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Classic yellow convertible car parked on a sunny road.

Chevrolet Chevelle 1970 SS 396 Convertible

Chevrolet’s fender badge said ‘396’ on every 1970 SS Chevelle, but the actual engine under the hood measured 402 cubic inches — a quiet update the automaker never bothered to advertise. Buyers chose between a 350-horsepower street engine and a 375-horsepower solid-lifter race motor, wrapped in a convertible body built in far smaller numbers than the hardtop. Clean examples now average around $105,000 at auction. Read on to find out why a mislabeled engine became one of the most valuable badges in muscle car history.

Classic black 1960s muscle car parked outdoors.

Chevrolet Monte Carlo 1972

by Kiril

1972 marked the final year of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo’s first generation, and though the SS badge had already been retired, the lineup still ranged from a mild 165-horsepower 350 V8 to a genuine 270-horsepower 454 big block. A new Cadillac-style grille and standard variable-ratio power steering rounded out the last update before a full redesign. More than 180,000 buyers still chose one that year. Read on to find out why this quiet swan song became one of Chevrolet’s best-selling coupes.

Classic silver muscle car parked on a road at sunset.

Ford Mustang 1967 Shelby GT350

by Kiril

The 1967 Shelby GT350 rode on Ford’s newly widened Mustang body and added a real back seat, trading some of its earlier ferocity for genuine daily-driver comfort. It would also be the last GT350 built under Carroll Shelby’s direct personal oversight before Ford’s own team took over the line. Read on to see why fewer than 1,200 of these cars were ever built.

A blue drag racing car on the track at night, ready for a race.

Ford Mustang Twin Turbo – 526 Cubic Inches

by Kiril

A 3.91 at the eighth-mile stripe on a drag radial that looks almost too small for the job isn’t something a stock small-block Mustang was ever meant to produce, but that’s exactly what Josh Klugger’s Fox Body delivered in qualifying. Behind that number sits a 526 cubic inch stroker short block, twin 102mm turbochargers, and a FuelTech FT500 engine management system working together to survive cylinder pressures the factory 302 was never designed for. Read on to find out what it actually takes to build a small block that can run numbers like that.

Classic black vintage car parked on a suburban street.

Ford Mustang 1965 Fastback 289 V8 Four-speed Test Drive

by Kiril

This 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback started life with the mildest 289 V8 Ford offered, then got rebuilt with Trick Flow heads, an Edelbrock intake, and a fresh cam to make 330 horsepower on the dyno, more than even the rare factory HiPo version ever produced. The exotic European-inspired Fastback shape hides a genuinely modern small-block underneath. Read on to see how a basic A-code engine got transformed into something the factory never built.

Ford Mustang 2016 Shelby GT350R vs. Chevrolet Camaro 2015 Z/28

by Kiril

On paper the 2016 Shelby GT350R had 21 more horsepower than the 2015 Camaro Z/28, which should have settled the argument before either car turned a wheel. The dyno told a different story: down low, the Chevrolet made almost a hundred more pound-feet of torque. Motor Trend took both to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway with Randy Pobst driving to find out which philosophy actually worked. Read on to find out which one walked away with the title.

Red vintage car with open hood driving on a road.

Chevrolet Corvette 1969 Stingray C3 Convertible

by Kiril

In 1969 Chevrolet built exactly two Corvettes with the all-aluminum ZL1 427, an engine so far ahead of its time that almost nobody could buy it. Everyone else chose from a lineup running from a 300-horsepower 350 small-block up through a stack of 427 big-blocks, on a car that had just reclaimed the Stingray name. Read on to find out why 1969 was the C3 generation’s real turning point.

Classic red muscle car parked on grass with open hood.

Dodge Charger 1970 R/T Hemi 426

by Kiril

Dodge built 9,509 Charger R/Ts for 1970, and only about 112 of them left the factory with a 426 Hemi under the hood. This Burnt Orange car has one, backed by a Hurst pistol-grip four-speed and the Super Track Pak option that came with a 4.10-geared Dana 60. Read on to find out why the option almost nobody wanted in 1970 became the one everybody chases now.

Classic black muscle car parked outside a building at sunset.

1969 Pontiac GTO in Verdoro Green Paint

by Kiril

Pontiac’s chief engineer reportedly named this option package after a punchline from a 1960s comedy show, and it became one of the most collectible names in muscle car history almost overnight. This particular 1969 GTO Judge wears a documented Verdoro Green paint job backed by PHS paperwork confirming its factory drivetrain. Read on to see what set the Judge’s debut year apart from everything that followed.

Classic gold muscle car displayed indoors with hood open.

1966 Buick Riviera in Riviera Gold Paint & 425 Nailhead Engine

by Kiril

A gold 1966 Buick Riviera with a 425 Nailhead V8 has been in the same hands since 1991 — the same year its owner brought his newborn daughter home. Filmed at the World of Wheels show in West Allis, Wisconsin, the car’s clean fastback design and factory-correct paint draw comparisons to Buick’s best-ever styling era. What’s kept one owner holding on for three decades?

Classic black muscle car parked in front of a building.

Ford Mustang 1969 Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet Ram Air

by Kiril

The shaker hood scoop on a 1969 Mach 1 was not styling. It bolted straight to the air cleaner and fed cold air into a 428 Cobra Jet rated at 335 horsepower, a number almost nobody believed then and nobody believes now. Car Life strapped test gear to one in March 1969 and recorded a 13.90-second quarter mile. Read on to find out what made this specific combination so feared.

1965 Shelby AC Cobra by Backdraft Racing Stock

by Ross Mills

A genuine 1965 Shelby Cobra now trades well into seven figures, which puts it permanently out of reach for almost everyone who loves the shape. Backdraft Racing’s answer is a hand-built roadster with bodies finished in South Africa, a modern tube chassis underneath, and V8 options that make more power than Carroll Shelby ever offered from the factory. Read on to find out how close a modern recreation really gets.

Chevrolet Corvette 1966 – Road Race Ready

by Kiril

For years Shelby’s Cobra had been beating Corvettes on road courses, and by 1966 Chevrolet had run out of patience. The answer was a brand-new 427-cubic-inch big-block, offered in two states of tune, with the top version officially rated at 425 horsepower and widely believed to make more. Only a fraction of 1966 Corvettes were built with it. Read on to find out what the stopwatch said.

A vintage gold convertible car driving on a road.

Oldsmobile 442 1970 W-30 4-Speed Convertible

by Kiril

This 1970 Oldsmobile 442 pairs the 370-horsepower W-30 455 V8 with a close-ratio Muncie four-speed and the ultra-rare W27 aluminum rear axle carrier — a combination found in only a couple of the 96 four-speed W-30 convertibles Oldsmobile built that year. Documented back to its original order at Hansel Olds in Fullerton, California, its paper trail matches its rarity. Read on to find out just how thin the numbers get once every option is stacked together.

Best Muscle Car Sounds of 2015

by Kiril

That unmistakable muscle car rumble isn’t coming from the exhaust pipes — it starts deep inside the engine’s firing order. This piece breaks down why classic American V8s sound nothing like European or Japanese engines of the same era, and how camshaft profile and exhaust length finish shaping the sound everyone recognizes at a car show. The real explanation might surprise you.

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