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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.
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.
This 1970 Pontiac Firebird now runs a 632-cubic-inch big block making 853 horsepower on pump gas, built by Bulletmotorsports with no expense spared and featured on a magazine cover. But according to commenters with apparent firsthand knowledge, the car originally ran a smaller Butler Pontiac engine already making 850 horsepower and running 9-second quarter miles, sparking a real debate about whether the swap was an upgrade or a mistake. Watch to see the build and decide for yourself.
Plymouth built only about 115 genuine Hemi ‘Cudas in 1971, each rated at 425 horsepower. This restomod trades that legendary but comparatively modest engine for a modern 572-cubic-inch Hemi crate motor pushing past 800, wrapped around a one-off grille and a five-time Detroit Autorama award-winning interior. Here’s how a crate engine nearly doubled the original’s output, and what that does to a ‘Cuda’s value.
The 1965 Buick Riviera Gran Sport was the first year Buick attached that badge to its personal luxury coupe, and the package hid a genuinely serious performance setup under all that plush trim. Dual four-barrel carburetors, a stiffened chassis and a limited-slip rear turned a two-and-a-half-ton cruiser into something that could embarrass much lighter cars. This particular build adds a custom interior, aftermarket wheels and a lowered stance without losing what made the car special. Read on for what the Gran Sport package really included.
A 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcat’s test day at Willow Springs wasn’t a random venue choice — it’s a return to a track built on a mistake. Bill Huth bought the circuit in 1962 planning to run drag racing down a straight that was too short, and spent the next five decades turning it into one of America’s most demanding road courses instead. Here’s that story, and what a Hellcat has to prove there.
Only about 50 of the roughly 44,808 Mustang convertibles Ford built in 1967 carried the rare K-code 289 HiPo V8, and most of that engine’s already-tiny production run went straight to Carroll Shelby instead. This triple-black example from the Brothers Collection might be the only one wearing a black deluxe interior. Here’s why documented K-code cars carry such a premium, and how collectors prove one is real.
Plymouth built just 2,128 Road Runner convertibles for 1969, and only 769 came with a four-speed manual behind the 383. This one’s got both, plus the Air Grabber hood and a full options list that shows exactly how fast Road Runner buyers dressed up Plymouth’s bare-bones performance idea. Here’s the full story behind the rarest configuration of the model’s debut convertible year.
The 2016 Pigeon Forge Rod Run packed the LeConte Center and turned the Tennessee town’s Parkway into a slow parade of muscle cars, street rods, and classics, but the event began decades earlier as an unofficial club cruise-in that Gatlinburg pushed out of town. From the 1983 move to the Grand Hotel to the 1986 split and the 2014 jump to a convention center, read on to find out how a handful of enthusiasts built one of the country’s biggest classic car gatherings.