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The 2017 Camaro ZL1 borrowed its heart from the Corvette Z06: a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 producing 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque. Paired with a nearly 220-lb weight cut and the Corvette’s traction management system, it became the quickest-accelerating Camaro Chevrolet had ever built, capable of 0-60 mph in roughly 3.5 seconds.
The Camaro arrived years after the Mustang had already defined the pony car segment, yet it became just as iconic by offering something Ford didn’t: real range. Buyers could order anything from a mild inline-six cruiser to a 375-horsepower big-block street fighter under the same badge. That flexibility, paired with decades of continuous production, is a big part of why the Camaro still holds its own in muscle car debates today. What’s your case for — or against — it?
Long before burnouts became crowd-pleasing spectacle, they served a practical purpose on the drag strip: heating and cleaning the tires for maximum grip. Trace the tradition from a dusty Georgia strip in the 1960s through fire-enhanced showmanship to today’s purpose-built burnout cars, and you’ll see why this smoky ritual still defines muscle car culture.
This 1966 Chevrolet Bel Air has a story that stretches from Sweden to a burnout through downtown Budapest to a shot at Drag Week in the United States. Chevrolet built 236,600 Bel Airs that year alone, spanning everything from a 155-horsepower base six-cylinder up to a new 427-cubic-inch V8 making as much as 425 horsepower. That range made the Bel Air a favorite starting point for builders looking to turn an affordable family car into something built for the strip.
Ford didn’t just want a fast Mustang for 1970 — it wanted a race-homologated street car built by the same engineer who’d designed its biggest rival’s most famous trim. The Boss 302 packed an underrated 290-horsepower V8, a Hurst-shifted four-speed, and race-bred suspension into a car that ran a 14.6-second quarter mile straight from the factory. Only 7,013 were built that year before emissions rules ended the whole Boss lineup two years later. That scarcity is exactly why collectors still chase them today.
The 1958 Gaylord Gladiator that co-owner Ralph Carungi calls “the Batmobile in a tuxedo” is believed to be a one-of-one car, the only example of its kind left in the world. Built by brothers Jim and Ed Gaylord in Chicago to challenge the finest luxury cars of the era, it stopped Lou Costabile in his tracks at an invitation-only concours. This may be the first video ever made of it. Watch to hear why it left such an impression.
Two very different philosophies of 1965 performance face off in this photo: a plain-looking Plymouth hiding serious big-block muscle, and a restyled Pontiac built for buyers who wanted power wrapped in personal-luxury polish. The Belvedere could be optioned with a 365-horsepower 426 wedge for a fraction of the Grand Prix’s price. The Grand Prix countered with up to 380 horsepower, fresh coke-bottle styling, and a lot more prestige. Which one gets your vote?
The 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 marked the end of the road for the original pony car before it shrank into the Mustang II, and this clean example shows why enthusiasts have come to treasure the sendoff. With its bold early-seventies styling and unmistakable Mach 1 presence, it captures a pivotal moment in American performance. Watch This Car gives it a proper walkaround. See the last of the big first-generation Mustangs up close.
This 1967 Chevelle wears the Super Sport badge Chevrolet introduced as its own model line in 1966, but everything under the hood now is custom: a built, supercharged big block making over 700 horsepower on pump gas. Factory SS 396 buyers in 1967 could order up to 375 horsepower, good for a 6.5-second 0-to-60 run and a 14.9-second quarter mile, numbers that made it one of the quickest cars on the road that year. This build simply takes that original formula much further.
Dodge’s Demon did not just add horsepower, it added an entire system designed to store torque before the light turns green and release it all at once. The result is a car that can pull 1.8 g’s at launch and run a 9.65-second quarter-mile in stock form. Here is how the Torque Reserve and TransBrake actually work together to make that happen.
Chevrolet’s sales brochures never mentioned it, but knowledgeable buyers could order a genuine big-block V8 into this compact coupe simply by asking. The shared chassis with the Camaro made it possible, and the numbers that resulted still hold up decades later. Here is the story behind the option Chevy never bothered to advertise.
This heavily customized 1970 Nova trades its factory drivetrain for a modern LS engine, carbon fiber accents, and molded bodywork throughout. The stock Nova SS it started life as could already be ordered with a 396-badged big block making up to 375 horsepower for just 475 dollars over list price. Only about 19,000 of the 274,344 Novas built in 1970 left the factory with that SS package, making 1970 the last year a Nova buyer could check the big-block box.
One is a glass-roofed American wagon with a 455-cubic-inch big-block under the hood, the other is a V12 shooting-brake from Ferrari that sends 651 horsepower to all four wheels. Decades and continents apart, both cars solved the same problem, serious performance in a body built to carry more than just a driver. Which one would you actually park in your garage?
Big American V8s were not always welcome on British circuits, and this 1968 Camaro’s early results prove it, third in class at Brands Hatch was a fight, not a formality. Built under strict FIA Group 5 rules that favored small, nimble cars over raw displacement, it took years before a Camaro would take the outright British Saloon Car Championship title. This one carries the FIA papers and documentation to prove it was there from the start.
The supercharged Hellcat redefined what a factory muscle car could do, until Dodge revealed the Demon was already waiting behind it. The two share an engine block but little else: a 133-horsepower gap, a widebody chassis, drag radials, and a single seat separate the street car from the strip weapon. Here is exactly what changes between the two, in the numbers that matter most.