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For decades, collectors swapped rumors about an unrestored 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6 hiding somewhere in the Chicago area with barely 4,000 miles on the odometer. Owner David Beem finally tracked it down through a tip from salesman Cory Peterson, and brought it to the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals for its public debut. What emerged was not a rumor anymore, it was 4,305 original miles of untouched Chevelle history. Watch to see whether the legend held up to the real thing.
The 1968 Camaro Z/28 didn’t need the biggest engine on the block — its free-revving 302ci small-block was rated at just 290 horsepower, though nobody who dyno-tested one believed that number. Built to satisfy SCCA Trans-Am rules, it became one of the most collectible first-gen Camaros ever built. See what made this small-block punch so far above its factory rating.
John Steger’s 1969 Pontiac Trans Am is a first-year survivor from a season so limited most enthusiasts have never seen one in person. Restored by Midwest Muscle Car Restorations and shown at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, the white-and-blue Trans Am represents Pontiac’s earliest bet on a badge that would later become legendary. See what it took to bring a nearly extinct first-year car back to life.
Narrowing down Chevrolet’s engine history to just eight standouts means picking fights with small-block loyalists, big-block diehards, and LS fans all at once. This rundown traces the throughline from the original 1955 265ci V8 through the muscle car era’s big-inch monsters and into the modern LS family. See which engines made the cut — and which ones you’d argue should have.
The Oldsmobile Cutlass G2, rolling out from 1964 to ’67, was like your favorite pair of jeans—comfortable, stylish, and always ready for a good time. It grew bigger, flexed a 115-inch wheelbase, and offered a buffet of engine options from the humble Oddfire 225 V6 to the beefy 400 V8. With snazzy options like tilt steering and a remote trunk release, it screamed sophistication. By ’67, it was cruising with disc brakes and optional Turbo-Hydramatic, proving it was more than just a pretty face—it was a highway hero.
In 1966, Chevy II transformed into a sharper, more angular beast with a bolder grill and a semi-fastback flair—like a car determined to make geometry cool. The Nova SS, the top dog, flaunted a 194 cu in inline-six but could flex with any engine, turning it into a muscle car with attitude. By 1967, safety upgrades joined the party, making this ride as safe as it was stylish. Despite these changes, only 8% went for the Nova SS with a V8—proving that not everyone was ready to go full throttle on the highway of life!
V8TV went back through the original 1970 magazine road tests to rank the ten quickest muscle cars of the model year, then paired each one with a real example from The Brothers Collection. A 426 Hemi Challenger and Hemi ‘Cuda show up, as expected, but so does a Buick most fans would never guess belongs in the same conversation. The order is not what casual muscle car fans assume. See where your favorite actually landed.
Pontiac built exactly eight 1969 Trans Am convertibles, and this is the first one off the line — finished in the mandatory white-and-blue livery, fitted with a rare four-speed manual, and loaded with power options few expected on a car this scarce. V8TV sat down with restorer Gary Riley at the 2015 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals to talk through what it took to bring this survivor back. Now part of The Brothers Collection, it remains one of the rarest Pontiacs most collectors will ever see.
Four of Australia’s most powerful 1970s road cars were meant to settle their rivalry in one magazine comparison test — and then the test never happened. Decades later, Shannons Insurance reunited the Falcon XA GT Hardtop, Valiant Charger E55 and Holden Monaro GTS 350 with the rarest survivor of them all: a Leyland Force 7V that was never allowed to reach showrooms. Watch to see the shootout Australian muscle car fans have argued about for fifty years.
Not every fast car from the muscle era became a household name — some got buried under a flashier sibling’s shadow, others simply never built the following their performance deserved. This rundown digs past the usual Hemi ‘Cudas and Boss 429s to the machines that quietly held their own in period road tests and are only now starting to get their due. Watch to see which overlooked muscle cars deserve a second look.
Decades before anyone connected the dots, a one-off 1967 Camaro convertible was already wearing styling details that would not reach a production Corvette until the following year. Built under GM design chief Bill Mitchell and known as the ‘Cherokee’, the car vanished from public view for years before customizer Charley Hutton brought it back to its original glory. Watch the full breakdown from the 2013 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.
Coy Harvey wasn’t hunting for classic cars when he opened that garage door in Lubbock, Texas — he was just doing his pest control route. Buried under garden tools, storage baskets and years of forgotten Christmas ornaments sat a genuine 1966 Shelby GT350, and his restoration background told him immediately exactly what he’d found. Watch the full story of an accidental discovery most enthusiasts only dream about.
The Dodge Charger Daytona’s towering rear wing and pointed nose cone weren’t styling choices — they were an engineering fix for a NASCAR problem Chrysler couldn’t afford to lose. This particular example, a 440-powered car from the respected Brothers Collection, represents the more common choice buyers actually made over the flashier Hemi. Watch V8TV’s full history and breakdown of one of muscle car history’s strangest, most purposeful designs.
No CGI, no green screen — just a Dodge Charger and a Ford Mustang tearing through San Francisco’s steepest streets at speeds that sent both cars airborne on camera. This clip captures one of the most influential car chases ever filmed, the kind stunt coordinators still study more than fifty years later. Watch to see why real steel at real speed still hits harder than anything a computer can generate.