Interesting Facts | Muscle Car Fan

Rusty vintage Studebaker cars stored indoors in North Carolina.

The Hoard of Rusting Muscle Cars in North Carolina

On the back roads of North Carolina, a small fleet of genuinely significant muscle cars, a red Plymouth Cuda, a first-generation Mach 1 Mustang, and an early-70s Road Runner among them, sits quietly dissolving into the landscape, watched over by their owner and his dogs while he works toward saving them one day at a time. The Auto Archaeologist tracked down this particular hoard, and it was significant enough to earn its own writeup in Hot Rod Magazine. Watch to see exactly what’s sitting in that grass.

1972 Mercury Cougar Eliminator CJ 428 in vibrant orange at a car show.

1970 Mercury Cougar Eliminator CJ 428 in Competition Orange

by Wes

Gord Nelson had a Cougar Eliminator on his bucket list for years before his wife Kelly spotted the right ad and told him to go get it. The car that resulted is a 1970 Cougar Eliminator CJ 428 in Competition Orange — one of Mercury’s rarest pony car packages, shown at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. Watch to see what made the Nelsons’ hunt worth it.

A yellow Dodge Challenger with text about torque and moving a wall.

Torque Is NOT How Far You Move The Wall

by Wes

Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you move it — a line quoted constantly in car culture and rarely questioned. One engineer decided to actually test the claim against real physics instead of letting the metaphor stand, adding a direct power-to-weight versus torque-to-weight comparison to answer the towing questions the idea always raises. Watch to find out whether the wall analogy holds up at all.

A damaged black Dodge Challenger with the text "ALREADY BROKEN!" in a repair shop.

1st Day Of Ownership And My 2018 Widebody Hellcat Challenger Already Broke!

by Wes

A brand-new 2018 Widebody Hellcat Challenger ran into trouble before its first day of ownership was even over, and the reaction from viewers split fast between sympathy and skepticism about how serious the problem actually was. Long Island commenters recognized the neighborhood from the footage and turned the replies into an impromptu regional meetup thread. Watch to see exactly what went wrong, and how big a deal it really turned out to be.

Man showcasing a Chevy 350 small block engine top end on a video thumbnail.

ow-To Rebuild Top End Chevy 350 Small Block Engine

by Wes

Episode 67 of the Motorz rebuild series picks up the Chevy 350 build at its most consequential stage — the top end, where a single missed torque step or skipped sealant can undo three prior episodes of careful work. Viewers with decades of small block experience have weighed in throughout, flagging two specific mistakes worth avoiding and trading tricks that never make it into a written manual. Watch to see exactly where a home rebuild can go right, or wrong.

A man works on a car engine in a garage, smiling at the camera.

Chevy LS Engine Part 1 Tear Down

by Wes

This LS engine teardown starts with the same uncertainty every rebuild does — you never quite know what years of neglect actually did until the first bolts come loose. Viewers ranging from lifelong diesel technicians to first-time builders have weighed in on the technique, debating everything from head bolt removal order to a cheap salvage-yard 6.0-liter with an oddball factory quirk. Watch to see exactly what comes out of this engine, one bolt at a time.

1967 Dodge Charger 426 HEMI in white, classic muscle car.

History/Review: 1967 Dodge Charger 426 Hemi Factory Auto Show Car

by Wes

This 1967 Dodge Charger was not built for a dealer lot — it was assembled for Dodge’s stand at the International Auto Show, loaded with options and powered by the 426 Hemi most buyers could only special-order and hope for. Now preserved in The Brothers Collection, the car still carries its factory show-car details, right down to a four-bucket-seat interior fans call one of Chrysler’s best. Watch to see what almost sixty years of careful preservation looks like up close.

The 2017 435 hp Torino Rumor Continues…..

by Pat C

A rumor claiming Ford is bringing back the Torino with 435 horsepower and rear-wheel drive has circulated across enthusiast forums, but there’s no official statement from Ford anywhere backing it up. The real story is better than the rumor: the original Torino Cobra packed a 428 Cobra Jet V8 and a genuine NASCAR pedigree. Read on to find out where this rumor actually came from.

A classic blue Oldsmobile Toronado car featured in a buyer's guide video.

Oldsmobile Toronado | Buyer’s Guide

by Wes

Oldsmobile’s 1966 Toronado paired a 425 cubic-inch V8 with front-wheel drive at a time when that combination was nearly unheard of in America. Hagerty’s Stefan Lombard heads to the Lingenfelter Collection to walk through exactly what separates a well-sorted example from a expensive mistake, and makes the case for why this overlooked personal luxury coupe deserves real collector attention. Watch for the full checklist.

The Yenko Super Camaro L-78 With The 427 & 396 Engines.

by Pat C

Don Yenko found three different ways around GM’s rule capping Camaro engines at 400 cubic inches, hand-swapping in 427s for 1967 and 1968 before finally getting Chevrolet to build the combination on the factory line for 1969. With production numbers as low as 104 cars in the first year, these remain some of the rarest true muscle cars ever built. Read on for the year-by-year breakdown of exactly how each version came together.

A classic muscle car with a sleek black finish parked on a street.

Now & Then: Dodge Challenger

by Wes

One owner, two generations of the same nameplate: this Autofocus.ca segment pairs a genuine early Dodge Challenger with a modern successor, both owned by the same person. Rather than settling for a manufacturer-style verdict, the comparison digs into what actually changed — and what didn’t — across nearly fifty years of the same badge. Watch to hear the case made by someone who never had to choose between them.

Two muscle cars ready to race on an open road at sunset.

Mustang GT 5.0 vs Dodge Challenger RT 5.7L | STREET RACE & BURNOUTS!

by Wes

A 2016 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 and a 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T 5.7L line up for a Los Angeles street race that reignites the manual-versus-automatic fairness debate. Modern Muscle’s host takes on car owner @chefyork_s550 across several runs, including one unscripted moment in a tunnel that’s been quoted in the comments for years. Viewers remain split on which car actually deserves the win. Watch to see how the runs play out.

Vintage road test of a classic car engine under the hood.

1968 Hurst Olds – vintage road test

by Wes

GM capped intermediate cars at 400 cubic inches in 1968 — so Hurst and an independent Michigan dealer built this Cutlass-based coupe outside the factory line to get around it, stuffing a 455 under the hood. This vintage road test captures the resulting Hurst/Olds exactly as period journalists first experienced it. Watch to see the loophole car in action.

Green classic Plymouth Barracuda muscle car with racing stripes at a car show.

1971 Plymouth Cuda in Sassy Grass Green Paint & 440 Engine Sound

by Wes

Plymouth called this color Sassy Grass Green, part of a deliberately loud High Impact palette designed to make its muscle cars impossible to ignore. Wrapped around a factory 440-powered 1971 ‘Cuda restored by owner Tom Benson’s own restoration company, it drew comments calling the front end “the best of any muscle car” from the era. Filmed at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, this is a restoration built to hold up under serious scrutiny. Watch the full walkaround and hear the 440 run.

A Ford 302 engine undergoing complete teardown in a workshop.

Ford 302 Complete Engine Tear Down

by Wes

EricTheCarGuy tears down a Ford 302 for the long-running #FairmontProject expecting a straightforward rebuild — until the inspection turns up a problem that changes the entire plan. The video’s own description admits the block likely won’t work, then pivots straight into the next phase: a turbo kit already in development. Watch to see exactly what disqualified the block, and what comes next.

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