Wes | Muscle Car Fan

1950s classic blue Pontiac Grand Prix car on display.

Great Cars Review and History: GTO

Before the Pontiac GTO existed, corporate policy at General Motors made it impossible: no mid-size car could carry an engine over 330 cubic inches, period. John DeLorean and a small team of engineers built one anyway, testing it in nighttime street races before their bosses even knew it existed. This archival documentary traces how that quiet act of rule-breaking, plus a name borrowed from Ferrari, turned into the car that saved Pontiac and launched an entire era of American muscle. Watch to find out how close it came to never happening at all.

Classic American muscle car driving at sunset near urban buildings.

1969 Mercury Cyclone CJ: An American Pastime

by Wes

Petrolicious follows owner Cy Schmidt on a backroads cruise through Ohio in his 1969 Mercury Cyclone CJ, and the comments keep returning to one line he says about the car: it means a lot of things to different people, but this one means a lot to him. Watch the full episode of Made to Drive.

Interior view of a modern car dashboard with steering wheel and touchscreen display.

Ford Performance boss hints at gas-powered Ranger Raptor for US

by Wes

Ford’s own performance chief gave a surprisingly candid answer when asked whether the Ranger Raptor would ever come to America — and it wasn’t a simple yes or no. Jamal Hameedi explained exactly which engines could power a U.S. version, why the diesel it launched with never stood a chance stateside, and why the truck’s suspension impressed him more than its horsepower numbers. Read on to find out what it actually took to bring a Raptor-badged Ranger to American driveways.

Two classic muscle cars racing on a sunny street.

69 Camaro 540 vs 66 Chevelle 427

by Wes

A 540-inch stroker build in a 1969 Camaro squares off against a 427-powered 1966 Chevelle in a straight-line battle between two very different paths to big-block muscle. One car leans on raw displacement, the other on GM’s factory racing bloodline, and the launch alone has viewers debating suspension setups more than a decade after this race first hit YouTube. Watch to see which classic comes out ahead.

A lime green muscle car with oversized rear tires parked awkwardly.

Muscle Cars-Too Far Gone To Save :(

by Wes

This compilation strings together muscle cars left to rot — under caved-in barn roofs, in overgrown fields, forgotten by owners who always meant to restore them someday. One car in the footage, a Dodge Daytona, is reportedly worth a million dollars once restored. Commenters argue over which cars are truly beyond saving and which ones just need an owner willing to finally start. Watch to see just how far gone these cars really are.

Golden 1969 Buick Riviera GS Gran Sport showcased at a car event.

1969 Buick Riviera GS Gran Sport in Embassy Gold

by Wes

Don Adams sold a Buick once and spent years regretting it before spotting a 1969 Riviera GS Gran Sport in a magazine ad and, with his wife’s encouragement, finally buying it back in 2002. This all-original Embassy Gold example has never been restored — just preserved. It’s a rare survivor from a personal luxury coupe that traded some of Buick’s usual comfort focus for real performance. Watch to hear the full story behind how this car found its way home twice.

A 1969 Plymouth GTX in action during a vintage road test.

1969 Plymouth GTX 440 – vintage road test

by Wes

The narrator can’t quite settle on how to pronounce GTX, but there’s no confusion about what this 1969 Plymouth can do. This vintage road test pushes the 440-powered GTX through acceleration runs and cornering that surprised even the crew filming it, backed by a factory pedigree tied to Sox and Martin’s NHRA racing program. Watch to find out exactly how fast the quarter-mile route to Squeelsville really was.

Two muscle cars racing on a drag strip under a cloudy sky.

2016 V-8 Muscle Car Challenge: Acceleration

by Wes

Cars.com brought the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS, Ford Mustang GT, and Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack to Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park for a week of head-to-head quarter-mile testing. Three different engineering philosophies — high-revving small-displacement, independent-rear-suspension balance, and big-displacement torque — went up against the same stopwatch. The result wasn’t the simple horsepower-wins story some viewers expected. Watch to see which pony car actually got there first.

Classic black Ford Mustang parked outdoors with a scenic background.

1966 SHELBY GT350H MUSTANG UNVEILED DURING THIS EPIC “BARN FIND”

by Wes

Auto Archaeology found this 1966 Shelby GT350H not in a barn but parked beside a suburban home, where owner Judy revealed it had simply been one of her and her husband’s ongoing projects. The GT350H was born from a real collaboration between Carroll Shelby and Hertz Rent-A-Car, letting everyday renters take home a genuine performance Mustang for the weekend. Watch the full story to see the car and hear directly from the owner who’s had it all along.

2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon driving on a road at sunset.

2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon | Road Test

by Wes

MotorWeek’s John Davis takes the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon straight to a drag strip, testing a car SRT engineered from the ground up rather than simply retuning the Hellcat it’s often mistaken for. Four decades into hosting the show, Davis treats it as a milestone episode, and the comments make clear plenty of longtime viewers agree. It’s a car built almost entirely around one number. Watch to see what that number actually is.

Black Chevrolet Corvette racing against Mercedes cars on a drag strip.

An American Muscle Destroying Two Mercedes AMGs In A Matter Of Seconds

by Wes

A heavily tuned Corvette ZR1 lined up against two of Mercedes-AMG’s most respected performance coupes on a Russian drag strip, and the numbers alone couldn’t predict who’d win. Years after DragTimes filmed the matchup, the comment section is still arguing about reaction times, tuning philosophy, and whether an American small-block had any business beating two AMG builds in one afternoon. Watch to see how close it actually was.

Blue Plymouth Superbird with iconic rear wing at a car show.

1970 Plymouth Superbird Petty Blue Survivor

by Wes

This Petty Blue 1970 Plymouth Superbird carries a documented history that few muscle cars can match — matching-numbers drivetrain, original broadcast sheets, and a rarity rating that puts it ahead of plenty of Hemi cars. Read on to see why paperwork, not just horsepower, makes this survivor special.

Man working on a complex engine in a workshop.

1968 Charger 440 on the dyno! (pt.1)

by Wes

Nick Panaritis takes on a build with a deceptively simple goal: 600 horsepower from a 1968 440, on pump gas, reliable enough to drive every day. Part one follows the teardown and reassembly of an engine pulled straight out of a client’s own Charger, with commenters pointing to real-world proof the target is achievable. Watch to see how the build starts.

Classic red 1972 Buick Gran Sport parked outdoors on a driveway.

1971 Buick Riviera GS Gran Sport in Vintage Red & 455 Engine Sound

by Wes

Debbie Powless’s love of Buicks started with her grandfather’s Electra 225, a gift that planted a seed years before she ever owned a Buick herself. After spotting a Riviera at a car show, she searched until she found this exact 1971 Buick Riviera GS Gran Sport in Vintage Red, then restored it from the ground up. Under the hood sits the 455 cubic inch V8 that gives the car its signature sound. Watch to hear it, and to hear how a family hand-me-down turned into a decade-long search.

A red BMW M3 E92 driving on a winding road.

The Perfect IROC? – /BIG MUSCLE

by Wes

The third-generation Camaro does not get much respect, dismissed as the awkward middle child of Chevrolet’s muscle car lineage. One owner spent years proving that reputation wrong, building an IROC-Z so subtly refined it looks nearly stock at a glance, no loud stripes, no attention-seeking mods, just years of careful work reserved for how the car actually drives. The Drive tracked it down for a proper test drive. Watch to see whether it lives up to the title.

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