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Ford’s design studios didn’t stop at the Mustang that made it to showrooms, they also sketched a mid-engine two-seat exotic, a European-flavored roadster, an 855-horsepower one-off, and even a station wagon wearing the pony badge. Some near-misses shaped legendary programs that did get built; others vanished after a single running prototype. Read on to see which unbuilt Mustangs came closest to changing the car’s entire story.
Automotive historians point to a specific starting line and a specific peak for the muscle car era, separated by just six years and followed by a collapse that took barely half that long. A single stacked model year put nearly every brand’s most extreme performance car on sale at once. Here’s how the era’s beginning, peak, and sudden end actually lined up.
I’ve managed to ruin quite a few cars, each in its own unique, disastrous way. From overzealous engine mods that left me stranded, to paint jobs that looked more like abstract art gone wrong, my automotive adventures have been a series of unfortunate events. Take my Dodge, which went from roaring beast to a sputtering mess after a DIY turbo install. Or the time I tried to give my old Civic a lowrider look, only to end up with a suspension that had more bounce than a trampoline. Ah, the memories!
For its 50th anniversary in 2017, Shelby American didn’t throw a retrospective – it built the most powerful Super Snake the company had ever sold to the public, with an optional supercharger pushing past 750 horsepower. Here’s what separates the base and optional power packages, what the hardware underneath had to do to handle it, and how a limited 500-unit run turned a legendary one-off into something you could actually order.
There’s nothing like driving a muscle car, and sometimes, they wear a sedan disguise. These six sedans pack a punch, turning grocery runs into heart-racing adventures. Take the Dodge Durango, for instance—it’s part SUV, part muscle car, like a Clark Kent of vehicles. Or the Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack, offering cheap thrills with its 485 hp V-8. It’s secretly a muscle car in a business suit, ready to unleash a caramel-thick rumble at any moment. Who says practicality can’t have a rebellious streak?
Tom Cotter tracks down a car so rare only 85 were ever built in Episode 16 of Hagerty’s Barn Find Hunter — one carrying a seven-figure valuation despite needing a full restoration. Hagerty’s own description dares viewers to guess what it is before watching. What makes the find real, rather than just valuable, is a detail casual viewers might miss: most of the original parts are apparently still there.
A 2016 Ford Mustang GT transformed by Saleen Automotive into a 730-horsepower rolling memorial for California’s Riverside Police Department, this supercharged cop car swaps stock street presence for supercar-grade power and Saleen’s motorsport pedigree. Built as tribute rather than typical patrol equipment, it echoes Saleen’s history of extreme builds, from tuned Mustangs to the S7 supercar. Few squad cars anywhere approach this kind of performance, making it one of the rarest and most talked-about police vehicles in the country.
A four-door family sedan that can out-accelerate two-seat sports cars sounds like a contradiction Detroit would never build — until Dodge wrapped a supercharged 707-horsepower HEMI in one and called it the Hellcat. Bone stock, it runs an 11-second quarter mile from a car that tips the scales at well over 4,500 pounds. Read on to find out exactly what Dodge crammed under that hood.
Doug DeMuro barely had time with the new 2019 Corvette ZR1 before filming, but touring it at its Dubai debut still turned into a look at the most powerful Corvette Chevrolet had ever built. Commenters could not resist joking about an American supercar getting its unveiling in a city built around European exotics. Watch to see the quirks DeMuro found anyway, and why this first look still gets rewatched years later.
Looking for some classic American muscle to spice up your garage? Meet the 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu—a ride that’s as thrilling as a squirrel on a caffeine kick! With a frame-off restoration and just 15,000 miles on the clock, this LS-powered beauty is a perfect fusion of old-school charm and modern performance. Equipped with a 5.3L LS V8 and a slew of upgrades, it’s more than just eye candy. Ready for a ride that’s cooler than the other side of the pillow? Check out the full scoop!
In February 2013, two brothers went looking for one very specific car: an unrestored 1971 Hemi ‘Cuda in a screaming factory color, with its original build sheet, a four-speed, and one owner from new. Plymouth built only 114 of these for the entire model year, and just 7 convertibles. What the brothers found inside three weeks turned out to be exactly what they were chasing. Read on to see how rare this car really is.
A 1964 Ford Falcon took home the Best Ford in a Ford award at the Back to the 50’s 2017 car show, an unusual win for a car built as economical transportation rather than a performance machine. Ford’s optional Sprint package added the Fairlane’s 260-cubic-inch V8 and a stiffer suspension, giving select Falcons real personality behind the wheel. The Falcon’s unibody platform also directly influenced the Mustang launched later that same model year. This deep dive covers why the humble Falcon earned its trophy.
Long before the Challenger Demon’s real specs were public, rumors claimed it would simply ‘rival’ the Hellcat and the next GT500. The reality blew past that modest framing entirely, an 840-horsepower supercharged HEMI, a 9.65-second quarter mile, and a Guinness World Record the actual GT500 wouldn’t even show up to challenge for another three years.