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It was only a matter of time for the Chevy Dealers jumped on the 2010 Camaro bandwagon and started to offer upgraded models that GM just can’t produce at the factory this time. Coming out of St. Charles, Il, Nickey Chevrolet will be offering three upgraded phases, with the top model coming in at over 700 horsepower complete with a roll cage.
Nickey is a dealership with a serious history in performance Camaros, competing with Baldwin in the 1960’s as one the most famous GM Performance dealerships in the country. Nickey is actually spelled, or worded, with the “K” backward. We can’t get our keyboard to type a backward K, so sorry.
While all of the details are not finalized, this is the basic outline of the different vehicles:
Stage 1 – Mild LS3 Bolt-Ons
Stage 2 – Reworked LS3 (likely to include heads/camshaft upgrades)
Stage 3 – LS7 Camaro from the Z06
In an interesting twist, you’ll be able to purchase the Nickey Camaros not only from their dealership, but through a larger dealer network.
We grabbed this scoop through the original news item on FQuick, although others on the net have reported on it as well.
Check out the Wikipedia Entry on Nickey:
“Nickey Chevrolet was based in Chicago, USA, and perhaps the biggest factory performance sales and service Dealership, Speedshop and Super Car Converter anywhere, during their reign.
Nickey Chevrolet was established in the 1920s at the corner of Kedvale and Irving Park Rd. When the Kennedy expressway was built Nickey Chevrolet moved to its final home, in the mid 50’s. It was sold in 1973, when it became Keystone Chevrolet. Nickey Chevrolet’s final location was at 4501 Irving Park Road, in Chicago.
Nickey Chevrolet grew to a huge 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) facility in the 1960s which boasted the largest inventory of “Genuine Chevrolet High Performance Parts.” Nickey Chevrolet began its high performance parts business in 1957 and immediately went racing with tremendous success.
Their “Purple People Eater” Corvettes became famous and soon everyone knew that Nickey was spelled with a backwards “K”. Nickey Created the Super Car Genre. They specialized in engine swaps, and dropped 427s into the very first 1967 Camaros and soon turned to Nova’s and Chevelles with 427s or the Z/28’s 302 V8. The 454 was added in 1970 and any other part was available through Nickey’s extensive parts department.
Nickey Chevrolet became General Motors largest volume selling Dealership for both parts and vehicles, and many were of the Hi-Performance variety.
The key players who built Nickey’s performance cars and image moved to a new location in 1973 on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. The New Speed Shop and Automobile converter was called “Nickey Chicago”.
Nickey Chicago continued to build legendary Hi-Performance Chevys until 1977 when the speed/performance shop finally closed its doors. Recently “Nickey Chicago Inc.” has been revitalized by Stefano Bimbi the CEO and some key individuals from back in the day. The new location is at 1930 Dean Street in Saint Charles, Il 60174. Phone is 630-377-1222.”
