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Hickey Enterprises, Inc. reborn in 2014

midunes said:
Lawrence I've researched the swing carrier for Suburban. According to all the catalogs I have they were never offered by Hickey or Valley.
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Thanks Erik I forgot to take a picture when I took it over to the Body guy for its massage (scratch buff out). I think the minor mod we discussed is going to work and will follow up with you once I get it mocked up.
 
How'd I miss this thread? I was hoping to get lucky and find the Hickey accessories I wanted when I get a Blazer, now I just need to save up my money and buy it straight from them! Awesome!
 
PGG said:
I Hickey closed again?
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Was just trying to check into it today and it seems maybe so... That or he just doesn't have any online presence other than his facecreep profile, some swag, and the Hickey name brand.
 
Metrodps said:
Vic Hickey – 1976 Inductee Vic Hickey is recognized for his achievements as an off-road vehicle designer. He helped design vehicles which are cultural icons today such as the Chevrolet Blazer, the Humvee, the Lunar Rover and the legendary off road race vehicle the Baja Boot.


Hickey left GM in 1968 and set up Hickey Enterprises. He continued to work with GM as a main client for another 13 years. Now having his own shop he had the opportunity to experiment more with the types of off-road vehicles he chose to develop. He designed and built the Banshee for James Garner to race. This vehicle had an Olds Cutlass frame, an aluminum 455-inch Oldsmobile engine and toped out at a speed of 150 miles per hour. Garner won the Riverside Grand Prix in it. While Hickey enjoyed fabricating one-off race cars it was not very profitable. Hickey Enterprises grew beyond just developing race vehicles quickly and included the development and fabrication of aftermarket parts for off-road vehicles including the Blazer, Ford Bronco and Dodge Ram Trucks. By 1979 the company grew to 140 employees and a catalogue which listed over 1,400 items. Hickey chose to sell the company once it became more focused on manufacturing rather than design.


In semi-retirement he continued designing for GM, U-haul and others. In 1979 Hickey took a contract with the Food Machinery Corporation (FCM) to design a High-Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheel Vehicle (HMMWV). The vehicle would become known as the Humvee and eventually the Hummer. This vehicle was basically a very heavy duty version of the Baja Boot. The U.S. Army viewed the vehicles at a demonstration and had ten more built for testing. AM General began building the vehicles for the Army. By 1995 over 150,000 Humvees had been built for the U.S. Military and its allies. In 1999 General Motors purchased the name Hummer from AM General and began producing civilian versions of the vehicle. Hickey and his wife moved to the ranch of their dreams a 900 acre property near Paso Robles. In 2000 they sold the ranch and moved to Arroyo Grande. Hickey passed away of natural causes on June 13, 2003 at the age of 84.



Sources: Rafferty, Tod. The Achievers, Central California’s Engineering Pioneers. Central Coast History Foundation, San Luis Obispo, CA. 2004.
Obituary Victor Francis Hickey, The San Luis Obispo Tribune, 10 July 2003, p.B2.
Auto Maker, Vic Hickey Loves Cars and it Shows…,English, Jennifer. The San Luis Obispo Tribune, 24 March 2000, p.H1
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I went to middle school through high school with Vic's son, Jeff. We both lived out by the lake in Paso. I remember Vic had a bitchin' first gen Blazer that I'd see driving around the lake as I was growing up. If I remember it was orange or yellow, lifted with big tires. At the time all I knew was that he had something to do with Blazers. Never knew he was a living legend until recently!
 
rpcraft said:
Was just trying to check into it today and it seems maybe so... That or he just doesn't have any online presence other than his facecreep profile, some swag, and the Hickey name brand.
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I've sort of looked into this, as he's somewhat local. Supposedly if you message him through Facebook you can still get some things....other than stickers/hats/shirts. Other stuff might be done in batch runs, trusses/roll bars.

I'm going to be wanting a roll bar from him in the near future...if he's still doing them. My second option is bending up my own, but I'd like a "vintage" accesory.
 
beags86 said:
https://ebay.com/usr/efromthed
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No longer a registered user.
But Hickey Enterprises does have a Facebook only store...sadly.

Looks like they're making bull bars again...the 2 tube between the uprights one.


They have some catalogs that you need to log in to see. I dropped my account last year...
 
Fyi, Last I heard the owner who was making the new Hickey Enterprise bull bars etc had passed away. That is why the eBay store and Facebook page have not been updated.
 
There was a lot of drama there too. If memory serves, somebody let him borrow an original HE diff cover so that he could get a cast made and it wasn’t returned.
 
This isn’t Erik in Michigan, right? He was a member on here and was fighting with the douche who stole the parts. @thatK30guy was the one who had the diff cover stolen by said douche.

Oh shit, I think Erik did pass. Dammit.
 
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AJs72K5 said:
There was a lot of drama there too. If memory serves, somebody let him borrow an original HE diff cover so that he could get a cast made and it wasn’t returned.
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It wasn’t the Erik guy from page 1 of this thread. He’s the one who passed recently. There was a guy in California that had “long term borrowed without any communication” @thatK30guy ‘s HE diff cover. He was older and had been in Baja/desert racing scene for a long time. Had a baja racing muscle car in Hot Rod a decade or so ago.
 
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