Muscle Car Fan

Posts By: Pat C

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What Color To Paint it? Army Serviceman Buys 71 Charger To Put 572 Hemi In

by Pat C

An Army aircraft mechanic stationed overseas bought this rust-free 1971 Dodge Charger sight-unseen, with plans to drop in a 572-cubic-inch Hemi built for over 800 horsepower. Before the media blasting and undercoating are even finished, one question remains unresolved: stick with factory-correct yellow, or go full restomod with flat black and bold stripes? The build taps into a growing wave of big-block Charger restomods that trade numbers-matching originality for modern muscle and serious street presence.

Classic black vintage car parked indoors in a garage.

65 Malibu MCF Member 520 HP Street Rod

by Pat C

A six-cylinder Malibu that’s been in the same hands for nineteen years doesn’t get to 520 horsepower overnight. Jeffery’s slow-build street rod — big-block swap, upgraded rear end, reworked suspension — is a reminder that the best builds in this community are usually years in the making, one system at a time.

Virgil Exner

1965 Shelby Powered Mercer Cobrat By Virgil Exner

by Pat C

A magazine assignment to imagine a forgotten luxury nameplate reborn somehow became a fully functional one-off, built on a genuine Shelby Cobra chassis and dressed in copper and brass. Commissioned by a metals trade association rather than an automaker, the Mercer-Cobra combined retro coachbuilt styling with real Shelby performance underneath. Decades later, it sold for $660,000 at a Monterey auction. How does a concept car built to promote copper end up among the most valuable one-offs in Shelby history?

Classic red and black muscle car on display indoors.

BEEP BEEP, Coyote! What Do You Know About Roadrunners Quiz!

by Pat C

Plymouth bet big on a cartoon bird, paying Warner Bros. $50,000 to license the Road Runner name and another $10,000 just for that unmistakable “beep beep” horn. The gamble was supposed to move 20,000 cars in 1968 – it sold more than double that. Test your knowledge of the muscle car built on a licensing deal and a novelty horn that outlasted most of its rivals.

Classic orange muscle car parked near a lake on a sunny day.

Car Collector Looking for an AMC AMX

by Pat C

AMC built the AMX as a two-seat halo car meant to prove a budget-focused company could build a real sports car, and it worked almost too well: total production across three model years landed at just over 19,000 units. Its 390-cid V8 made 315 horsepower on a chassis shortened from the Javelin until the wheelbase actually beat the Corvette’s. That rarity is exactly why a wanted ad like this one still shows up decades later. Here’s what makes the AMX worth the hunt.

Comparison between a classic muscle car and a rusty project car.

The Car You Told People You Owned at The Reunion

by Pat C

Everyone who has ever owned a project car has told a version of this exact lie: claiming the rusty shell in the garage is basically a finished muscle car by the time the story reaches a reunion. Here is why that exaggeration is so universal, and what actually separates the story from the truth.

Street racing event at Union County on March 11th.

Win Prize Money at Drag Shootout Union County Drag

by Pat C

A flyer promising prize money at a March drag shootout doesn’t tell you much on its own — but the track behind it, an NHRA-affiliated eighth-mile strip built for grudge racing and small-tire shootouts, has plenty of story to it. Door-crasher format, cash on the line, and a community that shows up test-and-tune after test-and-tune. Here’s what actually happens when the tree drops and real money’s riding on it.

Vintage car with bold 'COOL IT' text in red.

Float Like a Butterfly Sting Like A Superbee

by Pat C

Dodge’s Super Bee ran a full four-year spread of engine options, from a stout 383 all the way up to the legendary 426 Hemi, but the rarest combination of them all was the mid-1969 A12 Six-Pack. Only 1,907 of those 440 Six-Pack cars were built, and the Hemi option was even scarcer at just 125 units. It’s a lineup that proves not every muscle car icon needed a household name to earn its reputation.

Classic red muscle car parked on cracked pavement.

The Rarest Chevelle of All Time, 1965 Z16 SS396

by Pat C

Z16 SS396 Only 200 regular production 1965 Z16 Chevelles were built at the Kansas City plant. The Z16 option included the convertible boxed frame, a narrowed rear axle and brake assemblies from the contemporary Impala, […]

Two vintage dragster cars with drivers preparing to race on a track.

Who is the Greatest Drag Racer of all Time? NHRA’s 50 Greatest

by Pat C

NHRA’s 50 Greatest Drivers list wasn’t slapped together as clickbait – it came out of a genuine blue-ribbon panel debate for the sanctioning body’s 50th anniversary, weighing everything from national event wins to the sport’s technological history. Don Garlits sits at number one, with John Force, Don Prudhomme, Bob Glidden, and Shirley Muldowney rounding out a top five that basically built modern drag racing. Decades later, NHRA even expanded it into a Top 75 list for its 75th anniversary. So who’s your pick for the top spot?

Concept Car

Concept Car in 1956 Became a Popular Muscle Car Name in 1967

by Pat C

GM’s 1956 Firebird II was a titanium-bodied, gas-turbine dream car that never got anywhere near a dealer lot — so how did its name end up on one of the most iconic pony cars Detroit ever built? Pontiac almost called its new 1967 Mustang-fighter something else entirely before reaching back to that jet-age Motorama show car. From a 165-horsepower base six to a 325-horsepower GTO-sourced V8, the production Firebird offered enough combinations that no two seem to drive alike.

Classic white Dodge Challenger with black racing stripes at a car show.

Man Sells 1970 AAR CUDA for $500

by Pat C

James sold his 1970 AAR ‘Cuda for $500 decades ago, not fully realizing he was letting go of a genuine SCCA Trans-Am homologation special built in just five weeks. Its 340 Six Pack small-block was underrated at 290 horsepower and could run 0-60 in under six seconds. It’s a story every muscle car fan half-recognizes, and a reminder of how many legends slipped away for pocket change.

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