[kwhizz]

Been some years since the last post.....As I was reading thru the thread again.....There are a couple of Nickey stories........Here's one of them.....We used to go to Nickey every weekend to see what was going on in the back room with engine swaps......There's another earlier story, but this one was from the Spring of 68........I became friends with one of the Parts counter guys named Mike and his Boss Mr. Cusser.......He was a Hippie at the time.....But very knowledgeable in parts......He would always answer the phone "Nickey Mike"......So everyone knew him as Nickey Mike.......
So.......one Saturday in the spring of 68, I was sitting at the parts counter talking to Mike.......This young guy walks in and asks Mike if they had any L-88 engines in stock.....Mike said yes and he indicated he wanted to buy one and have the service department swap it into his 68 Vette with just a few hundred miles on it........It was a 427 - 400 engine.......Hydraulic cam with 3 deuces, Turbo 400.......And he wasn't happy with the performance.....He was a college student with deep pockets.....He wanted the swap done right away........Mike checked with the Service Department and they were booked for weeks.....The guy was disappointed......Mike asked if I would do the swap for the guy in my dad's garage........the guy asked how much to swap out the engines.........I told him I would do it if he gave me the old engine......said sure and wrote a check for the engine and Mike had it delivered to the garage.......the guy dropped the Vette off the following day...So....I swap everything out and I have this basically brand new 427 engine sitting in my Dad's garage.....So......A week later I go over to Dad's place and notice the engine and engine stand were gone.......Hummm!!!.....I find my Dad and ask him what happened to the engine.......He tells me that the Guy from Nickey told him they needed it back at Nickey........So....I drive over to Nickey and go into the parts department looking for Mike.......I couldn't find him so I asked his Boss Mr. Cusser where Mike was.........He told me that Mike quit and moved to California..........Never saw Mike or the Engine again..........The Education continues........


Ken