1974 Camaro Nickey Stage III - "The last Nickey"?

[mssl72]

Originally Posted by 72heavychevy

... I'm also not sure why the car has a 1975-77 front header panel and grille, all '74 Camaros came with the emblem on the grille.[/url]

There's an old post on this car somewhere and a few of us mentioned about the grill and header in the thread. It might have been the owner at the time chimed in to say it was an early car and restored as it was found. Going by the as found pictures, it's clear the later header and grille were there. The thing about the car being early isn't relevant since my '74 Z was built before this car and mine came with the correct header and grille from the factory. This Nickey car probably did come out of the factory with the correct stuff. My guess is that at some point the header/grille was damaged and replaced. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any pictures as new. Replacing the header due to damage happened enough and since the '74 header and grill are a 1 year only part they replaced with whatever they could get easily. It happened to my car as well.

[72heavychevy]

Originally Posted by mssl72

There's an old post on this car somewhere and a few of us mentioned about the grill and header in the thread. It might have been the owner at the time chimed in to say it was an early car and restored as it was found. Going by the as found pictures, it's clear the later header and grille were there. The thing about the car being early isn't relevant since my '74 Z was built before this car and mine came with the correct header and grille from the factory. This Nickey car probably did come out of the factory with the correct stuff. My guess is that at some point the header/grille was damaged and replaced. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any pictures as new. Replacing the header due to damage happened enough and since the '74 header and grill are a 1 year only part they replaced with whatever they could get easily. It happened to my car as well.

Yes, very true. Almost all '74s I see don't have the original grille or header (mine included). I was just surprised to not see it on a car of this caliber but it seems by what you said it was restored "as found". And I agree, if anything being an early car would only ensure it came with the 1 year only parts. I haven't heard of any very late '74 cars coming with the '75-77 style but it would not surprise me.

I also just noticed they swapped bumpers as well to ones that have the bumper guards. Most people don't prefer those so that's an unusual change as well. Regardless it's a neat car with a few changes I'd make to change it to be slightly more original. Luckily I've scored a couple extra '74 grilles over the past few years!