1973 Nickey L88 427 Nova

"Nickey! Nickey! Nickey!" was Nickey Chevrolet’s radio jingle in the Chicago area in the 60’s and 70’s. Nickey was a local high performance Chevrolet dealer behind some of the most radical street/strip cars known to exist. Nickey Chevrolet’s High Performance Department produced 427 Camaros, Chevelles, and Novas as well as having a catalogue selling almost any high performance accessory a guy could imagine.

Early in the high performance 427 Camaro days, it was the team of Dick Harrell and Bill Thomas that masterminded the Nickey 427 Camaro. At that time, Bill Thomas was the guru of big block Chevrolet race motors. Harrell, who was nicknamed “Mr. Chevrolet”, was one of the winningest racecar drivers of that era. This combination of engine builder and racer was of a fame that certainly could sell cars. Although Yenko Chevrolet, Baldwin Motion, and Gibb Chevrolet were all in competition with each other, Nickey Chevrolet with the help of Dick Harrell may have been the forerunner of 427 Camaros, Chevelle, and Nova production.

Nickey advertised Nation wide with a policy that if you traveled by Airlines to their Showroom in Chicago, they would reimburse your airfare after purchase of a car from them. The original owner of this L88 Nova flew to Chicago from New York. One of the documents in the paperwork file on this car, is a letter on Nickey Chevrolet letterhead, stating "here is the re-imbursement for airfare". The original owner drove this radical 427 L88 Nova back home to New York. Nickeys production of 427 cars lasted until sometime in 1973, when federal government regulations, insurance rates, gas economy, emissions standards, and financial difficulty took their toll. This 1973 427 L88 Nova was one of the last 2 Nickey Novas to be produced. Later will be posted a 1973 magazine arcticle in which a 1973 Nickey Nova was airfreighted to Southern California for test car photo sessions. That was quite a sight.