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The 1967 Chevrolet Nova SS looked like a mild refresh of Chevrolet’s compact Chevy II, but underneath was a genuine giant-killer: a 350-horsepower 327 V8 available for just $93 more than the base engine. Here’s how the Nova went from economy car to muscle car contender, and what the safety updates of 1967 changed for good.
A private collector’s classified ad seeking any 1968-1972 Plymouth Road Runner or GTX, project or finished, highlights just how differently these two closely related muscle cars are remembered decades later. Built on the same platform but aimed at completely different buyers, telling them apart takes more than a glance at the badge. Read on to find out exactly what separates a genuine GTX from a Road Runner, and why the distinction matters so much to serious buyers.
A caption claiming a 528-cubic-inch Hemi on a 1965 Plymouth Belvedere doesn’t add up as a factory spec, and that’s the tell that this convertible is a resto-mod built around a modern crate engine. Here’s what a real 1965 Belvedere came with from the factory, how Plymouth’s midsize lineup was reshuffled that year, and where a 528 Hemi like this one likely came from.
This restored 1948 Chevrolet Fleetmaster convertible wears a facelift that was mostly grille and trim, but the details underneath tell the real story: a 216-cubic-inch six, a column-shifted three-speed, and interior touches that were brand new for the model year. Only 20,471 were built. Here’s a closer look at what made the Fleetmaster Chevrolet’s flagship two years running.
This 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder replica recreates the car James Dean was driving when he died, using a VW-based 1915cc flat-four instead of Porsche’s original race-bred engine. Here is the real history behind Porsche’s first purpose-built race car and the legend surrounding the original Little Bastard.
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 1949 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday paired a landmark body style, one of the first hardtop coupes GM ever built, with only 3,006 produced, with an engine that changed the industry outright: the 303-cubic-inch Rocket V-8, the first mass-produced overhead-valve V-8 in America. Together they cut 10-to-60 mph times by 4.6 seconds over the prior year’s car and helped kick off the horsepower race that would define American muscle cars for decades to come.
The Lamborghini Gallardo became the brands best-selling model ever, with over 14,000 built between 2003 and 2013, by offering something Lamborghini rarely had: real usability. This 2004 examples 500-horsepower V10 and dual-transmission choice show exactly why. Here are the numbers behind the car that redefined what a Lamborghini could be.
Plymouth’s answer to the Ford Mustang did not just need to look sporty; it needed to earn the title, and the 1965 Formula S package was how it happened. A 235 horsepower Commando V8 paired with upgraded suspension and a factory tachometer turned an ordinary Barracuda into a genuine performer. Fewer than three thousand buyers ordered it that year, so why did the option that made the car worth having stay so rare?
The 1949 Ford Custom did not just introduce a new model; it introduced an entirely new way for a car to look, ditching running boards and separate fenders for the slab-sided shoebox design that beat every rival to market. Under the hood sat one of the final chapters of Ford’s legendary flathead V8. What made this car such a turning point for the entire industry?
In 1976, a heavily built 1967 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S with a 383 big block got its doors blown off on Gratiot Avenue — by a full-size Pontiac most street racers wouldn’t have recognized. The culprit was a rare 1966 Pontiac 2+2 running a 421 tri-power engine rated at 376 horsepower, a model Pontiac once marketed as the GTO’s big brother. Read on to see how one of the rarest Pontiacs of the 1960s humbled a genuinely fast Mopar.
In 1916, Willys-Overland was Americas second-largest automaker behind only Ford, and this Model 86 was its answer to what a flagship car could be: a seven-passenger, 45-horsepower luxury tourer loaded with then-modern features. It only lasted one model year. Heres why Overland built it, and why it disappeared just as fast.
Most 1969 Chevelle SS cars left the factory with a 396 under the hood, the engine the SS package was built around that year. An LT1-badged 350, a designation usually reserved for Corvettes and Camaro Z/28s, tells a different story entirely. Chevrolet built over 86,000 Chevelle SS cars in 1969, including a tiny handful of factory-ordered secrets, like the rare COPO 427, most buyers never knew existed.
Plymouth’s first all-new postwar design wasn’t fast, flashy, or memorable — which is exactly why a stock-looking 1950 Deluxe is harder to spot today than most muscle cars. This example keeps that deliberately plain exterior while hiding a 350 small-block and automatic transmission underneath, along with power steering, power brakes, and vintage-style air conditioning. It’s the kind of sleeper nobody notices until the engine turns over. Here’s how Plymouth’s most forgettable postwar sedan became one.