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Car News Central counts down six of the biggest engines General Motors ever built, spanning the big-block muscle car era all the way through modern truck and diesel powerplants that quietly outdisplace their more famous ancestors. Some entries are legends every gearhead already knows; others are industrial workhorses that never got the spotlight. Watch to see which engine actually claims the top spot.
After 1,300 grueling miles of Rocky Mountain Race Week, Doug Cline’s 3,000-horsepower twin-turbo Camaro breaks through the starting line at 190 mph following a fuel buildup — and what happens in the next few seconds costs him potentially two turbochargers. A split-second decision not to pull the chutes turns a monster pass into a costly mess. Watch to see exactly how sand and gravel end up where turbos definitely shouldn’t have them.
This 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS convertible pairs a 327 small-block V8 with a 4-speed manual and factory Madeira Maroon paint, a combination V8TV calls a real knockout straight from the Brothers Collection. It’s a reminder that the Chevelle SS built its reputation on small-block agility before the big-blocks ever arrived. Watch the full breakdown to see what makes this early example so collectible.
The Chevrolet Nova SS never got the attention Chevy poured into the Camaro or the Chevelle, but that’s exactly what makes it one of the most underrated sleepers of the muscle car era. Drop a 375-horsepower 396 into a car that’s lighter and smaller than its more famous siblings, and you’ve got something that surprises people who don’t know what they’re looking at. Only a few thousand of the biggest-engine cars were ever built across 1968-1970. That rarity is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves.
Nick’s Garage throws a holiday party unlike any other, complete with Ouzo shots for the crew and a mystery engine known only as the X-Block strapped to the dyno as the evening’s gift. Before revealing any specs, the whole build gets put to the test the only way that matters for a drag racing engine. Watch to see what Nick’s holiday surprise actually makes on the dyno.
Buick’s 1956 Centurion concept skipped the rearview mirror entirely, replacing it with a six-pound TV camera in the tail feeding a dash-mounted screen, decades before backup cameras existed anywhere else. It also debuted a full bubble roof and bucket seats, all under GM stylist Charles M. Jordan’s first major design credit. The camera wouldn’t reach a production car until 1991, and it took until 2018 for U.S. law to require one on every new vehicle.
Wheels lines up a head-to-head between muscle car eras, pitting a 1969 Dodge Charger, a Chevy Nova, and other classics against the modern Dodge Demon, Hellcat, and new ZL1 in straight-line drag racing. With nearly three million views, it’s become one of the definitive versions of an argument car enthusiasts have never stopped having. Watch to see whether raw displacement or modern engineering wins the day.
The Hennessey Venom GT hit 270.49 mph at NASA’s old Space Shuttle runway in February 2014, a speed that should make it the fastest production car ever built. It isn’t official: Guinness requires at least 30 units to qualify, and Hennessey built only 29, so the record technically doesn’t count despite the number being real. At 2,743 pounds and roughly 1 horsepower per kilogram, it’s easy to see how the numbers got there in the first place.
This 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury carries the 426 Max Wedge package that turned an ordinary full-size Mopar into a Super Stock drag racing legend, complete with 11.1:1 compression, a dual-quad short-ram intake, and a stripped-down spec sheet built purely for speed. Straight from the Brothers Collection, it’s about as close as a dealer-ordered car ever got to a factory race car. Watch the full breakdown to see what made it a record-setter.
Dodge built a version of the Challenger with all-wheel drive and a V6 instead of a V8, aimed squarely at buyers who want the styling without the seasonal compromise of rear-drive muscle. This review borrows a genuine dealer demonstrator from LaFontaine Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram to answer the obvious question head-on: is it still a proper muscle car? The verdict is more complicated than a simple yes or no. Watch to see where it actually lands.
A junkyard Chevy 350 small block gets torn down step by step in this video, the opening chapter of a five-part rebuild series that follows the engine from core to fully running. Chris Duke walks through exactly what to check, what to save, and what a genuine teardown requires before any machining begins. He even corrects an early misidentification of the donor truck along the way. Follow along before moving on to the machine shop stage.
Hemi gets used like a brand name at every muscle car show, but it actually describes a specific combustion chamber shape with real engineering tradeoffs behind it. Engineering Explained breaks down why the hemispherical design allows for larger valves and better airflow, and why that same shape eventually made the layout less practical for modern emissions-focused engines. The explanation reframes a badge most fans take for granted. Watch to find out what the name is actually describing.
A 1968 Dodge Charger sat forgotten in the back of an old scrapyard, hidden from the road and untouched for who knows how long, until somebody willing to walk past the visible rows finally spotted its unmistakable fastback shape. Convincing the yard’s owner to finally sell took some doing. Now it is headed into a full restoration. See the condition it was really found in before the work began.
A dealer rarely gets sentimental about a car passing through their lot, but the team at Retro Classic Car mounted a GoPro for one last POV drive through this 1979 Camaro Z28 before handing it to its new owner. By their own account, it was one of the best examples of the model they had ever stocked. The sound alone, they say, never gets old. Ride along for the last lap before it changed hands for good.
Barefoot Ronnie Pace brought his Yenko Nova to a Texas street outlaw grudge match, nitrous system primed and ready to settle the pass against a car tuned by Flaccos Tuning. What happens next is the exact moment every nitrous tuner fears: a violent backfire loud enough to make the whole crowd flinch. Driver Mod TV caught it clean on camera. Watch to see whether the Nova, and Ronnie, made it through in one piece.