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One of the most famous car chases ever filmed put a second-generation Dodge Charger squarely in pop culture — but the same R/T package that powered the movie car was available to any 1968 Dodge buyer. Standard equipment was a 375-horsepower 440 Magnum, with the 425-horsepower 426 HEMI available for those willing to pay more. Genuine R/Ts now command serious money at auction, movie pedigree or not. Here’s what made the real-world version just as serious as Bullitt’s chase car.
This 1956 Ford Fairlane Sunliner convertible carries Ford’s top-tier P code, the 312 cubic inch Thunderbird Special V8 with a four-barrel carburetor, rated 225 horsepower, the strongest engine Ford offered that year. Ford built 58,147 Sunliner convertibles in 1956, making it the country’s best-selling ragtop, but survivors with the correct engine code and documented factory colors are far scarcer today.
SpeedKore’s 1970 Dodge Charger ‘Tantrum’ swaps the usual big-block Mopar power for a 9.0-liter Mercury Racing marine engine, a twin-turbo, dual-overhead-cam V8 borrowed from offshore racing boats and making a claimed 1,650 horsepower. The Wisconsin shop wrapped that drivetrain in a full carbon-fiber body and backed it with a Tremec T56 six-speed manual, creating one of the most unconventional restomods in the muscle car world. Its profile only grew from ties to the Fast and Furious franchise, cementing Tantrum’s status as a SpeedKore signature build.
Chevrolet’s Super Sport badge was not just for the Camaro and Nova – in 1968 it could be ordered on the full-size Impala too, pairing a 396 cubic-inch big-block with two-tone bucket seats and a roofline borrowed from the Caprice. Here’s how the full-size SS option carved out its own small but genuine slice of muscle car history.
Elon Musk first confirmed the Tesla Model Y would share its platform with the Model 3 sedan on a quarterly earnings call — but the crossover didn’t actually reach the public until its March 2019 unveiling, with production following in January 2020. When it arrived, roughly 76% of its parts were shared with the Model 3, and Tesla offered four powertrain configurations plus an optional third row. Here’s how the promise from that call actually played out.
The 2017 BMW i8 paired a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine with an electric motor and a 7.1-kWh battery to produce 357 horsepower, all-wheel drive, and a 4.2-second 0-60 time — while still returning 76 MPGe combined. A carbon-fiber passenger cell and 15 miles of electric-only range rounded out a formula no other automaker was really attempting at the time. Here’s how BMW’s plug-in halo car actually worked under the skin.
Lebanon Ford’s LFP 550 package took the four-cylinder Mustang EcoBoost from its factory output to a claimed 550 horsepower using a larger Borg-Warner turbo, a bigger intercooler, and a custom Cobb Accessport tune built with VMP Performance. Buyers could get it factory-installed for ,995 or retrofitted onto an existing car for ,699, with one catch: the upgrade voids Ford’s factory powertrain warranty. It’s a bet on the dealership’s tune over Ford’s engineering, and for horsepower-per-dollar shoppers, plenty were willing to take it.
The 1970 Plymouth Barracuda arrived on an all-new E-body platform built specifically to house engines up to the fearsome 426 Hemi, though fewer than 1,000 buyers actually paid the $1,068 upcharge to get one. See how the redesign pushed production up more than 70 percent and turned this into one of the most sought-after muscle cars of the era.
Ford did not build the Boss 429 Mustang to sell to the public — the whole point was homologating a NASCAR big-block, and the street car was almost a byproduct of that rulebook. The engine barely fit, requiring an outside contractor, Kar Kraft, to hand-build every single car in a separate facility. Officially rated at 375 horsepower, real output ran closer to 500. Only 859 were built in 1969. Here’s the story behind Ford’s most understated homologation special.
Tireco’s Milestar Streetsteel tire is aimed squarely at classic American muscle cars, hot rods, and vintage trucks, with a checkered-flag sidewall and steel-belted construction built for occasional weekend driving. The company’s own path to that niche is unlikely: it started in 1972 selling bicycle tires before working its way through trailer tires, motorcycle tires, and finally a dedicated car and truck brand. Here’s how a bicycle-tire company ended up making rubber for classic muscle cars.
Pontiac’s 1964 GTO gets credit as the car that coined the phrase ‘muscle car’ in its own advertising, selling more than 32,000 units in its debut year. But Chevrolet launched the Chevelle SS the very same model year, and Chrysler loyalists insist their late-1950s letter cars beat both of them to the concept by years. Here’s why the ‘first muscle car’ debate still divides collectors decades later.
1971 was the last year Oldsmobile’s 442 existed as its own model, and buyers could still check the box for the range-topping W-30 package in a convertible body — almost nobody did. Fewer than 110 W-30 convertibles were built that year, making this one of the rarest genuine muscle car configurations of the era. It arrived just as insurance surcharges and tightening regulations were starting to kill the segment outright. Here’s what made this car so scarce.
Don Dames’ 1970 Chevrolet Nova runs the six-cylinder engine that actually powered the majority of Novas built that year, yet it survives in roughly 80 percent original condition after years in storage. Chevrolet built 315,122 Novas for 1970, and more than half left the factory with a six under the hood rather than a big-block. Here’s why an unassuming survivor like this one is harder to find than you’d expect.
South of the Las Vegas Strip, a private racetrack lets drivers push exotic supercars to their actual limits, with no speed traps and no rental-car hesitation. Find out how a stretch of Nevada desert became one of the most visited driving experiences in the country, and what’s really parked in the garage.