Nickey-The Birth of the 427 Camaro
 

This article highlights the main characters responsible for transplanting 427 engines into the 67 SS350 Camaro (initially). Who was first has been debated, and for some it's ongoing :burnout:

So cool. I was born twenty years too late!

Very interesting and Historical Article.

I'll note some interesting tidbits for the "new" guys interested in Super Car History.

A) Note the main picture, Palm Trees. This pic of an early NicKey Camaro was taken in California.

B) The car has NicKey emblems, NicKey Center Cap, NicKey crest on the tail panel as well as a 1966 Illinois dealer plate with dealer #4501 Which was NicKey Chevrolet as well as the address for the dealership at that time 4501 Irving Park Road.

C) Bill Thomas / Bill Thomas Race Cars did not hold a car dealer licence / Franchise agreement with GM. The Nickey Cars he built in Anaheim came from Chicago but mostly from California dealers.

D) According to Don Swiatek, the One and Only NicKey Hi-Performance Manager, the car in this article was built in Chicago and sent to Bill / Thomas, Anaheim to be fitted with his headers and to be used to promote the NicKey Camaros out west. Time slips in the 11.40s @ 130 mph were very quick in 1966/67, especially for a Street Car with a Stock Engine with bolt ons.

E) Rare picture of a Young Bill Thomas Sr. with the headers he designed and produced for the first gen Camaros. They were available as an option and sold out of the NicKey Performance Catalogue.

F) Bill Thomas' relationship with NicKey started with the 1958 NicKey "Purple People Eater" Championship B-Production , winning Corvette, driven by Hall Of Famer, Jim Jeffords.

Thanks for providing context to the pictures and intimate details of the relationship between Bill Thomas and Nickey!!!

'

This pic belongs here, note Plate #...
:beers:
~ Pete

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Where is this car now?

It is not found.

This was a great article to read to start my morning. I started out learning to greatly respect Bill Thomas after I bought my 65 L78 corvette, he published a few page document on how to take a stock engine and just blueprint it and get a decent horsepower gain. Plus many of my HO and slot cars were Cheetahs so there was the other part of Bill Thomas respect.

Very neat to see him partner with Nickey, never gets old for me. I find it interesting that there is no point person on whi the engine builders were for Motion, so I will always be more of a Nickey fan as they had 2 distinct engine builders behind them with names and history.

This was a great article to read to start my morning. I started out learning to greatly respect Bill Thomas after I bought my 65 L78 corvette, he published a few page document on how to take a stock engine and just blueprint it and get a decent horsepower gain. Plus many of my HO and slot cars were Cheetahs so there was the other part of Bill Thomas respect.

Very neat to see him partner with Nickey, never gets old for me. I find it interesting that there is no point person on who the engine builders were for Motion, so I will always be more of a Nickey fan as they had 2 distinct engine builders behind them with names and history.