 |
Dodge broke an unwritten rule of muscle car culture for 2017, offering the first all-wheel-drive American muscle coupe. It was not actually the SRT Demon wearing AWD, but the two cars arrived the same year for very different reasons. Here is what Dodge actually built, and why the mix-up made sense anyway.
A 1964 Dodge Polara doesn’t usually turn heads the way a Charger or Coronet does, until you learn what’s parked under this one’s hood. Dodge’s mid-1960s full-size lineup hid some of its most serious factory muscle in 426-cubic-inch wedge V8s, engines that shared their basic architecture with the legendary Hemi that debuted that same year. Pulled from decades of Texas storage with its big-block and four-speed still intact, this Polara is a reminder that Mopar’s forgotten models sometimes hid the real performance.
The 1982 Corvette Collector Edition marked the end of the longest-running Corvette generation in history, and Chevrolet made sure buyers knew it with unique Silver Beige paint and badging found nowhere else in the lineup. Lou Costabile visits Corvette Mike Midwest to talk with owner Bill Kotzum about what actually separates this trim from an ordinary 1982 model. The C3’s swan song is more overlooked than it should be. Watch to see what makes this send-off car worth a second look.
This 1968 Chevrolet C10, nicknamed the “68 Special,” pairs a dialed-in stance and custom interior with a stacked injection setup most cruise-night trucks cannot match. Second-generation C10s like this one have become a builder favorite for good reason. Here is what makes this platform, and this particular induction setup, worth a second look.
Pontiac did something no other American V8 muscle car had done in 1980: it bolted a turbocharger to the Trans Am and painted the largest hood decal GM ever approved across the nose. The reinforced 301 Turbo made a genuinely strong 200 horsepower for its era, but a carburetor instead of fuel injection meant the engine could never fully cash in on its boost. Offered for just two model years, the Turbo Trans Am remains one of Detroit’s most fascinating what-ifs.
Chevrolet offered three different ways to get 427 cubic inches in a 1967 Corvette, and the L68 split the difference perfectly. Its Tri-Power setup made 400 horsepower on a street-friendly hydraulic cam, unlike the temperamental solid-lifter engine above it. This numbers-matching convertible wears that middle-ground 427 — and its Tri-Power hood bulge — with pride. For collectors who want a big-block Corvette they can actually drive, that combination is hard to beat.
Twin 88mm turbochargers mounted right in the grille tell you everything you need to know about this Camaro’s intentions. Turbos of that size are built for big-block combinations chasing serious horsepower, not weekend cruising. Here’s what that kind of setup usually means for a first-gen Camaro built for the strip. Whoever built it clearly wasn’t chasing subtlety — they were chasing serious quarter-mile numbers.
Cleveland Power and Performance did something most restomod builders wouldn’t dare: they grafted a real 1969 Dodge Charger body onto a 2016 Challenger SRT Hellcat chassis. The result hides a 707-horsepower supercharged V8 under sheet metal that looks completely period-correct. Dubbed ‘Reverence,’ the build debuted at SEMA 2018 to plenty of double-takes. It’s one of the more convincing arguments that a factory muscle car body and a modern supercharged chassis were always meant to meet.
1960 was the quiet, final year for the original full-size Chevrolet El Camino before Chevy pulled the model for a few seasons and brought it back on the Chevelle platform. This clean survivor still wears its era well, and its V8 rumble tells a story about how these trucks-that-look-like-cars have been kept running and upgraded for over six decades. Here’s what made the first-generation El Camino tick — and why this one’s a little different from how it left the factory.
Pontiac built the Tri-Power 389 for just one model year, and this rotisserie-restored 1965 GTO wears the rare option in Iris Mist paint with a 4-speed manual. Only about 20,547 GTOs left the factory with three carburetors instead of one. Here’s what made Tri-Power worth chasing — and why it still commands a premium today. Pontiac dropped Tri-Power from its catalog within two years, making this option’s window even narrower than it first appears.
Keith Berry’s Proline-built Corvette wasn’t even assembled ten days before Lights Out 7 — then it beat the best radial racers in the country. Behind a fresh 487ci small block and twin 98mm turbochargers, Berry ran an untested combination straight into a final-round holeshot over Stevie Jackson’s Hemi-powered Mustang. It’s one of drag radial racing’s boldest wins.
The 2017 Ford Mustang GT didn’t need a supercharger to turn heads — its 5.0-liter V8 made 435 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque, numbers that reset what fans expected from a factory pony car. Priced under $33,000 with a six-speed manual standard, it paired real performance with everyday usability. Here’s what made this particular Mustang stand out from the pack.
Garaged and hidden in Texas since 1977, this 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza survives with just 29,000 original miles, from the single best year the rear-engine Corvair ever had. A redesigned independent rear suspension fixed the handling flaw that had made earlier Corvairs infamous, while the air-cooled flat-six offered up to 180 horsepower with a turbocharger. Buyers responded by making 1965 the Corvair’s best sales year ever.
Midnight Drags at the 2017 Car Craft Summer Nationals marked the event’s first year at its new home, Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A 42-car field battled it out until Michael Goodman’s 1969 Nova came out on top with an 8.01-second pass at 163 mph. The night was successful enough that organizers brought the event back in 2018 with an expanded two-day format.
Owner Randy Smalley waited two full years to get his hands on this 2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R in white with blue and red stripes, and when asked why he had to have this particular car, his answer was simply, why not. Underneath the understated paint sits a flat-plane-crank Voodoo V8 built for the track, not the driveway. Watch to hear that engine come alive.