 |
The 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air didn’t just sell well, it kicked off the “Tri-Five” era that’s still shaping how enthusiasts build cars seventy years later. A new 265 cubic inch small-block V8 earned it the nickname “The Hot One,” and Chevy sold 1.7 million cars that year on the strength of it. This Pro Street build pushes that legacy into drag-strip territory, proving the Tri-Five formula still has room to grow.
1957 was the last year for Ford’s original two-seat Thunderbird, and it went out with its best sales year yet at 21,380 built. Buried in that number is a rare F-code variant, a factory-supercharged Y-block making a rated 300 to 340 horsepower, with barely 200 or so built, the first handful of them purely to homologate the engine for NASCAR racing. Whether this particular Thunderbird hides that same blower under its hood is a question worth asking.
Shawn Ellington’s Murder Nova, a 1969 Chevy built around a Proline Racing big-block, is one of the most recognized cars in grassroots drag racing. At Lights Out 7, one of small-tire racing’s biggest proving grounds, the Nova pushed all the way to the semifinal round, silencing anyone who doubted a TV personality’s car could actually run with dedicated racers. Here’s how a kid from Sayre, Oklahoma built a name that still means something at the track.
This widebody 1965 Corvette Sting Ray track build channels a fight General Motors never officially let its own engineers finish: Zora Arkus-Duntov’s secret Grand Sport racing program against Shelby’s Cobras. Riding on the first Corvette generation to get standard four-wheel disc brakes, with stretched fenders and a setup built to rule a road course, it’s less resto-mod than unfinished business.
Ford discontinued the 429 Cobra Jet after 1971, and by 1972 tightening emissions rules had wiped both that big-block and the Boss 351 off the Mach 1 order sheet entirely, leaving the 351 Cleveland as the biggest engine on the menu. So why does this Screaming Yellow ’72 Mach 1 have a 429 under the hood? Read on to see the two explanations, and what it would take to prove which one is true.
This Corvette C6 turbo build proves boost and a Corvette chassis can genuinely coexist on both street and track. Twin-turbo LS builds on the C6 platform range from mild 700-800 horsepower street tunes to 1,300-plus horsepower record-holders, but the real work happens in the brakes, suspension, and weight reduction that keep a boosted C6 composed lap after lap. Here’s what separates a fast turbo Vette from a genuinely serious one.
Frank Chicherchia owns the one Mopar built a genuinely strange factory hood for, and there’s a good reason nobody else got one quite like it. Underneath that fiberglass panel sits an engine Chrysler cooked up to poach buyers who wanted more than a 383 but weren’t ready to pay Hemi money. Read on to find out what made this hood different from every other muscle car hood Detroit ever built.
Buick’s 1965 Riviera Gran Sport hid a 360-horsepower Nailhead V8 under one of Detroit’s most restrained personal luxury coupe bodies, backed by the tagline ‘the iron fist in a velvet glove.’ Fewer than 3,500 buyers ever checked the option box, making it arguably the rarest performance Buick of the decade. Read on to find out why this sleeper still flies under the radar.
Dressed in conservative, formal styling with no hints of performance, the 1965 Dodge Coronet 500 hid a genuine 330-horsepower 383 V8 under its hood — a true sleeper riding on the same B-body platform that would soon become the fastback Charger. Overshadowed for decades by Chrysler’s Hemi and 440 Six Pack cars, it remains one of the most overlooked ways into real period Mopar performance. Read on to find out what made it tick.
A 1970 Dodge Charger can hide anything from a mild 318 to a snarling 440 Six Pack under that coke-bottle sheet metal – and the difference shows up the instant the throttle opens. Here’s what separated the base R/T Magnum from the genuinely feared Six Pack option, and why collectors still chase the numbers-matching cars decades later. Real muscle, real history, real reasons to care what’s under this Charger’s hood.
V8TV marked the Camaro’s 50th anniversary in 2017 by pulling a genuinely rare example out of the private Brothers Collection: a Granada Gold 1967 Camaro SS396 convertible carrying the top 375-horsepower engine option. Every layer of specification, body style, engine output, and color, makes this a harder car to find than a standard SS396. See exactly what earned it an episode of Muscle Car of the Week.
A stock 1964 Chevy C10 shipped with a mild inline-six or a 283 small block, built for hauling, not horsepower. This one trades that modest drivetrain for a fuel-injected LS3 crate engine and Corvette brakes at all four corners, all wrapped in styling GM happened to get exactly right the first time. Here’s what makes this classic-to-modern swap work so well.
SEMA 2016 is revving up with muscle cars so powerful they make sportscars squeak worldwide. This year’s show highlights 1000hp vintage Mustangs and artificially aged Dodge Challengers, merging old-school looks with cutting-edge performance. It’s a muscle car lover’s paradise, where America’s favorite marques steal the spotlight. Whether it’s the classic Pontiac GTO, the track-ready Camaro 1LE, or the display of classic muscle in South Otago, these beasts are a nostalgic nod to power and style.
David Reese built this 1966 Ford Mustang Gasser back in 2013, and it still runs its 351 Cleveland exactly the way a period-correct gasser should. What makes War Horse unusual isn’t the raised nose or the drag strip runs — it’s that its owner has actually driven it cross-country on public roads. Watch to see how a dedicated race car earns that kind of mileage.