 |
An LS6 under the hood, a Detroit Speed chassis underneath, Wilwood brakes at all four corners, and black paint so deep it looks wet standing still under the lights at Pigeon Forge — this 1969 Chevrolet Nova splits the difference between numbers-matching restoration and full resto-mod better than almost anything else on the field. Read on for what separates this build from the rest, right down to the Stinger hood tying it all back to 1969.
Peggy Szarzynski’s husband Dennis gave her this 1970 Chrysler 300 convertible as a birthday present, not realizing it would become one of the last full-size Chrysler convertibles ever built. Finished in red with the brand’s distinctive hidden headlights and fuselage styling, it’s a rare survivor from an era before gas prices sent most of its kind to the scrapyard. Watch to hear Peggy’s full story.
The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner was built to bring performance back to buyers who could not afford a GTX, which makes the 426 Hemi option one of the strangest contradictions Detroit ever offered. A stripped-out car with rubber floor mats and a cartoon bird on the fender could be ordered with the most feared engine in America. Car and Driver clocked one at 13.54 seconds at 105 mph straight off the showroom floor. Read on for what that combination actually cost and how few buyers took it.
Chevrolet built the 2014-2015 Camaro Z/28 as a purpose-built track weapon, dropping the Corvette Z06’s 505-hp LS7 into a chassis reworked with spool-valve dampers, a wider front track, and massive brakes. Semi-slick Pirelli Trofeo R tires — a production-car first — gave it grip few pony cars could match. GM originally planned thousands of units but hand-built just 1,801 at its Performance Build Center, making this naturally aspirated homage to the original Z/28 one of the rarest, most track-focused Camaros ever sold.
Dan Burback spent four years transforming a brand-new 2012 Shelby Mustang GT500 into a custom-bodied tribute to the 1967 Shelby GT500, keeping the modern supercharged drivetrain fully intact underneath. Fans at a Chicago-area cruise night called it the cleanest swap they’d ever seen. Watch to see how a modern supercar disappeared under fifty-year-old sheet metal.
Carroll Shelby turned a family sedan platform into a three-time SCCA B-Production champion, reworking the Mustang’s chassis, brakes, and suspension before ever touching the engine. The reworked Windsor 289 made 306 horsepower, Ken Miles debuted the prototype with a win at Green Valley Raceway, and just 34 dedicated GT350R race cars emerged from the 562 built in 1965. That original formula still shapes every fast Mustang built since, and a documented, numbers-matching GT350 remains one of the most sought-after collector cars from Detroit’s muscle car era.
The 1987 Monte Carlo Aerocoupe gets the NASCAR headlines, but the quieter LS trim outsold it by a wide margin that year. Standard throttle-body injection modernized the 4.3-liter V6, while an optional 5.0-liter V8 added real muscle through the same four-speed automatic. Production numbers and pricing reveal a car built for everyday buyers, not superspeedways, and one that closed out the G-body era on its own understated terms.
Mecum’s 2015 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals brought together an unusually deep field of rare survivors, including a 640-mile Plymouth Superbird, a documented Yenko Camaro, a Ford Torino King Cobra, several Hemicuda convertibles, and a one-of-eight 1969 Pontiac Trans Am convertible. Each car carries its own story of scarcity, from NASCAR homologation rules to insurance-driven production cuts. Together they show why a single weekend of bidding can shape how the wider collector market values originality and rarity.
This 1973 Pontiac Ventura started life as a badge-engineered Chevy Nova twin, sold on trim and sound insulation rather than performance. Factory power topped out at a mild 150-horsepower 350 V8, a far cry from Pontiac’s GTO-era muscle. This particular example has been built well beyond stock, with custom exhaust, upgraded V8 work, and a sharp two-tone paint job that turns an overlooked compact into a genuine sleeper. It’s proof that an anonymous badge-engineered car can still earn a second look.
Just 300 units, all Performance Red, sold directly by SVT to buyers who could prove they weren’t flipping them. The 2000 Cobra R paired a reworked Lincoln Navigator V8 with a Tremec T-56 six-speed, stripped its interior down to essentials, and added track-focused aero to become the fastest factory Mustang Ford had built to that point. Its influence still shapes how Ford builds performance Mustangs today.
This 1973 Lincoln Continental wasn’t restored for a trophy — it was rebuilt because the owner’s mother once drove this exact car, and Manns Restoration in Festus, Missouri took that responsibility seriously. The numbers-matching 460 V8 got a full rebuild, the suspension and brakes were gone through top to bottom, and the body came back looking showroom-fresh under a new white vinyl top. Watch to see how a family memory became a rolling restoration.
This 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 pairs deep black paint with the rarest option Dodge offered that year: the 426 Street Hemi, ordered by just 136 of 55,700 Coronet 500 buyers. Behind the badges sits a story of NASCAR bans, a $907.60 option box, and a factory clutch upgrade needed just to handle the torque. Read on for what made this car so hard to order in period, and what it takes to prove one is genuine today.
Bobby Alloway’s shop built this 1960 Ford Starliner around a black exterior, a lipstick red interior from Pro Auto Custom Interiors, and a 429 Boss V8 that Ford never offered when the car was new. It debuted at the 2017 Goodguy’s Nashville Nationals to a wave of praise from hot rod builders who rarely get impressed by paint alone. One viewer remembered owning an original 1960 Starliner as a teenager before selling it ahead of being drafted in 1966. What does it take to make a sixty-year-old body style look this fast standing still?
This 1965 Chevrolet Malibu SS convertible wears Evening Orchid over a white bucket seat interior with a four-speed manual, which is about as bold a specification as a buyer could order that year. The Malibu SS was a trim and appearance package rather than a factory hot rod, but 1965 turned out to be the year Chevrolet quietly changed what a Chevelle could be. What arrived partway through the model year reshaped the entire line. Read on for the mid-year decision that made 1965 matter.
This 1968 Camaro is running an engine that didn’t exist when it left the factory — a ZZ4 crate small block bolted beneath dripping-wet custom paint and polished Torque Thrust wheels. Here’s why builders keep skipping the era-correct big block for a modern crate motor, what separates a resto-mod from a numbers-matching original, and why the first-generation Camaro remains the platform builders reach for most.