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Buick’s 1956 Centurion concept skipped the rearview mirror entirely, replacing it with a six-pound TV camera in the tail feeding a dash-mounted screen, decades before backup cameras existed anywhere else. It also debuted a full bubble roof and bucket seats, all under GM stylist Charles M. Jordan’s first major design credit. The camera wouldn’t reach a production car until 1991, and it took until 2018 for U.S. law to require one on every new vehicle.
Ford reshaped its mid-size muscle car for 1973 to meet new federal bumper rules, and the redesign paid off with a 52 percent jump in production over 1971. Buyers could choose between a humble inline-six and two V8 options, with the sportiest Gran Torino Sport reserved for V8 power only. The changes pushed the Torino ahead of its longtime rival, the Chevrolet Chevelle, in Fords ongoing battle for intermediate muscle car sales.
The Lincoln Continental exists because Edsel Ford wanted a better-looking car than anything Detroit was building in 1938 — so he had one made just for himself. A decade later, the 1948 convertible represents the final year of that original design, powered by a 292-cubic-inch V12 Lincoln would soon retire for good. Only 452 convertibles like this one were ever built. Here’s the story behind one of Detroit’s rarest postwar V12s.
The 1963 Buick Riviera almost wore a Cadillac badge instead, GM’s styling chief originally designed it as a LaSalle-branded personal luxury coupe before Cadillac passed and Buick claimed the project. Deliberately limited to 40,000 units to preserve its exclusivity, the Riviera paired genuine luxury styling with a 325-horsepower Nailhead V8 capable of 0-60 in around 8 seconds. It’s a car built on a rejection that turned into one of Buick’s most important models of the decade.
In 1958, Ford Motors revved up with three all-new V8 engine families: MEL, FE, and FT, leaving the old “Y” block behind like a forgotten lunchbox. The MEL, aka “Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln,” sported a unique valve arrangement, resembling a Chevy big block but with a twist. Meanwhile, Mercury’s exclusive 383 cu in Marauder flexed its muscles, boasting horsepower that seemed to fluctuate like a temperamental teenager. And let’s not forget the FT, built to power trucks like a caffeinated bison.
This 1964 Chevy II Nova wears a badge from a year Chevrolet never actually offered a 406-cubic-inch V8 – the largest factory small-block that year topped out at 283 cubic inches. That gap points to a later restomod-style engine swap, a common and well-regarded upgrade path for this lightweight, unibody platform. The photos below, courtesy of Gateway Classic Cars, capture why the first-generation Nova remains such a popular canvas for builders. Vintage looks, modern power – that’s the whole appeal.
Rev up your Chevy knowledge with the legendary small block saga from 1962 to 1998, focusing on the number 6! The 4.0-inch bore family, featuring the iconic L-48, roared into life in the 1967 Camaro, packing a punch with 300 hp. Over the years, it made its mark in models like the Nova and Impala, even journeying to Australia! EPA regulations tamed its power a bit, but it kept cruising with style. The Corvette’s ZQ3 engine, with its quirky traits, carried the torch, proving that even engines have personality!
More than a million buyers drove home in a Chevrolet Impala during 1965 alone – a single-model-year record that’s never been broken. Behind that number sat an engine lineup ranging from a thrifty six-cylinder all the way up to a 425-horsepower 396 Turbo-Jet V8. The photos above, courtesy of Gateway Classic Cars, capture why this generation still turns heads at cruise nights today. Sales records aside, this was a genuinely well-designed car.
Buick’s 1987 Grand National is the final hurrah, a sleek, black vision on the Regal platform. Among the 27,590 Turbo Regals, the lighter WE4 (Turbo T) stands out with its aluminum components. Even rarer is the GNX, with only 547 units boasting special interiors and performance tweaks straight from McLaren Performance Technologies. This “Darth Vader car” sports a turbocharged V6, achieving 0-60 in 4.3 seconds, proving V6s can rule the road, even when V8s were all the rage!
Plymouth’s 1970 GTX was already losing sales to its cheaper Road Runner sibling, and the rare 440 Six Barrel option most collectors chase today made up only a small fraction of that shrinking total. With just 7,748 GTXs built that year and roughly 678 carrying the triple-carb 440, the math behind this car’s rarity is stark.
In 1966, most Chevelle shoppers who wanted power bought a Malibu or the newly standalone SS-396 — the base 300 series was built for buyers who wanted a car, not a statement. Of the 28,600 base 300s Chevrolet built that year, only 5,300 came with the optional V8, making a V8-powered example like this one the exception rather than the rule.
Long before the Hemi, Dodge started as a bicycle-parts patent and a Detroit machine shop making stove parts. Horace and John Dodge built their fortune as Henry Ford’s exclusive parts supplier, sometimes paid in stock instead of cash, before striking out to build cars under their own name in 1914. Their story ends almost as fast as it began.
The M-22 ‘Rock Crusher’ behind this 1966 Chevelle SS 396 wasn’t built for comfort — its gear teeth were deliberately cut at a stronger angle that traded a smoother shift for real durability, producing the loud whine that gave the transmission its nickname. Most 1966 Chevelle buyers chose Chevrolet’s simple two-speed Powerglide instead, leaving this heavy-duty manual as a rare, purpose-built option ordered behind the potent L78 396 only a handful of times.
The 3rd generation Chevrolet Impala (1961-1964) is like a fine wine—it only gets better with age! Launched with a sleek, new body on the GM “B” platform, it introduced a two-door sedan in ’61 that’s now a collector’s dream. The ’62 model year boasted a snazzy “C” pillar and a new 409 V8 engine, which even got the Beach Boys singing. By ’64, the Impala was smoother with muscle car fans rejoicing the return of the 409 engine, this time with two four-barrel carburetors for a whopping 425 hp.