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A 1976 Dodge Aspen R/T doesn’t look like a factory Super Bee — because in the U.S., that car never existed. Chrysler kept the nameplate alive four extra years exclusively for Mexico, grafting a Dodge front end to a Plymouth’s tail and fitting an engine American buyers couldn’t get. One grandfather-grandson build project set out to recreate it from scratch, one badge and taillight at a time.
More than 800 cars packed Cobo Center for the 65th annual Detroit Autorama in 2017, one of the most significant gatherings in the hot rod and custom car world. The Ridler Award, reserved for cars debuting for the very first time in public, went to a scratch-built 1933 Ford Roadster running a 427 big block. What else was hiding among 800 cars competing for the hobby’s biggest stage?
Plymouth built 108 Hemi ‘Cuda hardtops for 1971 and just eleven convertibles, which is why this specific corner of the Mopar market operates on a completely different scale from everything around it. The car in question has covered 2,010 miles since new and was custom-ordered with the desirable boxes already ticked. Whether that adds up to a seven-figure asking price depends less on rarity than on paperwork. Here is what actually drives the numbers.
A one-minute trailer for Fate of the Furious sent shockwaves through the muscle car community in December 2016 — buried in the fast cuts was a widebody Dodge Challenger nobody had officially seen before, wearing a Hellcat-inspired face months ahead of its real reveal. Fans also spotted a modified Charger and a widebody Plymouth GTX sharing the frame with a Lamborghini and a Subaru WRX STI. Read on to find out what Dodge was quietly teasing before it was ready to talk about it.
For 23 months straight, the Ford Mustang outsold the Chevrolet Camaro every single month — until one September, when Chevrolet edged ahead by just 148 units, 6,577 to 6,429. The swing came right as Ford halted Mustang production over a sales slide, while new 2017 Camaro ZL1s were posting 554 rear-wheel horsepower on customer dynos. Read on to see how one of America’s oldest rivalries flipped in a single month.
Back in 2016, word started spreading that Dodge might drop the V8 from the Challenger and Charger in favor of a twin-turbo V6 — a rumor most Mopar fans, including this outlet, dismissed outright. Years later, the debate turned out to be an early preview of exactly where the industry was headed. Read on to see how a rumor once written off as internet noise ended up getting the last laugh.
Restomod builders spend years blending classic muscle car looks with modern reliability, and then Dodge handed shoppers a finished version of that dream on a new-car lot. The Challenger held its retro shape for its entire production run while Mustang and Camaro moved on. So what was actually still missing from it? Read on for the case enthusiasts made, the answers Dodge gave instead, and how the argument ended.
Ford loyalists and Chevrolet diehards have been arguing about the 5.0-liter Mustang and the TPI Camaro since both cars were new, and the argument has never actually been settled with the engines on a dyno. That is exactly what this shootout sets out to do, starting with baseline pulls on a 5.0L HO 302 and an LB9 TPI 305. The numbers are smaller than modern muscle. Read on to find out what these two engines really made.
Jeep took the supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat V8 out of Dodge’s most unhinged muscle car and bolted it into the Grand Cherokee, then rebuilt the driveline, brakes, and cooling system to survive it. The result runs 0-60 in 3.5 seconds and the quarter mile in 11.6, with a tow hitch attached. At $85,900, the value argument was the whole pitch. Read on for what made the Trackhawk possible and what to know before buying one used.
The 1968 GTO was a complete redesign built around a gamble: a body-colored, energy-absorbing Endura front bumper with no chrome at all, something no mass-production car had tried. It won Motor Trend Car of the Year and reset how intermediate coupes were styled. A handful survive today still wearing factory paint, and that is not an accident. Read on for what makes an unrestored survivor worth more than a restoration.
Chevrolet has closed the book on the Camaro, ending a long argument over whether the car ever lived up to its affordable muscle roots. Owners fought a shuddering eight-speed, cooling problems at idle, and visibility that made parking a guessing game — none of which appeared in the brochure. Chevy answered by making the car better rather than cheaper, and it worked everywhere except the showroom. Read on for what a returning Camaro would have to fix.
Mopar builds exactly one limited-edition Dodge a year, and the 2017 Challenger is the one enthusiasts keep coming back to. Only 160 were made, all with the 392 Hemi, all with a six-speed manual, all with a fender badge painted by hand at the Mopar Custom Shop. Every buyer got a birth certificate documenting their specific car. Read on for the three things that separate it from every special edition before it.
After David Pearson took back-to-back NASCAR Grand National championships, Ford and Holman-Moody built him a street Torino Cobra finished in his No. 17 livery. The detail that makes it unrepeatable is the rear spoiler, which was taken directly off the race car he had just driven to the title. Read on for how the car was built, what it ran, and why documentation matters more than horsepower here.
Chevrolet built the 1969 Nova SS with the L78 396, a 375-horsepower solid-lifter big block, and then left it out of every official sales brochure. Buyers had to know to ask for it by code. Enough of them did that it accounted for nearly a third of Nova SS production that year. Read on for what the engine really was, why Chevy stayed quiet, and how to tell a genuine car from a clone.
Most drivers who want to stop shorter go straight to bigger brakes, and for everyday driving that money is often wasted. The brakes on nearly any car can already lock a wheel; what decides where the car actually stops is the grip available at four small patches of rubber. This article breaks down why tires, tread, age, and construction matter more than calipers, when a brake upgrade genuinely earns its keep, and why classic muscle cars are the clearest example of the mismatch. Read on to find out where to spend first.