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Only 15,631 examples of the 1956 Ford Thunderbird were built, the lowest total of the original two-seat run, after Ford’s ambitious 20,000-unit target ran into a late launch. That shortfall came with real upgrades, though: a relocated spare tire, more trunk room, and an optional 312-cubic-inch V8 pushing 260 horsepower. Read on to find out what made 1956 the most refined year of the first-generation ‘Bird.
This 1970 Camaro’s split front bumper is one of the most misunderstood details in the entire pony car world, and this candy-painted, big-block example backs the look up with a full custom interior from Steve Holcomb’s shop. Read on to find out where the split bumper actually came from, and why it can’t tell you what’s really under the hood.
This 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air wears a drivetrain Chevrolet never actually offered that year — a modern 350 crate engine swapped in place of the factory’s top-spec 283. Chevrolet’s real 1957 lineup topped out with a fuel-injected small block that made history as GM’s first one-horsepower-per-cubic-inch engine. Read on to find out what made the factory Tri-Five drivetrains so significant, and why so many owners choose a modern small block swap instead.
Spotted at a Scottsdale Cars & Coffee, this 1965 AC Cobra carries a small-block 289 V8 and, according to Lou Costabile, the documentation to back up its ‘real deal’ status — a meaningful claim in a market flooded with replicas. It’s the configuration purists still argue is the best-balanced Cobra Shelby ever built. One commenter calls it a lifelong dream car; it’s easy to see why. Watch the walkaround, and listen for that unmistakable exhaust note.
Only 281 examples of this supercharged 1964 Studebaker Avanti R2 were built before the South Bend factory shut its doors for good, making it one of the rarest slices of an already tiny production run. Raymond Loewy’s radical fiberglass body hid a genuine Paxton supercharger putting real power behind its aircraft-inspired styling. Read on to find out how a dying company built one of its most memorable performance cars right at the very end.
Ford quietly developed the 428 Cobra Jet under a program called “Cougar-Mustang Performance Car” starting in late 1966, and when it finally hit dealer lots in April 1968 it turned an already popular pony car into a genuine drag strip weapon almost overnight. Only 1,299 Mustangs got the option that year out of roughly 317,000 built. Read on to find out how a mid-year engine swap changed the Mustang’s reputation forever.
This blue 1973 Dodge Challenger is not just a mystery for guess-the-year games — it is a snapshot of the final model year Dodge fitted the legendary 340 V8 before replacing it with the torque-focused 360. Only 8,435 of the 32,596 Challengers built that year got the 340. Here is why this often-overlooked model year deserves a second look.
This burgundy 1976 Ford Torino made local headlines after being stolen from a driveway, but the real story is what it represents: the final model year Ford ever built a car under the Torino name before renaming the whole lineup LTD II for 1977. Only 193,096 were built that year. Here is what made the Torino’s last stand worth remembering.
This 1964 Mercury Monterey wears the Marauder name, but that badge meant three different cars and two different engines that year, and only one combination makes this survivor genuinely special. Its FE-series 390 has reportedly never been rebuilt or swapped in six decades of ownership, a rarity among full-size 1960s Mercurys that mostly got driven hard and scrapped. Read on to find out which version of the Marauder package is actually hiding under this hood, and why full-size Mercury collectors still consider it one of the era’s best-kept values.
Getting the right drag wheels onto a modern muscle car isn’t as simple as it was on a classic Chevelle or Mustang, and that fitment gap is exactly what Race Star built its business around. From a single wheel design launched in 2009 to a catalog partnered with NHRA Pro Stock and Pro Mod racers, here’s how the company earned its spot on serious drag cars.
This custom-built 1979 Pontiac Trans Am pushes the factory’s final big-block V8 to 450 horsepower, more than double what the original W72 400 ever made from the factory. Read on to find out why 1979 was the true last call for Pontiac’s biggest engine, and how a modern build manages to respect that swan song while blowing past it entirely.
The Dodge Challenger Hellcat’s supercharged 707-horsepower engine turned nearly every drag strip in the country into an unofficial record chase. Racers like Jason Epling and the HHP-built TopCat pushed the factory-based combination into the 7-second and then 8-second range within a couple of years of its 2015 launch. Read on to find out just how far the same basic engine architecture eventually went.
A 30-year barn find just resurfaced wearing one of the rarest factory engine combinations Ford ever built — a triple-carbureted 406 big block that fewer than 124 full-size Mercurys ever received from the factory. Paired with a factory 4-speed and a special-order 4.11 rear axle, this Monterey is a genuine sleeper hiding inside a plain-looking family sedan. Read on to find out what made this engine option so rare, and what a numbers-matching survivor like this is worth today.
By 1972, Chevrolet’s Nova SS package had shrunk to a single 200-horsepower engine choice as insurance premiums and emissions rules squeezed compact muscle cars industry-wide. This particular Nova ignores that history entirely, running a full roller 358 cubic inch stroker small block backed by a Centerforce-clutched T-56 six-speed, a 12-bolt rear geared at 4.10, and Baer brakes with 13-inch front rotors, all wrapped in factory-subtle PPG toner black paint. Read on to find out how this build turns a limited factory package into a genuine pro-touring sleeper.
When Fiat Chrysler finally attached a price tag to the Durango SRT, the 475-horsepower, 12.9-second-quarter-mile three-row SUV suddenly looked less like an expensive halo vehicle and more like a genuine bargain. Executive Tim Kuniskis called it America’s fastest SUV, and the numbers backed up the claim in ways few family haulers had ever matched. Read on to find out exactly what the sticker included, and how Dodge justified putting Hellcat-adjacent performance into a school-run vehicle.