 |
This 1969 Nova SS left the factory with a 375-horsepower 396 and spent 24 years drag racing across two owners before a pawned-for-a-wedding detour, a full restoration, and a trade for a Harley-Davidson brought it to its current owner, Bob Cole of Odessa, Washington. What followed was a methodical effort to verify and correct every detail back toward period-correct spec. Read on to find out what the teardown revealed.
The 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 paired aggressive styling with the legendary 428 Cobra Jet or Super Cobra Jet V8, undercutting rival big-block muscle cars on price while matching or beating their performance. It remains one of the more underrated variants in the first-generation Mustang lineup. Watch to see exactly what made this combination such a giant-killer in 1969.
Built almost exclusively for California dealers and inspired by a secretive Shelby prototype, the 1968 Mustang GT/CS combined fog lamps, a rear spoiler, and exclusive striping into a distinct model Ford never planned as a mainstream offering. Production fell short of its 5,000-unit target, and the car’s own name is still debated by historians decades later. Read on to find out how one regional sales manager talked Dearborn into building it.
The 1967 Pontiac GTO got a modest styling refresh, but the real story was a single option buried on the order form: the L67 Ram Air 400, installed in just 56 convertibles out of more than 81,000 GTOs built that year. Higher-revving power, a Rochester Quadrajet carburetor, and a mid-year cylinder head change made it one of the most collectible GTOs ever built. Read on to find out what actually separated a genuine Ram Air car from an ordinary 1967 GTO.
Ford’s FE V8 powered nearly every brand in the lineup for eighteen years, from Fairlanes and Mustangs to the AC Cobra and the purpose-built Thunderbolt drag car, while NASCAR homologation rules forced Ford to keep pace on the street. A side-oiler fix born on the race track, industrial and marine applications, and a still-thriving aftermarket kept the engine relevant decades after Ford stopped building it. Read on to find out what actually separates an FE from its heavy-duty FT cousin.
Plymouth built the 1970 ‘Cuda on an all-new E-body platform designed specifically to house its biggest engines, and dropping in the 426 Street Hemi produced one of the rarest muscle cars Detroit ever made — just 652 examples, split across three transmission choices. Nine outrageous colors and the shaker hood completed the package. Read on to find out what actually separates a genuine numbers-matching Hemi ‘Cuda from a well-built tribute.
Tesla’s original two-seat Roadster picked up serious upgrades between 2010 and 2012 — a hand-wound stator for more efficient power delivery, adjustable suspension, noise-damping body panels, and a genuinely upscale leather interior. A mid-cycle refresh added new wheels, a touchscreen, and hot-climate hardware before Tesla’s Lotus-based chassis supply ran out for good. Read on to find out how a Silicon Valley startup’s first car built a case for electric performance long before it became mainstream.
This 1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS Z28, finished in Granada Gold, carries no exterior badge proving what it is — just a “4L” code stamped on the firewall confirming its rare, racing-homologated 302 V8. Owner Ron Makovich has kept it since 2000, sharing the hobby with his son and grandchildren. Watch to find out why the very first Z28 Camaros were built to satisfy a racing rulebook, not a sales brochure.
Shelby never officially built a 1967 GT500 convertible — except, according to owner and Shelby historian Brian Styles, this one. Backed by his own research group dedicated to documenting that exact model year, Styles walks through the paper trail behind a car that reportedly sold for $775,000 at auction, stunning a room that expected far less. Watch to see the evidence for one of the more compelling ownership stories in Shelby history.
Only 80 of these Dodge Dart GTS Hurst-Hemi coupes ever left the factory, built with fiberglass panels, a stripped interior, and a 426 Hemi tuned strictly for the quarter-mile. Chrysler skipped the radio, the warranty, and just about every comfort feature to shave weight for Super Stock competition. Today, genuine examples can command prices approaching $250,000, and specialists still build faithful reproductions for collectors who cannot find the real thing. Read on to find out what made this stripped-down Dart one of Chrysler’s most extreme factory experiments.
A 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda convertible surfaced after roughly thirty-five years in storage, and its VIN tells a story most barn finds cannot back up: it is one of only 17 factory 440-6 Barrel convertibles Plymouth ever built. Viewers immediately started arguing over what a car this rare is actually worth, with estimates ranging from six figures unrestored to well over a million dollars fully restored. Watch to see the car — and the debate — for yourself.
This 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge convertible carries two rare distinctions at once: it is one of only 108 Judge ragtops Pontiac built that year, and it wears Verdoro Green, a color legend says traces back to an executive’s wife and her favorite ashtray. Owner Evelyn has driven it since 2017 and calls herself exactly what you would expect. Watch to find out how a sketch-comedy catchphrase and a design-office ashtray shaped one of muscle car history’s most talked-about color choices.
A straightforward primer on Oldsmobile V8 engines has spent years quietly becoming a gathering place for Olds owners — 455 Rocket testimonials, a detailed home-built 400-horsepower Cutlass 350, and warnings about the engine family’s well-known low oil pressure. One commenter’s story about a Rocket 350, a forced sale, and a divorce he half-jokes he regrets more than losing the car sums up why this channel keeps pulling people back.
By 1972 the GTO wasn’t a standalone model anymore — it was an option package on the Le Mans, its trademark Endura bumper no longer exclusive and its horsepower quietly dropping year over year. By 1974 it had drifted even further, becoming an option on the compact Ventura and drawing comparisons to a Chevy Nova in drag. Read on to find out how the car that arguably invented the muscle car category spent its final three model years fighting to stay recognizable.
MotorWeek’s 1985 Retro Review pits a Ford Mustang GT, Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z, and Pontiac Trans Am against each other in a head-to-head that now doubles as a time capsule — sticker prices around 10 to 12 thousand dollars, barely 200 horsepower, and a carbureted-engine punchline that’s become a running joke in the comments. Watch to see which of the three came out on top, and why Pontiac fans still mourn its absence.