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This unassuming Chevy Nova hides a twin-turbocharged 406 cubic-inch small-block making over 800 horsepower, enough to run the quarter-mile in the 9-second range. On the street, it has reportedly beaten heavily modified GT-Rs and gone toe-to-toe with supercharged Corvettes. But big turbo power on a decades-old chassis is a high-wire act, where one hard pass can turn triumph into a very expensive failure.
Long before Dodge confirmed anything, rumors pegged the Challenger SRT Demon at over 900 horsepower. The real figure landed at 840 hp, but only with 100-octane fuel and the red ignition key, one of three power levels built into the car. Powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter Demon V8, it became the first production car certified in the 9s in the quarter-mile, and one of the most collectible modern muscle cars ever built.
The 2014 Dodge Challenger R/T Shaker Edition revives a trick first seen on the 1970 Challenger: an engine-mounted hood scoop that visibly shudders with every throttle blip. Under the shaking sheet metal sits a 5.7-liter HEMI V8, a six-speed manual option, and a full Super Track Pack of suspension and brake upgrades. It is a package built as much for theater as for performance, and it is becoming a favorite among Challenger collectors.
This 1966 AMC Ambassador DPL is a rare, all-original survivor finished in factory Samoa Light Gold, representing the top of American Motors’ entire lineup that year. The DPL trim, new for 1966, came standard with reclining bucket seats and deep-pile carpeting, and this example carries AMC’s largest available engine, a 327-cubic-inch V8. Ambassador sales nearly quadrupled between 1964 and 1966 as AMC’s upscale strategy caught on with buyers. Original, unmolested examples like this one are increasingly difficult to find today.
A 1964 Ford Falcon took home the Best Ford in a Ford award at the Back to the 50’s 2017 car show, an unusual win for a car built as economical transportation rather than a performance machine. Ford’s optional Sprint package added the Fairlane’s 260-cubic-inch V8 and a stiffer suspension, giving select Falcons real personality behind the wheel. The Falcon’s unibody platform also directly influenced the Mustang launched later that same model year. This deep dive covers why the humble Falcon earned its trophy.
Gunther and Maggie Buerman turned a private collection into New England’s largest auto museum, housed in a 114,000-square-foot former missile plant in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Since opening in June 2017, the Newport Car Museum has grouped more than 75 cars into six themed galleries spanning Corvettes, Shelbys, fin-era cruisers, and American muscle. What started as one couple deciding not to keep their cars locked away became a destination built to feel like an art gallery as much as a garage.
The 1967 Plymouth Belvedere GTX paired civilized styling with genuine muscle, and the rarest version of all combined a drop-top body with the fire-breathing 426 Hemi engine. Plymouth built only 17 Hemi GTX convertibles that year, and roughly thirteen are known to survive today. This deep dive covers the production numbers, the pricey engine option that separated casual buyers from true performance seekers, and why documented survivors now command serious money at auction. Few muscle cars combine rarity and pedigree quite like this one.
A supercharged modern V8, a hood scoop borrowed from a completely different Ford, and a name that doubles as a literal horsepower claim — this 1957 Custom 300 build hides more engineering under its moonshine-runner theme than the average muscle car restoration. Here’s what’s actually bolted underneath 700 Proof’s blacked-out trim.
A short wide bed Chevy truck from 1965 doesn’t look radically different from the trucks around it — but that model year quietly introduced a new V8 option and one of the first factory air conditioning systems ever offered on a half-ton Chevrolet. Here’s what actually changed under a truck most people just call ‘awesome.’
This replica sounds fantastic, but the original 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder it’s copying has a story darker than any muscle car legend. James Dean owned his for nine days before it killed him, and the wreckage that survived went missing decades ago despite a standing million-dollar reward. Here’s the real history behind the car everyone still calls ‘Little Bastard.’
Jay Leno’s garage holds hundreds of cars, but only a handful made the cut when The Drive asked him to name his American muscle favorites. The list runs from an expected numbers-matching Hemi Challenger to a reworked Oldsmobile Toronado throwing over 1,000 horsepower at its rear wheels — proof that even a career car collector’s favorites can still surprise.
Ford dropped a turbocharged four-cylinder into the Mustang and somehow didn’t ruin the formula. The EcoBoost coupe’s factory numbers already outmuscle the V6 it replaced on paper, and tuners have pushed plenty of them well past that — all while returning fuel economy no V8 owner has ever bragged about. Here’s what’s actually under the hood.
The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon produces 840 horsepower on 100-octane fuel, but only after buyers install the factory Demon Crate PCM upgrade, without it, the car is capped at 808 hp. A pre-loaded boost system called Torque Reserve helped it run a 9.65-second quarter mile at 140 mph, quick enough that the NHRA banned it from sanctioned competition altogether. It remains one of the only production cars with a factory warranty that a racing body refused to let compete.
In November 2016, a Ford F-450 reclaimed the Guinness World Record for Largest Flag Pulled by a Moving Vehicle, towing a 4,124-square-foot American flag around Homestead-Miami Speedway to beat a Chevrolet Silverado’s earlier record by nearly 1,000 square feet. The Super Duty’s 440-horsepower, 925-lb-ft Power Stroke diesel V-8 got credit for the pull, which stretched well past the minimum distance required to set the new mark. It’s proof that truck bragging rights aren’t only settled at the drag strip.
One of the two Mustangs used in Bullitts legendary chase scene was heavily modified by veteran racer Max Balchowsky and never seen again after filming wrapped. The surviving cars stripped-down look and 390-cubic-inch V8 helped create the most famous car chase sequence in film history. Heres what actually went into building it.