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CBC Marketplace sent hidden cameras into a chain oil change shop advertising a nineteen-dollar service, and what their investigation caught on the hoist has real implications for anyone trusting a shop with a classic engine. The gap between what gets billed and what actually gets done is bigger than most owners assume, and the checklist it produces is worth keeping.
1955 was the year Pontiac finally let go of the straight-eight and gave the Star Chief its first V8, a 287-cubic-inch Strato Streak good for up to 180 horsepower. Positioned as Pontiac’s prestige model above the Chieftain, it came in five body styles, from a plain sedan to a Safari wagon to a full convertible, and drew more than 200,000 buyers that year alone. Here’s what made 1955 the turning point for Pontiac’s lineup.
A lineup of stock Hellcat Chargers and Challengers line up for straight-line bragging rights in this drag racing compilation, settling the question of whether the four-door Charger gives up anything against its two-door sibling. Comments range from jokes about spouse-approved practicality to a driver’s cautious launch technique. Watch to see which body style, and which driver, actually crosses the line first.
This black-and-white Ford Mustang diecast, still sealed in its display packaging, is exactly the kind of collectible that keeps scale-model hunters busy at swap meets and hobby shops long after the full-size car left showrooms. Packaging condition, limited production runs, and factory-correct liveries can matter as much to diecast collectors as horsepower does to muscle car buyers. Someone snapped this photo and left the punchline up to you. Here’s your chance to decide what this little Mustang is thinking.
Henry Ford once bought roughly 430,000 acres of Michigan timberland just to supply the hardwood for his station wagons, running his own sawmill to shape doors, dashboards, and headliners by hand. That wood-bodied construction disappeared by the early 1950s once steel proved cheaper and more durable, but the woodie’s story didn’t end there. A decade later, surfers turned aging wagons into rolling icons of the California coast, the same cars later name-checked in songs like the one that opens this post. Here’s how a grocery-hauler became a cultural symbol.
Joe Pieroni has owned his 1964 Chrysler Imperial Crown Coupe since 1989 — and in thirty-five years, he says he has seen exactly one other one. The two-door Crown Coupe was always the rarer choice within Chrysler’s already low-volume luxury division, and survivors from this era are scarcer still. Commenters call it the most beautiful car they’ve ever seen. Watch the full walkthrough to see why this Imperial has stayed in one owner’s hands for over three decades.
Richard Schmidt’s 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T convertible sat untouched for forty years after he and his late wife Kitty stopped using it as their everyday cruiser. His kids brought it back — not for the horsepower, but in her memory. Hagerty named the finished restoration its 2016 Classic of the Year, beating eleven other finalist stories. Watch the full story and see why one viewer called it ‘how to make a car guy cry 101.’
Tom Lembeck’s 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T packs a numbers-matching 426 Hemi, a factory Pistol Grip 4-speed, and fewer than 12,000 original miles, plus an interior option, a factory Dictaphone, that most Mopar fans have never actually seen in person. Lou Costabile sat down with Tom to walk through what makes this all-original survivor so rare. Watch to see the details that left even viewers stunned.
Rust doesn’t ask permission before it eats through a Mustang’s rear quarter panel, and fixing it properly is slower and more exacting than most people assume. This video follows Greg cutting and welding a patch panel into a 1967 Mustang coupe, doing the kind of careful sheet metal work that separates a repair that lasts decades from one that fails in five years. Watch the process and see why commenters call this a dying craft.
Buying a muscle car is rarely as simple as signing the paperwork — insurance, storage, resale value, and repair costs all factor into whether the purchase makes sense long-term. Some models appreciate with proper care; others lose value the moment you drive them home. Read on for the questions worth answering before you commit to a purchase you can’t easily walk back.
This vintage road test of a well-optioned 1971 Dodge Charger SE 440 comes from an era when television, not YouTube, brought muscle cars to audiences. Viewers in the comments identified the tester as the late Gordon Bud Lindemann, a hall-of-fame figure in automotive broadcasting. The footage doubles as both a car review and a piece of television history. Watch to see the Charger and the man who tested it.
This showroom shot of a polished orange muscle car taps into one of Detroit biggest marketing gambles: the early-1970s high-impact color wars. Hemi Orange, Hugger Orange, and Grabber Orange all trace back to the same era of factory one-upmanship. Here is the story behind the shade that still turns heads decades later.
Deep in an Oregon junkyard, sixty-year-old Mustangs, Camaros, and Chevelles sit exactly where they were left — picked over, rusting, and quietly disappearing under moss and rain. The person filming admits he takes a strange delight in documenting the decay, and the footage explains why: this is American muscle car history dying in slow motion, one panel at a time. Watch to see exactly what the Pacific Northwest weather has done to these forgotten cars.
A numbers-matching 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona doesn’t change hands without scrutiny — not when fakes and clones have circulated in the market for decades. A Michigan-based certified appraiser spent hours verifying this R4 Red example’s engine block, transmission tag, and core support before pronouncing it the real thing. Then he drove it. Watch the full inspection to see exactly what separates a genuine Daytona from an expensive guess.