Interesting Facts | Muscle Car Fan

1970 Chevrolet Nova Yenko muscle car in blue with racing stripes.

1970 Chevrolet Nova Yenko Deuce

This 1970 Chevrolet Nova Yenko Deuce carries a secret most muscle cars never had to keep — performance built specifically to fly under the insurance industry’s radar. Don Yenko engineered it as a quieter alternative to his more famous Camaros and Chevelles, right as rising premiums started pricing enthusiasts out of the cars they wanted most. Now a centerpiece of The Brothers Collection, this Deuce was chosen to headline a milestone 150th episode of Muscle Car of the Week. Watch to see what Yenko was really hiding under that modest Nova body.

A black 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T 426 HEMI muscle car.

Breakdown/review: 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T 426 HEMI

by Wes

Only 71 buyers checked the box for a 426 Hemi in a 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T — the final year before emissions rules and insurance surcharges ended the muscle car era’s no-compromise stretch. This triple-black example comes from The Brothers Collection, and MuscleCarOfTheWeek’s 136th episode breaks down exactly what made it, and its production number, so significant.

Thermal image showing a high-temperature turbine component with a reading of 266.3°F.

Do Turbo Blankets Work?

by Wes

Turbo blankets are one of those mods everyone swears by and almost nobody actually measures. Rob Dahm put one to the test with an infrared camera, comparing a turbo’s thermal signature with and without the wrap installed. The short answer is that it works — but where that heat actually goes, and what trade-offs come with containing it, turned out to be more complicated than expected.

1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda AAR

by Wes

This 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda AAR isn’t just another muscle car feature — it’s finished in FT6 Burnt Tan, a color Plymouth applied to only five AAR ‘Cudas, and only two are known to survive today. Built to homologate Plymouth’s Trans Am racing program, it carries a high-revving 340 Six-Pack setup built for the road course rather than the drag strip. V8TV’s Muscle Car of the Week caught up with one of the last ones standing.

A powerful custom electric car with green and black design emits smoke.

Fastest Custom-Made Electric Muscle Car: Zombie 222 by Bloodshed Motors

by Wes

Bloodshed Motors took a 1968 Ford Mustang, pulled everything from under the hood, and built an electric muscle car that hits 60 mph in 2.4 seconds and the quarter mile in 10.7 — numbers that put it in the same breath as boutique EV hypercars like the Rimac Concept One. It’s not a factory build or a seven-figure exotic, just a small shop’s take on what a classic muscle car can become. See how Zombie 222 stacks up.

Restored vintage engine on display in automotive workshop.

Chrysler Hemi FirePower V8 Engine Rebuild Time Lapse | Redline Rebuild #3

by Wes

Ten months, 40,000+ photographs, and a small army of specialty shops — that’s what it took Hagerty’s Davin and Matt to bring this Chrysler Hemi FirePower V8 back from a full teardown to a running engine. The FirePower was Chrysler’s first hemispherical-head V8, the engine that started a lineage that would eventually produce the legendary 426 Hemi. This Redline Rebuild time-lapse compresses all of it into one deeply satisfying watch. See how far a rebuild can go when patience is the only limit.

A sleek 1966 Dodge Charger 426 HEMI muscle car in black.

History/Breakdown: 1966 Dodge Charger 426 Hemi

by Wes

The Dodge Charger nameplate started somewhere unexpected: a fastback built on the Coronet platform in 1966, with a console-heavy interior most fans have completely forgotten. Order one with a 426 Hemi, as this Brothers Collection car’s original buyer did, and you get one of the rarest Chargers in existence. V8TV’s Muscle Car of the Week digs into everything the 1968 redesign later overshadowed. See where the Charger legend actually began.

A sleek 1970 Dodge Charger from Fast and Furious.

1970 Dodge Charger R/T – FAST, FURIOUS and LOUD

by Wes

Bob Hartwig turned a career as a pilot and a childhood obsession with movie Mopars into Movie Machines, a collection built entirely around vehicles with genuine on-screen history. This 1970 Dodge Charger R/T carries ties to one of the biggest action franchises ever put on film, which helps explain why over two and a half million people have already watched it. TheAFICIONAUTO captures the sound that made the connection worth chasing. Hear it for yourself.

A classic drag racing car speeding on a race track.

BUICK vs AMERICAN MUSCLE CARS DRAG RACING

by Wes

Buick does not usually get invited into muscle car arguments, dismissed as a brand built for comfort rather than speed. This footage from Raceway Park in Englishtown puts that reputation directly to the test against genuine American muscle, in the second installment of a rivalry apparently worth revisiting. Buick’s own performance history, from the Gran Sport to the Grand National, suggests the underdog narrative might not hold up. See who actually wins part two.

Televised debate with multiple participants on a circular stage.

1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona Sells for $900,000

by Wes

Nine hundred thousand dollars is what a genuine 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona pulled at Mecum’s sale of the Wellborn Museum Collection, and the number says as much about winged Mopar mystique as it does about this specific car. Built purely to satisfy NASCAR homologation rules, the Daytona’s aerodynamic bodywork turned it into a rolling motorsport artifact rather than an ordinary muscle car. See what pushed the bidding past three-quarters of a million dollars.

1989 Oldsmobile 442 W-30 in black with red accents.

Breakdown/Review: 1969 Oldsmobile 442 W-30

by Wes

Oldsmobile rarely gets the muscle car respect that Chevrolet, Dodge, and Pontiac take for granted, but the W-30 package hiding under this 1969 442 argues otherwise. V8TV pulled this rare Canadian-delivered example, with its functional outside air induction system, straight from the Brothers Collection for Muscle Car of the Week. Few W-30 cars were built to begin with, and even fewer left the country. Find out what makes this one worth episode 98.

Various carburetors displayed with text on choosing one.

How To Choose A Carburetor

by Wes

Holley breaks down exactly how to choose the right carburetor for your build, covering CFM calculations, street versus race carburetors, and the difference between vacuum and mechanical secondaries. It’s a practical, timestamped guide built to save builders from the expensive trial-and-error of guessing carburetor size. Whether you’re building a daily driver or a dedicated race engine, the sizing mistakes covered here are worth knowing before you buy. Watch to make sure your next carburetor purchase is the right one.

Two large exhaust pipes on a vehicle, emphasizing power and performance.

The Power of 2.5- vs. 3-Inch Exhaust. Is bigger better?

by Wes

Engine Masters settled a decades-old garage argument by bolting a 600-plus-horsepower 454 Chevy to the dyno and running it through both 2.5-inch and 3-inch exhaust systems back to back. The results reveal exactly where bigger pipe stops helping and starts costing low-end power — numbers that matter more than the peak horsepower headline. Presented by AMSOIL, it’s the kind of controlled test that most exhaust marketing never bothers to run. Watch to see where the crossover point actually falls.

Intricate mechanical setup with fiery sparks and glowing tubes inside a dark workshop.

Fire Engulfs Mopar Small-Block at Engine Masters

by Wes

Buck Hinkle brought a rare Polyspheric Mopar small-block to the Engine Masters Challenge’s Vintage class, running old Chrysler architecture against modern competitors under serious pressure. Mid-pull, a failed oil filter gasket sent pressurized oil onto red-hot headers, and the dyno cell erupted into flame. HOT ROD Network caught the whole moment on camera. Watch to see how close the run came to disaster — and what it took to walk away from it.

Two exotic sports cars, McLaren and Chevrolet, showcased side by side.

McLaren MP4-12C vs 1970 Chevelle SS 396 – Joke Comparison & 1/4 Mile Drag Race

by Wes

Road Test TV pits a $300,000 McLaren MP4-12C — 616 horsepower, paddle-shift dual-clutch transmission, carbon-fiber chassis — against a 1970 Chevelle SS 396 running a four-speed manual you have to shift by hand. They call it a joke comparison in the title, and the price gap alone justifies that framing. But a quarter mile has a way of testing assumptions that a spec sheet can’t settle on its own. Watch to see whether modern supercar technology actually delivers the win it’s supposed to have.

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