0.jpg
Blurb from Cedar Falls Raceway featuring THIS car!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_cedarpointad_zps56a6273d.jpg
Nickey Documentation
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_73nickeydocs001_zpsf8a3bcb2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_73nickeydocs002_zpsc57af824.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_73nickeydocs003_zps8ba2a0f6.jpg
Japanese Title!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_japanesetitle_zpsa371fdb5.jpg
To our surprise, he called a few months later with the dealers name he sold it to in CA. We called him and he remembered the car. He also had pictures of the way he received it, which was in outstanding condition with 8000 actual miles. This dealer did something that greatly helped this car ever being questioned during its life. He kept copies of all documentation which included original Nickey work order, window sticker, and title showing Nickey as the MSO dealer. So first piece of puzzle was laid out. We asked who bought the car and he indicated it immediately was exported to a dealer friend of his in Japan. That wasn’t promising! He got a hold of this dealer in Japan and he also remembered the car and who he sold it to. We hired a private investigator to find this person. You can imagine the issues with the language barrier!
The investigator actually found the second owner and he still had the car. The dealer in Japan agreed to drive 1000 miles and negotiate a purchase on our behalf. The current owner indicated the car would never be sold. After a couple of weeks of negotiating an agreement was made to purchase the car. Next step was a difficult one. Thankfully the dealer in California that purchased the car from original owner had a gentleman that worked for him that was not only Japanese, but had relatives in the same hometown as the car! We flew him over there for a week to take care of getting the car to the port in Tokyo.
I opened a bank account in Japan, wired money there, and after our contact inspected the car, etc., the money was transferred into the sellers account. The seller was being a pain as the exchange rate varied $300.00 in 3 days and he wanted the difference. Luckily our representative had the cash on him. The car then was flatbed trailered to the port in Tokyo. I believe it was 2-3 weeks to transport the car to Long Beach CA, then it sat a week for inspections, etc. I believe we missed the Tsunami by about a month! The dealer in CA was kind enough to pick it up for us and keep it at his place and arrange transport to Wheatland, Iowa. Quite an ordeal to say the least! Worst part of everything was getting the Japanese title translated and notorized. Noone would touch it for some reason. I finally paid an internet company $700.00 to do this!
Once it was here I was amazed at how nice the car was body-wise and mechanical-wise. The interior was trashed and it was painted the wrong color. Car had never been cut up or modified, minus a lower rear section of a rear quarter where a slick let loose. I had Joe Schoenthaler pull front clip/doors/decklid and reshoot car original Midnight Green paint and he did an outstanding job. I located dated correct parts for the interior and dyed them all as “Neutral” color interior is impossible to find. Other than that, polishing the original rims, new tires, exhaust, it was good to go. I opted for the L88 hood over the original flat hood. IMO all second generation camaros need an L88 hood. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif I also put electric exhaust cut outs on it. The eye sore of the car IMO were the aftermarket guages and tach that the Japanese owner installed. I had Rick Nelson install the correct gauge cluster, new wiring harnesses, take out the MSD and put in a rebuilt distributor, and other under the hood incidentals to get it back to its original condition, and he did an outstanding job! Everything is in working order now.
After most of this work was completed I took the car to Nickey Chicago to have it looked over by Steve and his crew. It was nice to meet Don Swaitek (Nickeys Hi-Performance manager back in the day) before his passing. Very nice man and it was nice talking to him. I have pictures of him in the car which are priceless IMO. Steve issued me a Nickey Certificate to put in the cars portfolio.
The original owner happens to live 30 minutes from my shop in Wheatland. He never moved since he bought the car in 1973, at age 23! He had vintage pictures, racing pictures, a World Record certificate ( 6-23-1974 / 8.12 in the 1/8th mile ), and some great stories. My favorite is that he was a school teacher after his service in Vietnam, thus naming the car the Educator. How cool is that!? He told me him and his wife drove to Nickey Chevrolet in 1973, picked the car out, checked off the goodies list: LS-6 Engine, Headers, Gabriel Hi-Jacker air shocks, Rocket racing wheels, traction bars, Lear Jet AM-FM stereo 8-track player, gauges. This car actually had Thrush mufflers attached to the headers when delivered!
When car was completed on April 18th, 1973, as Nickey advertised, they flew him and his wife to Chicago, and Al Seelig ( Vice President of Nickey ) picked them up at the airport and drove them to Nickey. Once the paperwork was done, they were on their way back to Mt.Vernon IA. He told me he had it sideways on a ramp onto the highway. They were also late to his wifes brothers rehearsal dinner that day I was told. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif
He raced the car and eventually sold it to get in his words, “something faster”. He was very successful with the car and won the points championship in 1985. He won a transmission which is currently in the car. His wife actually raced the car occasionally also. Best ET, with some modifications, was 10.52 in the 1/4 mile. Once he decided to sell it, all parts he had taken off were reinstalled before selling to dealer in CA. He really kept the car in superb condition. I can’t wait until he finally comes down to the shop and takes his wife for a spin in his old ride. We keep having schedule conflicts on hooking up to do this.
I have driven this car quite a bit and it performs and rides great. It has been at MCACN, Concours De’Elegance , and just recently at Musclecar Adventures. Steve Bimbi was responsible on getting it on the cover of Musclecar Review “Chicago Dealers” issue last year, as well as some blurbs in other magazines when Nickey is mentioned. Very cool car that I have been proud to own. The sound of this car will make you stop in your tracks. This is no trailer queen, it gets driven! It is crazy how it was 30 miles from me new, was in Japan for 20 years, and is now 30 miles from the original owner.
Thanks,
Dave
Nickey Ad
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_nickeyad1_zpsa2ca2bd0.jpg
Blurb from Cedar Falls Raceway featuring THIS car!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_cedarpointad_zps56a6273d.jpg
Nickey Documentation
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_73nickeydocs001_zpsf8a3bcb2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_73nickeydocs002_zpsc57af824.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_73nickeydocs003_zps8ba2a0f6.jpg
Japanese Title!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/xplantdad/Members%20rides/Dave%20Belk%20Nickey%20Camaro/tn_japanesetitle_zpsa371fdb5.jpg