Remember the joys of Christmas shopping? Not the mall, not Santa, not Christmas music until you puke…the moment you were in the toy store and your parents said they would get you one gift…but you found two. F-body fans, here’s your moment. ’74 Nickey Camaro vs. ’74 Firebird Pro Touring. One is done to the nines with all of the good stuff thrown at it. The other is a fresh-from-the-dealership badass, a unicorn, a time capsule. Both are sinister, in very different ways, and both will wake up you, your neighbors, and probably the dead. Good luck choosing one…we’re struggling ourselves!

1974 Nickey Camaro

Behold, one of McTaggart’s guiltiest pleasures, the “shovelnose” second-gen Camaro, complete with railroad ties front and rear. When the 1970 Camaro was born, it was praised for it’s “Detroit does Ferrari” styling, handling prowess, and ample power. When the 1974 cars came around, they were panned. You know the routine…5-mph bumper regs, fuel crisis, the death of the musclecar, all of it. But a couple of the dealerships that cranked out hot stuff weren’t done yet. Motion built a Phase III car that is now Iran’s most famous hot-rod. And Nickey Chevrolet cranked out this last beast.

Your standard 1974 Type LT Camaro could barely cough out 250 horsepower out of it’s L82 350ci small-block. Nickey thought it could do better. How does an L88 short-block 427 with iron ZLX heads sound to you? This 12.5:1 thumper inhales through a Holley double-pumper and blasts violence through a TH350 to a 10-bolt packing 4.56 gears. This is no cruiser. This car has one mission, and that is to beat the competition senseless. Who would believe a ’74 Camaro was capable? Even with the Cragars, the Hi-Jacker stance and the Lakewood bars, this car was still playing the sucker’s game. There were enough pretenders, but there was only one king…and this is that car, the last that would be produced before Nickey called it a day.

This 33,075-mile, perfectly restored machine is how it was. Subtlety was a punchline. This was a final hurrah before the gub’mint stepped in and put a stop to the fun. This was how cars would look if the Musclecar Era didn’t have an end. That posh Type LT interior was just icing on the cake.

1974 Pontiac Firebird

If the Nickey Camaro is how it was, then this 1974 Firebird is how it could be. Nothing against the Camaro, but it does have a few drawbacks: a throttle pedal like an on-off switch, gears that put your cruising speed somewhere around 50 mph, and fuel consumption that will get you a personalized greeting card directly from OPEC, just for starters. Since the 1990s, Pro Touring-style builds have turned vehicles like the second-gen F-body into all-singing, all-dancing machines. These aren’t just fast in a straight line: they handle, they stop, and more often than not they feature extras that no perfect restoration could have.

A Dart mill making monster power wasn’t an option in ’74. Detroit Speed was decades away from cranking out suspension components and steering systems. The six-piston Baer brakes would’ve been witchcraft. And the Tremec six-speed manual trans would be a godsend if you wanted to do more than just put around town. Add in the strength of the Moser 9-inch out back and the sumptuous interior and we bet you’ll be on Google Maps tracking down the best winding roads around your neck of the woods.

So, there are your two choices. A from-the-dealership street racer that was dressed like a mellow mid-1970s machine, and an all-black, all-business road burner that behaves like a late-model car. Be selective when choosing…if you can make your mind up, after all.