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Tim Allen opens up his private garage for GQ’s Car Collectors series, and it’s less a display of exotics than a decades-deep collection of authentic American iron — including a 1965 Shelby Cobra S/C and a 1933 Ford Roadster he built himself during Home Improvement’s run. Watch to see why this collection reflects the man more than the market.
A rotted-out 1970 Dodge Challenger becomes Project Ultra Violet in this POWERNATION Detroit Muscle build. The crew brings in chassis builder Jeff Schwartz for a full-frame conversion, grafts in a low-deck aluminum Hemi and a Tremec six-speed, and finishes it off with metallic purple paint and graphics from builder Chris Ryan. Watch to see how a shell most shops would have scrapped becomes a genuinely modern resto-mod.
A vintage road test puts a 1969 Dodge Charger 500 — Dodge’s NASCAR homologation special, built to fix the standard Charger’s high-speed aerodynamics — through its paces with the 426 Hemi under the hood. Announcer Bud Lindeman narrates in period broadcast style, and the comments are full of viewers’ own Hemi street stories. Watch to hear the line that’s still quoted decades later.
Ford’s 1962 Thunderbird Sports Roadster used a clever fiberglass tonneau cover to disguise a genuine four-seat convertible as a two-seat sports car, right down to spoke wire wheels and special fender badges. Check the right option box and Ford would add Tri-Power carburetion to the 390 V8, bumping output to a genuine 340 horsepower — but only 120 buyers ever did, out of 1,427 Sports Roadsters built that year. Historians estimate barely 40 of those M-code cars survive today, making this one of the rarest factory options of the entire early Thunderbird generation.
Chevy’s Mark IV engines roared into the automotive scene with a bang, featuring a variety of big-block beasts. The 396-cubic-inch version made waves in the Corvette and Chevelle with its 375 hp output, while the 427-cubic-inch monster, available in the Corvette and the unassuming Biscayne, delivered neck-snapping performance. Dubbed the Bisquick, the Biscayne transformed from a taxicab lookalike to a speedster with 425 hp. Even with aluminum heads reducing weight, these engines proved old-school horsepower ratings were more optimistic than realistic.
The Ford Mustang Boss 429, a real heavyweight of its time, was Ford’s bold attempt to challenge the Chrysler 426 Hemi on the NASCAR tracks. With an engine so big, it needed a trunk relocation for the battery—because who needs trunk space anyway? Kar Kraft had to re-engineer the Mustang just to fit this beast under the hood. The result? A 375 hp engine that laughs at its own rating, easily roaring past 600 hp with tweaks. The Boss 429 is a muscle car icon, proving that size does matter!
Rev up your engines, folks! The Ford Galaxie, from 1964 to 1968, was a star on and off the racetrack. In ’64, it flaunted a sleek, aerodynamic look, thanks to NASCAR tinkering. The Galaxie XL hardtop coupe was a collector’s dream with its comfy bucket seats and a V8 engine that could make even the most stoic driver grin. By ’68, this beauty boasted horizontally mounted headlights and a cigarette lighter – because who doesn’t need a smoke when cruising in style? Buckle up for a ride through automotive history!
Ford’s flathead V8 engine, produced from 1932 to 1953, was a marvel of its time with its quirky exhaust system that sent gases on a cross-engine road trip before exiting. Performance enthusiasts soon upgraded this setup for better flow, adding a classic rumble. The flathead’s monoblock design made it a powerhouse, while hot rodders relished making tweaks like porting and polishing. Ford wasn’t just making engines; they were crafting a legacy, one crankcase at a time, thanks to innovators like “Cast Iron Charlie.”
A 1969 Camaro Z/28, built for road racing rather than raw power, lines up against a 1968 Chevelle SS built around old-fashioned big-block torque, at Palm Beach International Raceway. It is Chevrolet against itself, two completely different engineering philosophies from the same manufacturer settling an argument muscle car fans have never stopped having. Watch to see which approach wins this particular pass.
This 1970 Mercury Cyclone GT was built to be crushed. As a factory pilot car used to validate Mercury’s production line, its entire purpose ended the moment testing wrapped up, most cars in this role never survive to see a public road. This one did, and it came loaded with the Super Cobra Jet package: a 375-horsepower 429 V8, four-speed manual, and 4.30 gears built for straight-line speed. Watch to find out how a car that was never meant to exist ended up in the Brothers Collection decades later.
High Tech Corvette put a nearly 1,000-horsepower C7 Z06 up against a purpose-built Chevy Nova in a straightforward roll race, and the result was not the foregone conclusion the horsepower gap suggests. Viewers who expected the modern Corvette to walk away were surprised by how close it actually was. Watch to see which car takes it.
A roll race across a bridge between a 2010 Camaro SS/RS and a 1972 Chevelle big-block should have been a formality – decades of engineering separate the two cars. Instead, four words in the original upload told the whole story: Chevelle won. The unscripted footage has since raked in over 1.4 million views and sparked an ongoing old-vs-new debate in the comments. Find out what gave the fifty-year-old Chevelle the edge.
Only two buyers in 1966 ordered a Ford 7-Litre convertible with the dual-carburetor R-Code 427 instead of the standard 428 — and this Brothers Collection car is one of them. Muscle Car Of The Week digs into what actually separates the R-Code’s cross-bolted big block from the ordinary version riding under most 7-Litre badges. Watch to see why this one stopped the crew in their tracks.
Plum Crazy Purple with a white vinyl roof and a 440 Six Pack under the hood — this 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee is the kind of factory combination that still stops traffic at a car show fifty years later. Restorer Mark Klopack walks through the build at Chicago’s World of Wheels. Watch to hear that pistol-grip four-speed and 440 come alive.
This 1970 Chevelle spent 35 years parked in the Dallas area, and what’s underneath the dust is about as good as barn finds get — a factory Tuxedo Black LS6 454 rated at 450 horsepower, backed by the desirable M22 ‘Rock Crusher’ four-speed. It’s exactly the combination Chevelle collectors call a holy grail. Watch to see what three and a half decades of dormancy did to one of the rarest muscle cars GM ever built.