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Mecum’s 2017 Kissimmee auction ran ten days, moved nearly 2,700 cars across the block, and closed with more than million in total sales. Headline results included a ,000 Maserati Ghibli Spider and a rare ,000 Tuxedo Black Corvette convertible, while online viewership set records of its own. Here’s a look back at the auction that traditionally sets the tone for the entire collector car year.
This 1966 Shelby GT350H was born from an unlikely deal between Hertz and Shelby American — rent a genuine race-bred Mustang for $17 a day, then return it with a roll bar welded in if you were one of the many weekend racers who couldn’t resist. Read on to find out how a rental-counter experiment became one of Shelby’s most collectible cars.
This 1969 Dodge Dart, nicknamed ‘Poison’ by Pennsylvania’s Spuds Garage, wears a Hemi that has nothing in common with what left the factory — and a stance that’s already splitting opinion in the comments. Between wheel debates, tire recommendations, and genuine appreciation for the build’s sound and presence, the reaction says as much about Mopar culture as the car itself. Watch the turnaround and see what all the arguing is about.
A single 102mm turbo would already turn heads in most parking lots, but this Mustang runs two of them side by side, chasing horsepower numbers that put it firmly in Pro Mod territory rather than daily-driver territory. Getting there means a built short block, upgraded fueling, custom ECU tuning, and an intercooler sized to handle serious heat, since no factory Mustang was ever engineered around hardware like this. Read on to find out just how much power a combination like this can actually put down.
This 1970 Dodge Charger R/T pairs the 426 Hemi with a rare EB3 Light Blue Metallic and black vinyl top combination — one of just 56 Hemi Chargers built with an automatic transmission that year. Read on to find out why so few buyers said yes to the Hemi’s steep price tag, and how the engine paid off on Dodge’s most successful NASCAR season yet.
Every original 1977 Trans Am used in Smokey and the Bandit was destroyed after filming, leaving replicas as the only way to own a piece of the film’s legacy. Burt Reynolds commissioned his own painstaking recreation, drove it for tens of thousands of miles, and it later sold at auction for ,500 – with a similar Reynolds-owned replica later fetching over ,000. Here’s why collectors pay real money for a car that’s technically not the original.
Pro Street builders have spent decades chasing four-digit horsepower numbers while keeping their cars just barely street legal, and this 1969 Camaro SS pushes that formula to roughly 1,800 horsepower. Stretched, tubbed rear quarters and a reinforced Dana 60 rear end hide underneath bodywork that still reads as a classic first-gen Camaro. Read on to see what it actually takes to get a muscle car this far past factory spec.
Chevrolet’s Camaro ZL1 1LE gives up nearly sixty horsepower to the Dodge Challenger Hellcat on paper, yet it laps a road course faster than the supercharged Mopar has ever managed. The gap comes down to what each manufacturer actually optimized for – straight-line traction versus corner-carving grip – in a horsepower war that shows no sign of ending. Read on to see how Chevrolet closed the gap without matching the Hellcat’s number.
A 1967 Chevy C10 wasn’t built to be fast – Chevrolet’s second-generation Action Line trucks topped out around 325 horsepower from the factory. That hasn’t stopped builders from transforming these honest work trucks into genuine muscle car rivals, some packing twin-turbo LS power well past 1,000 horsepower under bodywork nobody would suspect. Here’s how a humble half-ton became one of the truck world’s favorite muscle car disguises.
A parking lot, a rotating cast of American V8s, and zero scripted moments — this burnout compilation captures a silver Trans Am’s textbook-perfect run, a Hellcat’s unmistakable supercharger whine, and a GTO cameo that earns its own two-word tribute in the comments. It’s the kind of unpolished, crowd-driven car culture moment that keeps finding new viewers years after it was filmed. Watch to see which car steals the show.
Nearly 3,000 vehicles spanning prewar sedans to modern Hellcats fill the show field at Chryslers at Carlisle every year, drawing Mopar die-hards willing to argue over a date code for hours. This piece walks through why Carlisle became Mopar’s unofficial capital, what makes the swap meet and car corral half the draw, and why factory-correct detail matters so much to this particular crowd.
A 3,000-horsepower claim from a Pontiac Firebird sounds like exaggeration until you look at what’s actually bolted to the engine — twin 98mm turbochargers feeding a 622 cubic inch big block Chevy, nearly 170 cubic inches past anything GM ever built in a production big block. Nicknamed ‘Birdman’ for its flamethrower antilag wheelies, this build sits at the extreme end of what’s being attempted in the twin-turbo Firebird world today. Read on to find out how that number stacks up against other extreme turbo Firebird builds — and whether 3,000 horsepower is actually believable.
A C7 Corvette-bodied Pro Mod once trapped 249.49 mph in 5.73 seconds and earned a “new world record” claim that stood as one of the class’s benchmark runs, even though the record books have since moved well past it. Underneath that recognizable street-car silhouette sits a purpose-built tube chassis carrying an estimated 3,000-plus horsepower. Read on to find out how a Corvette-shaped race car keeps closing the gap with dedicated dragsters.
Chevrolet capped Camaro engines at 400 cubic inches in 1969, so a handful of persistent dealers found a loophole through a fleet-ordering system meant for taxis and police cars. The result was a plain-looking SS hiding a genuine Corvette-derived 427 big block under a hood with no stripes or scoops to give it away. Read on to see how the COPO program slipped past Chevrolet’s own rules.
Chevrolet’s fender badge said ‘396’ on every 1970 SS Chevelle, but the actual engine under the hood measured 402 cubic inches — a quiet update the automaker never bothered to advertise. Buyers chose between a 350-horsepower street engine and a 375-horsepower solid-lifter race motor, wrapped in a convertible body built in far smaller numbers than the hardtop. Clean examples now average around $105,000 at auction. Read on to find out why a mislabeled engine became one of the most valuable badges in muscle car history.