 |
This 1968 Dodge Dart tribute build packs a 605-cubic-inch Hemi big block under a functional hood scoop, riding on a tubbed rear end built to handle far more power than Dodge’s original 80-unit Hemi Dart ever put down. Painted bright red with a chrome-and-polish engine bay to match, it channels the spirit of Dodge’s most notorious factory drag car. Read on to find out what actually separates this tribute from the real thing.
The badge on this car says V8, but the Lincoln-Zephyr that defined the late 1930s never came with one from the factory — it ran a smooth, compact V12 unlike anything else in Lincoln’s lineup before or since. Edsel Ford personally championed the design, and it helped save Lincoln during the Depression. Here’s the real story behind the engine that made the Zephyr famous, and what a V8 badge on this example likely means.
This 1968 Pontiac GTO convertible skips right past the factory’s 350-, 360-, and 366-horsepower Ram Air options and goes straight for a 461 cubic-inch stroker backed by a five-speed manual — a combination Pontiac never dreamed of building. The GOAT’s best sales year meets a modern-day engine build that would make even the Ram Air II blush. Here’s what made 1968 the GTO’s high-water mark, and why this stroker droptop earns its own bragging rights.
The Chevrolet El Camino SS Choo Choo package earned its odd nickname somewhere along the way, and by 1987, the very last year Chevrolet built an El Camino at all, buyers had one final chance to check that option box. Only 861 of these were built in that final model year, out of roughly 4,950 total across the package’s entire run. Here is what made this quirky appearance package a genuine send-off for one of Chevrolet’s most unusual nameplates.
1966 was the single best-selling year the Pontiac GTO ever had — and it’s also the year Pontiac quietly buried one of its rarest factory engine options, a Ram Air camshaft package that replaced Tri-Power on paper but never really won buyers over. Barely 35 were built to factory spec. Here’s the story behind the GTO’s forgotten sales peak.
Lincoln’s 1953 Cosmopolitan packed a freshly reworked 317 cubic-inch V8 good for 205 horsepower, a 45-hp jump over the prior year. That extra muscle wasn’t just for show — Lincoln sent the Cosmopolitan into the brutal Carrera Panamericana road race and swept the top four spots against bigger-engined Cadillacs and Chryslers. See the full story behind this Hydra-Matic-equipped survivor and what made it a genuine road-racing sedan in formal luxury clothing.
1967 marked the final year of the Chevrolet El Camino’s second generation, and one of its most overlooked performance years. Buyers could order this car-truck hybrid with seven different powertrains, topping out with an SS396 big-block borrowed straight from the Chevelle. With just 34,830 built, clean surviving examples of this last-of-its-kind El Camino are increasingly hard to find.
The twin hood scoops on every 1971-73 Mustang Mach 1 look identical whether they actually work or not — and by 1973, emissions rules meant the functional Ram Air version could only be paired with the milder 351-2V, not the Cobra Jet most people assume it came with. Here’s the quiet compromise Ford made on one of its most recognizable muscle car features, right as the era was ending.
Most 1937 Plymouth sedans left the factory with a flathead six that struggled to keep up with modern freeway traffic — this one didn’t stay that way. Somewhere along the line it traded that engine for GM’s Ramjet 350, a genuine fuel-injected crate V8 good for around 345 to 351 horsepower with real Vortec heads and a hydraulic roller cam. Bolted to a four-speed automatic, it turns a prewar sedan into a legitimate driver rather than a trailer queen. Here’s what makes this swap more than just another engine transplant.
In 1993, Ford’s brand-new Special Vehicle Team had one job: build a Mustang worthy of the Cobra name. What they delivered was a reworked 5.0-liter V8 making 235 horsepower — and, for the truly committed, an ultra-rare 107-unit Cobra R that anyone could buy with no racing license required (a loophole SVT closed for good on the 1995 R that followed). Together the two variants added up to barely 5,100 cars out of a production year well over 100,000 Mustangs. Here’s the story of the Cobra that started it all.
Bob Welling served as a Marine in Vietnam, came home a died-in-the-wool Chevy guy, and still ended up chasing down a piece of 1968 Mopar history decades later. What started as a simple fix for an engine rattle turned into a full supercharged Hemi build — one so powerful that hitting the throttle at highway speed sends the rear end sideways. Read on to find out how a tribute to Dodge’s rarest factory drag cars became Bob’s daily street cruiser.
Most 1958 Pontiac Star Chiefs left the factory with a 370-cubic-inch V-8, but a rare Tri-Power option pushed output to 300 hp — with an even rarer fuel-injected version topping 310. Sales that year collapsed by roughly 60 percent for Pontiac, making surviving examples scarcer than the model’s reputation suggests. This particular car pushes well past its factory roots with a big-block swap, turning a once-overlooked flagship into a genuine hot rod.
The 409 had already become a cultural icon by 1964, but that same year marked the beginning of its decline, with just 8,684 installed across Chevy’s entire full-size lineup that year, Impala SS included. Behind that restyled body with its signature triple taillights sat one of Detroit’s most serious engines. Here is what made the dual-quad 409/425 combo a genuine handful in the best way.
This 1957 Chevrolet Nomad wasn’t just rare when new – it was already living on borrowed time. Chevrolet built roughly 6,100 examples for the final year of the original two-door Nomad before folding its halo-wagon ambitions into the upcoming Impala. Buyers that year could option their Nomad with anything from a mild inline-six to the legendary fuel-injected 283, a spread most shoppers never fully explored before the model quietly disappeared.