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Ford rushed the original Thunderbird into existence as a direct response to the Chevrolet Corvette, seriously considering names like Apache and P-51 Mustang before settling on a mythical bird at the last minute. The two-seat 1955-56 car outsold the Corvette 23 to 1 and introduced a genuinely inventive hydraulic top-and-trunk system with a few real quirks. Read on to find out what Ford got right, and what still leaked.
Oldsmobile’s 1949 Rocket 88 paired a genuinely powerful new V8 with a lightweight body, turning a staid brand into a NASCAR contender and inspiring a song some historians credit as the first rock and roll record. Across five model years the Rocket 88 gained the Hydra-Matic automatic, survived a factory fire that forced a surprise Dynaflow substitution, and picked up new options like power steering and air conditioning. Read on to find out how one engine reshaped an entire brand.
The 1969 Mercury Cougar was sold as the grown-up alternative to a Mustang, with more chrome, a longer wheelbase, and a quieter ride. It could also be ordered with a 428 Cobra Jet, and from April onward with a Boss 302 that no other Cougar could get. This Gateway Classic Cars gallery captures the third-year car. Read on for the option boxes that turned a luxury coupe into something else entirely.
The Sunbeam Tiger paired a modest British roadster body with an American Ford V8, a combination suggested by Formula One champion Jack Brabham and engineered with help from a young Carroll Shelby. Built in England, powered by Detroit, and cancelled the moment Chrysler bought a controlling stake in Rootes Group, the Tiger’s four-year production run tells one of the more unusual stories in 1960s performance cars. Read on to find out why so few Mark II examples exist today.
This 1969 Nova SS left the factory with a 375-horsepower 396 and spent 24 years drag racing across two owners before a pawned-for-a-wedding detour, a full restoration, and a trade for a Harley-Davidson brought it to its current owner, Bob Cole of Odessa, Washington. What followed was a methodical effort to verify and correct every detail back toward period-correct spec. Read on to find out what the teardown revealed.
The 1962 Chevrolet Impala introduced the 409-cubic-inch V8 that inspired the Beach Boys’ hit song of the same name, sold in six different body styles that pushed total Impala production past 700,000 units, and paired its biggest engines exclusively with manual transmissions. Read on to find out why a silver convertible from that year stands out from its half-million siblings.
Built almost exclusively for California dealers and inspired by a secretive Shelby prototype, the 1968 Mustang GT/CS combined fog lamps, a rear spoiler, and exclusive striping into a distinct model Ford never planned as a mainstream offering. Production fell short of its 5,000-unit target, and the car’s own name is still debated by historians decades later. Read on to find out how one regional sales manager talked Dearborn into building it.
The 1967 Pontiac GTO got a modest styling refresh, but the real story was a single option buried on the order form: the L67 Ram Air 400, installed in just 56 convertibles out of more than 81,000 GTOs built that year. Higher-revving power, a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor, and a mid-year cylinder head change made it one of the most collectible GTOs ever built. Read on to find out what actually separated a genuine Ram Air car from an ordinary 1967 GTO.
Ford never built a 1970 Mustang with a T56 six-speed, which makes this Gateway Classic Cars example a tribute rather than a survivor. That is not a criticism. The 1970 Boss 302 was a homologation special built to win Trans-Am races, and recreating one properly means understanding what Ford actually did to that engine and why. Read on for what separates a serious Boss tribute from a stripe kit.
Ford’s FE V8 powered nearly every brand in the lineup for eighteen years, from Fairlanes and Mustangs to the AC Cobra and the purpose-built Thunderbolt drag car, while NASCAR homologation rules forced Ford to keep pace on the street. A side-oiler fix born on the race track, industrial and marine applications, and a still-thriving aftermarket kept the engine relevant decades after Ford stopped building it. Read on to find out what actually separates an FE from its heavy-duty FT cousin.
Plymouth built the 1970 ‘Cuda on an all-new E-body platform designed specifically to house its biggest engines, and dropping in the 426 Street Hemi produced one of the rarest muscle cars Detroit ever made — just 652 examples, split across three transmission choices. Nine outrageous colors and the shaker hood completed the package. Read on to find out what actually separates a genuine numbers-matching Hemi ‘Cuda from a well-built tribute.
Tesla’s original two-seat Roadster picked up serious upgrades between 2010 and 2012 — a hand-wound stator for more efficient power delivery, adjustable suspension, noise-damping body panels, and a genuinely upscale leather interior. A mid-cycle refresh added new wheels, a touchscreen, and hot-climate hardware before Tesla’s Lotus-based chassis supply ran out for good. Read on to find out how a Silicon Valley startup’s first car built a case for electric performance long before it became mainstream.
Nine photographs and zero text is all this 1953 Cadillac Coupe deVille gallery offers, leaving its real story hidden in the details of each frame. A mismatched engine listed in the caption hints at a build the factory never actually produced. Read on to find out what’s really under the hood of this pillarless hardtop.
Only 80 of these Dodge Dart GTS Hurst-Hemi coupes ever left the factory, built with fiberglass panels, a stripped interior, and a 426 Hemi tuned strictly for the quarter-mile. Chrysler skipped the radio, the warranty, and just about every comfort feature to shave weight for Super Stock competition. Today, genuine examples can command prices approaching $250,000, and specialists still build faithful reproductions for collectors who cannot find the real thing. Read on to find out what made this stripped-down Dart one of Chrysler’s most extreme factory experiments.