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Chevrolet’s Camaro ZL1 and Dodge’s Challenger Hellcat both pushed past 650 horsepower using completely different engineering paths, an Eaton-blown LT4 versus a larger IHI-blown Hemi, and ran almost identical quarter-mile times despite a 566-pound weight gap between them. Both nameplates are now discontinued within a year of each other. Read on to find out which factory 700-horsepower icon actually deserved the crown.
A supercharged 500-horsepower Shelby GT500 and a naturally aspirated Corvette Z06 look like a mismatch on paper — until they actually line up at the drag strip. The Z06’s 700-pound weight advantage turns a 100-plus horsepower deficit into a genuine fight, with both cars trading blows in the 12-second quarter-mile range. Read on to find out which one actually crossed the stripe first.
Tom Lembeck has owned fourteen 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda convertibles, but this Jamaica Blue example with the 440 Six Pack still holds a specific title: the first big-block ‘Cuda he ever bought, back in 1997. Nearly three decades later, it still looks close to showroom-fresh. Watch to hear why, out of fourteen cars, this is the one Tom keeps coming back to.
Rick Glickman has owned this Viking Blue 1972 Cutlass Supreme Convertible since 1997 — and he also happens to run the very car show where it’s being filmed. Twenty years of consistent ownership shows in every detail, from the paint to the sound of the 350 firing up. Watch to see what two decades with one car really looks like.
A Dodge Challenger wedged between a Prius and another hybrid in a Maryland parking lot raises a fair question: is there any version of this HEMI-powered muscle car that’s actually earned a spot in the hybrid section? The honest answer is no, every third-generation Challenger since its 2008 revival has run purely on gas, V6 or V8. This was pure parking-lot irony, not a loophole.
A 1970 Dodge Coronet with a six-cylinder and a stock rear end really was pretty pedestrian by today’s standards – but that’s not the whole story. Order the same car as a Super Bee with the 426 Hemi and the right gearing, and documented runs put it in the 12-second quarter mile bracket at well over 100 mph. Factory horsepower ratings from that era were also notoriously conservative, hiding just how much these engines actually made. Here’s the case for why “muscle cars were slow” doesn’t hold up once you look past the average car.
Chevrolet sold a record 86,307 SS 396 Chevelles in 1969, but the base 350-horsepower L34 and the rare, 375-horsepower L78 with its aluminum-head L89 variant were two very different ownership experiences hiding under the same badge. This particular survivor’s exceptional condition suggests there’s more than fresh paint and chrome going on underneath the cowl induction hood. Read on to find out what actually separated a garden-variety SS 396 from a genuine numbers-matching legend.
Out of a garage that once held a ’63 Impala, a ’65 GTO convertible, and a ’68 Camaro SS, one lifelong muscle car owner picked a 1967 Plymouth GTX as his all-time favorite – a car built around a standard 375-horsepower 440 Super Commando that only 720 buyers skipped in favor of the pricier Hemi option. Read on to find out why Plymouth’s ‘gentleman’s muscle car’ beat out three genuinely legendary rivals for the top spot.
This bagged, stock-interior 1963 Chevrolet Impala turned up at Cruisin’ The Coast without a single show trophy to its name – just a clean stance, real wheels, and the honest wear of a car that’s actually been driven. Its SS badge marks the first year Chevrolet made the trim its own full sub-series, backed by an optional 409 big-block that inspired a Beach Boys song. Read on to find out why a driver like this one outshines the trailer queens parked next to it.
On a recent episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage,” appraiser Donald Osborne challenged Leno to guess which of three unrestored classics had appreciated the most — and even Leno got it wrong. The reveal says a lot about how collectors actually value originality over polish, a lesson echoed by Ralph Lauren’s own decades of collecting and by the crowds still showing up to events like the Daytona Turkey Run. Read on to see why the roughest-looking car in the lineup won.
A restored 1971 Pontiac Firebird Formula carrying a genuine 455 HO under the hood is asking $34,999, and with round-port heads, 480 lb-ft of torque, and Pontiac now permanently discontinued as a brand, the math behind that number is more interesting than it first looks. Read on to find out why serious collectors have started chasing Formulas over flashier, pricier Trans Ams from the very same model year.
A supercharged Coyote 5.0 sits under the hood of this ’67 Mustang fastback, wearing an Eleanor-inspired stance and running its entire interior through a single iPad instead of a factory gauge cluster. Copper-centered wheels and a custom build free of traditional switches push it well past tribute-car territory into something closer to a rolling art project. Read on to find out why builds like this one split car show crowds right down the middle.
This 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T convertible pairs a numbers-matching 383 with the iconic Hurst Pistol Grip four-speed, factory disc brakes, and a heavy-duty suspension package, all wrapped in a restrained blue-over-black color combination. Read on to find out what makes a matching-numbers manual convertible like this one so hard to find today.
Dodge tried to stop dealer markup on its 3,300-unit Demon with a serialized dash plaque bearing each buyer’s own name and priority pricing reserved for orders at the $84,995 MSRP. Dealers in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana found the workaround within weeks anyway, auctioning off the right to be that at-MSRP buyer on eBay for bids that reportedly topped $75,000. Read on to find out how Dodge’s own leadership responded once the loophole went public.
This 1970 Buick GSX spent years as a rusted, non-running wreck before a full restoration brought it back to its factory Saturn Yellow finish — one of just 491 built in that color out of 678 GSX cars total. Buick’s overlooked muscle car packed a 455 cubic-inch Stage 1 V8 rated at 360 horsepower, though real output likely ran closer to 376. Read on to find out what it took to bring a rolling wreck back to magazine-cover condition.