History | Muscle Car Fan

Thunderbird 1962-1963

Lee Iacocca took over Ford’s day-to-day operations determined to give buyers more reasons to visit a showroom, and the 1962-1963 Thunderbird Sports Roadster was part of that push — complete with wire wheels borrowed straight from genuine sports cars, a fiberglass tonneau cover, and an ultra-rare 345-horsepower Tri-Power engine option that lasted barely a year and a half. It also involved Elvis Presley, a collapsing wire wheel, and a name change that almost happened but didn’t. Read on to find out how it all fit together.

1969 Camaro ZL-1 with a powerful engine on display at a car show.

video: THE FIRST 1969 CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 EVER BUILT

by Wes

This 1969 Camaro ZL-1 isn’t just rare — it’s chassis number one, the very first of only 69 ever built, delivered to Fred Gibb Chevrolet on New Year’s Eve 1968 and turned into a drag-strip record setter almost immediately. Host Charley Lillard walks through its all-aluminum 427, its competition history, and why fewer than 40 ZL-1s are believed to survive today. One commenter calls it simply the Holy Grail of all Camaros.

Close-up of a classic car front grille with iconic headlights.

70 Plymouth GTX Commercial

by Wes

A decades-old Plymouth GTX commercial resurfaces, and its comment section turns into something more than nostalgia — a detailed 0-to-60 report from a former owner, an argument over which B-body Plymouth actually looked best, and one story about a nearly identical burnt orange GTX destroyed in a 1980 drag race that one viewer calls almost too painful to watch.

Classic muscle cars showcased in a detailed video tour.

Rare 1977 Pontiac Lemans Can Am – 6.6V8 Muscle Car

by Wes

Pontiac planned to build nearly 5,000 examples of the 1977 LeMans Can Am before a spoiler mold problem cut the run short at just 1,377 cars — a fraction of them fitted with a different engine entirely. RamblinAround tracks down one of the survivors, and the comments fill in details even longtime Pontiac fans admit they’d never heard before, from quarter-mile times to a rare column-shift option.

1971 Buick Riviera convertible parked on pavement.

1971 Buick Riviera in Sandpiper Beige Paint & 455 Engine Sound

by Wes

Tim Hall says he bought his 1971 Buick Riviera because he “liked the backend on it” — a reference to the polarizing “boattail” design GM design chief Bill Mitchell pushed through against dealer skepticism. Lou Costabile catches up with Tim and the Sandpiper Beige coupe at a small-town Illinois car show, where decades-old opinions about the shape are still being argued out in the comments. The 455 under the hood is almost an afterthought.

Pontiac Trans Am custom Hurst Edition 2013 – stand out from the crowd

by Ross Mills

Pontiac hasn’t built a car in years, but a Tallahassee shop called Trans Am Depot will still sell you one — by starting with a fifth-generation Camaro and spending eight weeks turning it into a Hurst Edition Trans Am tribute, gold logo, shaker hood, and all. Between the base conversion, a fully optioned Camaro donor, and a supercharger kit, the final bill can climb past $100,000. Read on to find out what that money actually buys, right down to the carbon fiber sill plates.

Corvette 1984 to 1996

by Ross Mills

The C4-generation Corvette had something to prove — and it did, in ways most owners never fully realized. Between 1984 and 1996 it introduced a completely redesigned platform, brought in British firm Lotus Engineering to help build the 375-horsepower ZR-1, and quietly set a 24-hour, 175-mph endurance speed record along the way. A separately built twin-turbo version, the Callaway Sledgehammer, pushed even further, hitting 254.76 mph on a closed track. Read on to find out how an era known for plastic panels and a flawed anti-theft key also became one of the fastest Corvette generations ever built.

Nighttime street scene with a car in motion and bright headlights.

Plymouth Roadrunner & GTX Commercials

by Wes

A compilation of Plymouth Road Runner and GTX commercials spanning 1967 to 1971 has resurfaced online, and the comments underneath it turn into an oral history of Mopar’s golden age — a CHP officer’s 440-powered police package, a viewer who bought a used Road Runner for $1,200 in 1974, and an ongoing argument about whether 1968 was truly the brand’s best year ever. Watch to see which ad plays entirely without dialogue.

Classic red muscle car with black stripes at a car show.

1971 Plymouth Road Runner & Engine Sound

by Wes

Lee Ernst calls his 1971 Plymouth Road Runner the “Big Orange Car” because of how it entered his life — on Halloween night, 2013. Lou Costabile catches up with Lee and the car at Iron Gate Motor Condos in Naperville, Illinois, where a fired-up 440 and a nickname straight out of the comments section, “Speed Pumpkin,” tell you everything about this car’s personality. Nine years in, the Halloween story is still how Lee introduces it to strangers.

Classic 1968 Chevrolet Nova in green with polished chrome wheels.

1970 Chevrolet Chevy Nova in Green Mist & 6 Cylinder Start Up

by Wes

Lou Costabile visits the 2016 Burr Ridge Car Show to find a 1970 Chevy Nova in Green Mist paint, kept 80 percent original by owner Don Dames despite running only a six-cylinder engine. The comments fill in the rest: a driver’s ed car from 1977, a family Nova that survived a windshield-shattering explosion and ran past 280,000 miles, and viewers who owned nearly identical cars decades ago. Watch to see why an ordinary six-cylinder Nova is pulling out more personal stories than most muscle cars ever could.

Classic 1969 Road Runner 440-6 4Bbl muscle car with open hood.

History/Breakdown: 1969 Plymouth Road Runner A12 MCOTW

by Wes

V8TV profiles the very first A12 Road Runner Plymouth ever built, the Wayward Beeper, tested by Super Stock Magazine in 1969 and driven into the 12-second zone by legendary drag racer Ronnie Sox. Its 440 Six Pack, 4-speed manual, and stripped interior were all built for one purpose, and the comments fill in the rest with period tire-pressure tricks and owners’ own Road Runner stories. Watch to see the car Chrysler itself called the fastest A12 ever built.

Muscle Car Cruising Back on Detroit Streets

by Ross Mills

Forty-two years after the original Boss 302 was built to win a Trans-Am race, Ford brought the name back with one very specific goal: beat a BMW M3 around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Around the same time, Chevrolet revived the ZL1 badge — a name that started with one Illinois dealer’s odd request for fifty aluminum-block Camaros — on a supercharged, 550-plus horsepower Camaro built using suspension technology borrowed from the Corvette ZR1. Read on to find out how two of Detroit’s oldest names ended up chasing the same import.

Classic 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird in Alpine White parked outdoors.

1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird 426 Hemi in Alpine White Paint

by Wes

Lou Costabile visits Roanoke Motor Co. in Illinois to see a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird 426 Hemi in Alpine White, pulled straight from dealership owner John Gastman’s personal collection. The car’s 53-pound cast aluminum wing and NASCAR-driven aerodynamics tell only part of the story; according to Gastman, the horn has never even been used. Built to homologate Chrysler’s aero package for racing, fewer than 2,000 street Superbirds exist today. Watch to see why this one has barely been touched since it arrived.

Chevrolet Malibu 1964 to 1977

by Ross Mills

The Malibu spent nearly a decade as a trim level before it was ever its own car — riding as the top of the Chevelle lineup from 1964 through 1972 and quietly picking up the SS-396 package, front disc brakes, and a full restyle along the way. When it finally split off as its own model in 1973, the depth of what had been built into that trim for a decade suddenly became obvious. Read on to find out how a badge became a bloodline.

Classic 1970 Chrysler 300 Hardtop convertible in a showroom.

1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst Convertible , a 1 of 1 & Engine Sound

by Wes

A factory-built 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst Convertible with no sibling cars anywhere in the world sits at the center of this one – and according to one commenter, it may have once served as Hurst’s own display car for glamour mascot Linda Vaughn. Owner Trev Dellinger shares the full story at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. Watch to hear exactly what makes this Chrysler one of one.

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