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Long before Detroit’s muscle car wars, two Indiana blacksmiths built a company that would eventually produce one of the era’s most overlooked performance machines. The Studebaker brothers started with horseshoes, survived a Civil War wagon contract, and only reluctantly entered the automobile business decades later. Their company’s final act included a supercharged V8 capable of matching contemporaries from Detroit’s Big Three. It simply ran out of time to prove it.
In the wild world of the Sunbeam Tiger, needing speed had its quirks. With just 7,128 units roaring out, this car was more “British brawn meets American brawn.” It boasted a 260 and 289 engine that made even the Metropolitan Police want a piece. The Tiger tried LeMans but preferred breaking quarter-mile records instead. Maintenance was a mechanic’s yoga class, and Chrysler’s intervention swapped “Powered by Ford” to “Sunbeam V8.” When Ford engines ran out, the Tiger’s production purred to a stop.
Ford built this Boss 302 Mustang to satisfy SCCA Trans-Am homologation rules, which required at least 6,500 production copies before the race car could compete. Ford ended up building 7,014 for 1970, exceeding the quota by 514 cars, each carrying a fortified 302-cubic-inch V8 making 290 horsepower and a suspension tuned for road-course duty. Period road tests clocked the quarter mile in 14.9 seconds at 93.4 mph. Ford dropped the model after just two years on the market.
Not every 454-cubic-inch Chevelle in 1970 was created equal, the LS6 option was a different animal entirely, built with solid lifters, forged internals, and just 4,475 units produced for the whole model year. Some went into coupes, a handful into convertibles, and a rare few even ended up under the hood of an El Camino. Here is what made this engine code the one collectors chase hardest today.
The 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme was built to compete in the personal luxury market against cars like the Pontiac Grand Prix, wrapping a new notchback roofline and upgraded interior around Oldsmobile’s mid-size platform. Few buyers realized the order sheet hid a genuine performance option: the Y-79 SX package with a 455-cubic-inch Rocket V8 capable of 0-60 mph in under seven seconds. That combination makes a well-optioned Cutlass Supreme a legitimate sleeper today.
The 1932 Ford Tudor Sedan helped launch the hot rod movement, and builders have spent nearly a century finding new ways to modify it. This restomod pairs that historic body with a thoroughly modern drivetrain, following a long tradition of swapping in whatever power was available at the time. From Hemi V8s to LS3 crate motors, the ’32 Ford remains one of the most flexible restomod platforms in the hobby.
This 1983 MG TD replica looks like a slice of British motoring history, but its underpinnings tell a very different, very American story. Kit car builders of the 1980s used cheap, plentiful donor cars — Pintos, Mustang IIs, even Chevettes — to recreate the look of a classic roadster most people could never afford. Here’s what was really hiding under the fiberglass.
Ten years before Detroit’s muscle car era officially kicked off, Oldsmobile was already putting a genuinely powerful V8 into an affordable full-size car. The 1955 Super 88 paired a 202-horsepower Rocket V8 with an advanced four-speed automatic transmission most competitors couldn’t match. It’s one of the quieter chapters in muscle car history, and one worth knowing.
The 1966 Chevrolet Nova SS started life as a humble compact, but buried deep in its order form was an engine option that turned it into one of the quickest bargains on the street. For 2,535 dollars, the right box checked could put a genuine performance engine under the hood of a car most people assumed was just economical transportation.
Rev up your engines, classic car enthusiasts, because we’re diving into the wild ride of the third generation Corvette (1968-1982), inspired by the Mako Shark concept. This ‘Vette had a “T” roof, a new 350 cu in engine, and an optional ZL1 big block that roared louder than a lion with a megaphone! Despite horsepower setbacks thanks to emission regulations, the Corvette kept its muscle, and by 1978, it was pacing the Indy 500. Fast, flashy, and a bit cheeky, this Corvette generation truly left rubber on the road and hearts racing.
The 1978 Buick Riviera looks like a routine luxury coupe, but it was actually a stopgap built to bridge two very different eras of Buick design. Hidden inside that final model year was a low key 75th anniversary edition almost nobody remembers, plus an optional Oldsmobile built V8 that changed the car’s whole personality.