Joe Szabo

[Belair62]

Funny...reading this cool thread and listening to Jack Bruce,Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton banging away on WTTW public TV...damn cool.

[SSJunkie68-69]

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Funny...reading this cool thread and listening to Jack Bruce,Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton banging away on WTTW public TV...damn cool.

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...please put down the hashish now..

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[kwhizz]

It was a ritual, every Saturday morning we would go to Nickey and see what was going on , what new cars came in during the week, and hang out in the Parts dept......one of the Part Guy's was named Mike and Mr. Cusser was the Manager .....we used to get some side work from Mike.....if someone would come in and buy some speed stuff and didn't know how to put it on and the shop was busy.....Mike would turn us on to this and we made some extra money.....Also one Saturday we were there , the car carrier pulled up and we went outside to see what was new.....
There was a Nassau Blue 65 Vette on the trailer, we freaked out cause it had Knock Off wheels,Side Pipes, Gold Line Tires. and
"Oh my God"........Big Block Flags on the fenders......this was the first 396-425 Vette to arrive at Nickey....we had to wait around to hear this thing run and to look at it closer......this thing had a crowd around it all day.....while it was being cleaned and prepped, we noticed that a receipt was taped on the windshied and that the car had been bought from someone that was there......the rest of the story I'm not proud of but after seeing what was going on I kept my distance........my friend that I was there with sat in the car.....got the Key #'s, got the guy's address of the receipt and went in the parts dept and got a set of keys made......you see where this is going.......The guy that bought the car lived in Lake Forest
......any how they went out there that night and took the car and brought it back to the city and stripped it....my friend put the knock-offs on his 64 Impala...(talk about advertising) he was stopped by the Police and asked about the wheels and ended up turning in the guy's that helped him........The end result was that one person went to Jail for a year....my friend got off (because he didn't actually steal the car)......what goes around comes around because they rented a little "U-Haul" trailer and put the engine and trans in it, and someone stole the trailer.......Glad I didn't get involved in that deal.....
Bob, I watched the Grey Ghost run all the time....there was another Pontiac that ran in the same time frame called the "White Warrior" that was Ray Bisig

Ken

[Xplantdad]

Way Friggin cool! (as Frank Magallon would say)

Midnight auto supply, huh? The closest I ever got to Nickeywhenwe lived in Palatine was driving by on the highway...

Keep it coming , Ken!

[Stefano]

Talk about a scary race/Funny car. The Grey Ghost lives!

[Belair62]

I Know it does Stavros ! just barely though...did he/will he do anything with it.

[kwhizz]

Here's another Nickey story......

One Saturday in 68.....I was sitting in the Parts Dept talking to Mike (Parts Guy) and a guy walks in and wants to buy a complete L-88 engine assy....(of course they only had about six in stock)....anyhow...he was a Geeky College type guy.....I'm thinking to myself....Yeah...Right......Mike gives him a price and he buys it right on the spot......he then ask's if we knew anyone who could put it in right away.....so I said .....what are you going to put it in, he responds that he has a 68 Vette that had a 400 H.P.(Hydraulic Cam) engine and wants to go faster.....so I work a deal to change out the engine in my garage and for doing all the work ....I would get to keep his "Old" engine with 3000 miles on it.....shook hands....done deal....Mike has a Pick-up truck and I gave him the key to my garage so he could deliver the L-88 on Friday Night......the guy drops off his Vette Saturday Morning......I spend Saturday and Sunday doing the work....the guy picks up his car on Sunday night and is just tickled pink......Everybody is Happy....Right.......................Tuesday or Wednesday I call Nickey to talk to Mike and was told that Mike had quit on Monday and was moving to California.......Wow!!!!I was supprised that he didn't say anything about that to me..... too bad I think to myself........Friday Night I go over to my Garage to clean up my mess from the previous weekend......I walk in the door and the engine is gone.....I talked to the neighbor and he said that guy with the pickup came and took it away..........he was the last one to see Mike and the engine........Go Figure......

Ken

[Stefano]

Ken,
You might recognize these names I just talked to a Guy who worked at the Nickey parts counter between HS and College Ralph Greinke. His buddy Dennis Sciborski was also there. They started in 1968.


BTW, cool story, un cool outcome.