New Mexico…Land of Enchantment, and that lovely shot of I-40 westbound out of the city that begs you to just mat the throttle and hold on for miles upon miles. Oh, and sheet metal that only heat-rusts, can’t forget that. New Mexico has old cars everywhere…thanks to a desert climate, the cars have kept well, and thanks to it’s distance from Barrett-Jackson, the prices aren’t completely stupid. Seeing sheetmetal from as far back as the 1950s rolling around like it’s not a big deal isn’t out of the normal, just don’t expect a show-quality car every time you see the shadow of tailfins. Then again, to pretty much anyone not from the Southwest, that sounds like heaven come true, and that’s real…you can find pretty much whatever you are looking for project-wise in New Mexico. So for today’s Would You Rather question, we found two late 1950s beauties to pit together. Yeah, we know, the Pontiac is a 1960, but look at it…that’s 1950s styling all the way. You know the rules…gotta pick one of them! Which one is your choice?

1. 1960 Pontiac Bonneville

Until the bitter end, Pontiac’s best advertising tagline was it’s Wide-Track stance, and that wasn’t just marketing crap thrown at the wall…this Poncho really stuck in the corners thanks to a track that was actually wider than most. For 1959, Pontiac had an image issue that they needed to address. They were perceived as old folks’ cars nothing to get too excited about. This was the generation of car that changed that…a 389 cubic incher under the hood, an automatic trans, and it was good to go. The benefit to this one is that a few rounds with a sander and you’re ready to pick a color for paint. Go for your liking, but we’ve seen one of these in black and we can’t get that image out of our heads!

2. 1958 Chevrolet Station Wagon

Brookwood? Yeoman? It’s difficult to tell just which low-level trim this 1958 Chevrolet wagon actually is, but the four-eyed longroof is sitting right there, ready to go, it’s 283 still sitting in the engine bay. To be honest, the Chevy is the rougher of the two…the glass is AWOL and the 283 is there in body only. But that means that the sky is the limit for a proper build. Use the dress-up parts off of the 283 on any small-block Chevrolet mill to give it the right visual flavor, get some glass into the car, bag it until the frame has scrape marks and be on your way. Need any additional pointers on how to make a 1950s Chevy wagon cool? We’re pretty sure Chad can point you in the right direction if you ask nicely!