What would really be amazing is if you could take your muscle car into a shop and have it tuned up by one of the legendary muscle car mechanics of the '60s. Well, guess what? You can!

Don Swiatek was considered "The Man" by Chicago Chevy enthusiasts back in the '60s. In that era, Don was the High-Performance Manager at N-I-C-Backwards "K"-E-Y Chevrolet in Chicago. He was about equally adept at tricking out a '55 Chevy Two-ten Del Ray coupe for drag racing or making a 427 big-block Biscayne run strong in the Stoplight Grand Prix.

Now, Don is back at Nickey Chicago, a revival of the old muscle dealership. It was a few years ado that enthusiast Steve Bimbi found out the rights to the legendary Nickey name were for sale. Steve was not only smart enough to grab the backwards-"K" logo, he also hired Don Swiatek back to work for him.

Find out more about Nickey Chicago at www.nickeychicago.net. Or call (630) 561-1215 and talk to "The Man." The new Nickey is in St. Charles, Ill., and it's becoming "Supercar Headquarters" for the Midwest.

Now that it's (finally) getting nice up here, I've been putting an hour or two each day cleaning "Gunner's Garage." It is stuffed with cars right to the door - 12 of them. One belongs to one of my twin granddaughters. The rest are mine. If I ever want to move around comfotably inside, I gotta sell something. Not the '36 Poncho or the '53 Catalina. Those are keepers. And my '89 Caprice 9C1 police car is a keeper, too. I just had the brakes on the '48 Streamliner sedan fixed at Zerp to 60 garage (www.zeroto60garage.com) so I might as well get at least a summer's worth of driving out of it. The '57 Buick Century has only moved two or three tiimes since I bought it six years ago, but aahhh that rumble! It's not for sale either. No one needs an MG TD and an MG TF -- but if you have both, you might as well have a TC, too, right? I really don't need the '91 Lincoln Town Car, but no one else wants it. The same goes more or less for the '94 Sunbird convertible. I'd probably lose money selling either of those cars and they're too nice to take a loss on. That leaves the MG Magnette and the 2003 Ranger. Can't sell the Magnette, because it's all apart. And I just bought the Ranger, so I'm not going to sell it.

Guess I can't sell anything.

Oh well! Might be a good year to buy another building. Then I can store some cars there and have the room I need. Until the MG TC arrives, that is!

So much for cleaning garages.

At the Chevy Vettefest I was able to take a "barometer reading" on the Corvette hobby right now. I spoke with D & M Corvette Specialties, Pro Team, Corvette Mike, An American Classic and Valley Corvette. What the experts told me was that "regular use" Corvette sales are very slow and prices on these cars have leveled. When I asked for a definition of "regular use," I was told it applied to most (not all) 1973 and later Vettes.

The experts said that the Shark-style C3s are getting the most attention right now. They thought this was because these cars fit the "baby boomer" market. The people who were too young to buy them in the '70s, but dreamed about it, can now afford their dream. I think there's also another reason. Car collecting really boomed in the '70s, when many of these cars were near-new, and since everyone thought of 'Vettes as one of the top collector cars, I think people put them away, instead of selling them used. So, that makes availability high.

The experts were careful to point out that rare and desirable Vettes of all eras will "always have a buyer waiting." If you have a rare C-3, that's probably a good place to be right now. An early '70s LT-1 or LS6 will sell quickly and bring top dollar.

Who says collector cars aretoo expensive. As of late, I have been seeing a lot of very nice 1940s cars in the $15,000 range. A sharop-looking 1940 Buick Century Touring Sedan with dual sidemounts sold for $15,750 at a recent auction. Nice car and legitimate sale. Then a dealer let a 1940 Pontiac coupe go for $14,000. Same deal - a very nice cars. Last week, well-known dealer Leo Gephart had a 1940 LaSalle in his ad in Old Cars Weekly. The asking price was $15,750. Cars of the 1940s are very nice, high-quality, well-put-together machines that can keep up with modern traffic. The men who bought the '40 Pontiac said they were looking for a muscle car, but they just couldn't pass up such a great car at such a reasonable price. They had no idea how much the Pontiac was worth, but I heard one say, "It's gotta be worth $14,000." We couldn't agree more. If you want to buy a car this year, check out the 1940s models. You won't be sorry.

One of the more interesting displays at Chevy Vettefest last week was a large collection of memorabilia related to a particular 1970 LS6 Chevelle convertible that driver Dave Allen drag raced. The car was built by Truppi-Kling Competition and sponsored by Briggs Chevrolet, of South Amboy, N.J. The racing car was a dark blue Chevelle with a white cpnvertible top. A convertible was used because it weighed a few more pounds than the Chevelle coupe and placed the car in a different class than other Chevelles. This car had anumber of big wins all over the country and was a national record holder in the SS/EA class with an 11.33-second run. I am currently looking for any and all information about this car for a proposed featutre article.

When Al Wagner was a kid, he knew that he wanted to be a Corvette designer. Al had almost become a West Point Cadet, but he wound up taking engineering at Rochester University. One day he saw a job with the GM foundry in North Tonawanda, N.Y., posted on the school's bulletin board. Interviews were in a few minutes. He had no time to change his jeans, lumberjack shirt and knapsack for a suit, tie and attache case. But he was passionate about working for GM, so he went to the interview "as is." Al was immediately called into a room by the Director of Personal. He started to apologize for the way he was dressed. "Are you kidding son?" said the man. "I picked you because of the way you're dressed - did you ever see anyone with a suit working in a foundry?" Al got the job, went to work for GM and  ultimately worked his way up to becoming a Corvette design engineer. Later, he left GM and went to work as Director of New Product Development at Harley-Davidson. Today, Al runs a mostly-Corvette collector car restoration and sales business in Delafield, Wis.

An American Classic (www.AnAmericanClassic.com) is Al's latest dream. In fact, you could say, "An American Classic is an American dream." Al has several indepent mechanics who help him put the cars in top shape in case someone dreams of owning a nice classic. He specializes in "Shark" type LT-1 'Vettes, but stocks a bit of everything. His business is built on honesty, integrity and the type of passion that got him his first job with GM so many years ago. I really enjoyed visiting Al this past Monday! 

I'm still at the Chevy Vettefest in Rosemont, Illinois and I'm looking at the mini version of the "giant gerbil cage" I wrote about a few weeks ago from Atlantic City. The giant version was a climate-controlled glass enclose for real cars and bikes made by Motor Inn. The "midget gerbil cage" is a classy-looking glass enclosure for your 1:24-scale model cars. The "Cruizes" case is motorized so that you can set the wheels of the model turning as you display it. It holds two cars that are parked at a street lamp or traffic light (which you also get) and the models sit on a foam pad. Little wheels come up through adjustable slots and spin the models' wheels. It's really cool. The case includes both battery and plug-in power, so you can exhibit the models at home or during a car show (like Chevy Vettefest). To find out more visit www.stagesdisplays.com

Don Brayton of Des Plaines, Ill., brought his 1936 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Town Sedan to Chevy Vettefest in Rosemont, Ill. This car belonged to John's grandfather, who really loved it. During World War II, John's grandfather joined the armed service and went off to fight for his country. He was afraid that the scrap drives would take his car while he was gone, so he completely disassembled it. He built an L-shaped shelf around the car and then covered the parts with all types of stuff.When people looked in the garage, all they saw was an empty space and what looked like a pile of junk. Six years ago, John hauled the parts out of the garage and put the car back together. Now he has a gorgeous Chevy that escaped becoming a battleship or army tank. It's the oldest unmodified Chevy at this weekend's show, which continues tomorrow at theStevens Convention Center in Rosemont. If you're in the area, come and see me there.. 

I spent the day walking around the convention center in Rosemont, Ill., checking out Chevrolets, Corvettes and Camaros. I had an interesting discusion with Tom Dietz of St. Charles, Ill., who collects Chevrolet dealership memorabilia. He had some great pieces dating back to an owl with blinking eyes that dates from 1929.

Tom has been collecting this type of stuff since the '70s and says he really has a lot of it. Judging only from the stuff he dragged to the show, anyone would agree. He said he got started when he went to look at a '63 Chevy that was for sale and the owner had a poster for the '64 Chevys. He had talked the dealer out of it by saying he'd buy the car if the salesman threw in the poster.

Tom only collects Chevy stuff and says he never uses the Internet to find it. "I don't have a computer and that's the lazy man's way to collect," he said. So if you have anything Tom might be interested in, you will have to call him. His number is 377-3125. You'll have to check the area code. Tom says they changed it since his card was printed.

This weekend I'm in Chicago at the Chevy Vettefest. I drove down in my '89 Caprice 9C1 police car. It's not an "old car" to me, but I guess it qualifies as "special interest." In any case, I was invited to put it in the show next to where I'll be selling my car books. I thought that sounded like a neat idea.

The show is held indoors at the convention center in Rosemont, Ill. (near O'Hare Airport) so I decided to arrive early to get the car indoors without a big hassle. When I got near O'Hare, I called promoter Bob Ashton on my cell phone and he told me where to bring the 9C1. The building was just about empty, then Bob comes riding up to the entry door on a bicycle.

I thought that was cool. In fact, Bob is about the coolest show promoter I know. He used to work with GM and now he works for my old friend Robert Larivee's son and his partners at Championship Auto Shows.  What I like about Bob is his "laid back" attitude.

When I first met Bob last year, his show "World of Wheels" show in Green Bay, Wis., was in full swing. People were asking him a million questions at once. But I never saw Bob get the slightest bit worked up. I asked him how he stayed so cool on the "Big Weekend." He told me, "This is a car show - it's not life or death!"

Last night, after the show hall was all closed up, I ran into Bob and his wife Vicky in the hotel lobby and we ate dinner together. One of the attractions that Bob put together for the show this weekend is giant exhibit of big-block LS6 Chevys, and he was telling me how one "regular guy" hobbyist and his friend were dragging an LS6 Camaro all the way from Seattle, Wash., on an open trailer - a 4,000-mile trip.

   Bob couldn't believe this man had signed on to help him put together what may be the best LS6 display EVER. But I immediately understood the Camaro owner's motivation - he was just trying to help out "Mr Cool"

What would Harley Earl think about GM hiring outside shops to build its show cars? GM is currently taking proposals for 2008 SEMA Show vehicles that showcase its vehicles tricked out with accessories. Key passenger cars to be showcased include the Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac Vibe and G8 and Saturn Astra, but other models may qualify on a limited basis.

In the good old days, this kind of project would have been a big secret and Harley's famous GM Art & Color Section would have been very jealous of sharing design responsibility. But today, it's "out-sourced."

Shops that are SEMA members that are interested in developing a GM project car for the 2008 SEMA Show are encouraged to contact: Bob Kern, SEMA Relations Manager 2382 Browning Dr., No 100 Orion, MI 48360 It is recommended that proposals be submitted early and no later than May 15. Approved projects will need to be completed by October 18.

Short blog today. I have to leave for the Superpower Show at the Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., this weekend. The show sponsored by Undercar Digest is for professionals who do suspension, brake, exhaust and "undercar" repairs. Sometimes Old Cars Weekly advertiser Fred Kanter (Packard Industries and Kanter Auto Products) will be giving a seminar on the old car repair market and I'm anxious to hear it.

Anyway, before I leave, I wanted to drop some advice that may save you money. I heat my shop with propane. This year we had a long winter and a lot of snow. The100 inches of snow pretty much buried my propane tank and I didn't even try reading it. I just thought the propane would last the full season like it did the past two years.

Tonight was woork-on-the-car night, so I went out in the afternoon to turn on the radiant heating system. No dice! Out of fuel. So, I call for a propane delivery and guess what . . . $70 extra to do a pressure check and light the pilot light. Ouch! I just blew 70 bucks by not checking the fuel level sooner. Maybe this will inspire a few of you who live where it's still chilly to check your tanks and not make the same mistake.