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This 1978 Pontiac Trans Am rolled into V8 Speed & Resto Shop running like anything but a bird of fire — and rolled out with a FAST EZ-EFI fuel injection system, a 2004R overdrive transmission, and a COMP Cams roller valvetrain under its Pontiac 400. The upgrades are the kind Pontiac purists argue about for hours. See exactly what changed and why the team made each call.
Chevrolet rated the 1970 Chevelle SS 454’s LS6 engine at 450 horsepower, but nobody who dyno-tested one believed the number — Super Chevy Magazine’s own testing pointed to something closer to 500. It was the most powerful engine Chevrolet ever put in a Chevelle, offered for exactly one year before EPA rules ended the experiment. Only 4,475 LS6 Chevelles were built in 1970, and just 137 are verified on today’s national registry. Read on for what made this one-year-only big block so different from every 454 that came after it.
Ford built the FE 427 Cammer to solve one problem: Chrysler’s 426 Hemi was dominating NASCAR, and a conventional block wasn’t going to catch it. The side-oiler engine replaced a normal camshaft with an idler shaft and a six-foot timing chain driving twin overhead cams, hollow sodium-filled exhaust valves, and a hemispherical combustion chamber Ford couldn’t even call a Hemi because Chrysler owned the name. Sold as a crate engine in 1968, the dual-carb version made 657 horsepower for $2,350. Read on for how Ford’s FE family evolved from Mercury’s 410 to this NASCAR-killer.
A 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback built in the image of Eleanor from Gone in 60 Seconds should be judged on its widebody kit and hood pins. Instead, nearly every comment on this Mainly Musclecars build is about one thing, the paint. Watch to see the color that convinced longtime Mustang fans, and at least one skeptical spouse, that this Eleanor tribute finally got it right.
This 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 sat dormant for decades under a barn tarp before its rare four-speed manual and 428 FE big block finally roared back to life. Full-size Fords like this one quietly offered serious performance alongside the more famous Mustangs and Torinos of the era. Watch the careful, methodical process behind waking up a big block that hadn’t run in a generation.
Tom Cotter’s Barn Find Hunter tracked down a numbers-matching 1954 Chevrolet Corvette and its original Blue Flame Six engine, tucked into a collection that also holds a 1970 Buick GS Stage 1 convertible, a big-block El Camino, and a warehouse of dusty Italian sports cars including an ASA 1000 GT nicknamed the “baby Ferrari.” Few barn find episodes cover this much ground in one visit. Watch to see what else Cotter uncovers.
Henry Ford spent six years quietly developing the flathead V8 before it debuted in the 1932 Model 18 — the engine that would define hot rodding for the next two decades and, according to legend, even earn a thank-you letter from Bonnie and Clyde’s Clyde Barrow. It replaced the Model A as Ford’s flagship and became Henry Ford’s last major engineering achievement before he handed the company to his son Edsel. Production in America ended in 1953, but the flathead kept running in France and Brazil for decades. Read on for the full story of Ford’s most influential V8.
The 2013 SRT Viper GTS paired a 640-horsepower, 8.4-liter V10 with real stability control and Brembo brakes — the first Viper generation built to back up its speed with genuine handling credentials. On Pirelli Corsa tires, it posted a lap time at Laguna Seca that beat the Corvette ZR1, and it went even quicker on slicks. A 33-unit Time Attack edition and a factory GTS-R race car pushed the formula further still. Read on for how Dodge finally built a Viper that could out-brake its own engine.
The first Dodge Viper wasn’t built for comfort — it launched in 1992 with no side windows, no door handles, and no anti-lock brakes, powered by an aluminum-block V10 good for a 12.6-second quarter mile. Carroll Shelby drove an early prototype as the 1991 Indy 500 pace car before the public ever saw one for sale. By the time the second generation wrapped up in 2002, Chrysler had refined the formula without softening it. Read on to see how the Viper evolved across its first two generations.
A Muscle Car Fan reader recalls buying his first real performance car, a 1969 GTO nicknamed The Goat, for $1,200 in the summer of 1979, then living an entire high school year defined by drag races, a blown clutch on his first date, and a January night that ended with a friend’s Fairlane wrapped around a utility pole. Somehow nobody called the police on him. Read on for how the story, and the car, both ended.
Patrick Glenn Nichols uncovers a property on the Tennessee/Mississippi state line packed with forgotten muscle, including Chevelles, Impalas, Novas, and even a 1955 Chevy, all hidden under tall weeds after years of neglect. The find raises the same question every barn hunter faces: how much of this is actually salvageable, and how much has already been lost to time. Watch to see exactly what condition these classics are in after years exposed to the elements.
A 1965 Pontiac GTO Tri-Power, the car most historians credit with inventing the muscle car category, takes on a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T and its 375 horsepower 440 Magnum in a quarter-mile pass that is closer than the 15 horsepower gap between them suggests. Viewers in the comments have pointed out that the GTO actually lost to a red-light foul, not a straight-line beating. Both cars run essentially stock, full-weight, and unmodified off the factory floor. Watch the start as closely as the finish to see why.
Tesla’s 2013 Model S launched four years ahead of schedule, with its top trim producing 416 horsepower and running 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds, numbers that justified comparisons to gasoline muscle cars. A 17-inch touchscreen controlled nearly every function in the cabin, while three available battery packs offered up to 300 miles of range. Read on to find out how the muscle car comparison held up as Tesla’s lineup evolved.
Cliff Batson calls himself a lifelong Chevy guy, which makes his 1968 Ford Mustang GT Fastback — bought in 1990 and still in his garage today — something closer to an exception than a habit. It wears Lime Gold, a color Ford offered for only a few years, and pairs a 9-inch rear end with a top-loader manual that enthusiasts still call one of Ford’s best factory drivetrain combinations. It shares its body style with the Bullitt Mustang, minus the Hollywood color. Watch it run bone stock, three decades into one owner’s care.
This Matchbox Garage retrospective traces the Chevrolet Camaro’s full evolution, from the original 1967 pony car built to challenge the Mustang, through six generations, a seven-year hiatus, and the retro-styled revival that landed in 2010. Along the way, the video revisits the highs of the Z/28 and IROC-Z eras and the rough patches that nearly killed the nameplate for good. Watch to see all six generations side by side and decide for yourself which era actually deserves the crown.