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This preview of 2018’s new-car debuts undersells just how wild that model year actually got, thanks to a factory Dodge built specifically to dominate the drag strip. While sedans and crossovers filled most showroom floors, a supercharged, 840-horsepower street-legal special was quietly finishing development in the background. It’s a reminder that the year’s biggest automotive story wasn’t a redesign, it was a straight-line monster.
Who doesn’t love the Mustang? It’s transitioned from an American icon with a cheesy reputation to a truly global and sophisticated sports car, now available in factory-built right-hand drive. The 2016 Ford Mustang stands out as the top performance car, not just for its nostalgic appeal, but for its blend of modern technology and classic muscle. It’s like finding out your high school crush is now a successful astronaut – it’s still got the charm, but now it’s got the brains too!
This German-tuned Mustang GT trades its stock 455 horsepower for a supercharged 705, dropping its 0-62 time to 3.9 seconds. Leipzig-based GME Performance backed that power jump with an adjustable suspension, floating brake discs, and a full aero kit rather than just a bigger blower. It’s proof that Germany’s tuning scene takes American muscle just as seriously as its own.
The flat-plane crank spinning behind this Shelby GT350’s grille let Ford chase an 8,250-rpm redline and a shriek that sounds nothing like a normal American V8. Hand-built on a dedicated line at the Romeo Engine Plant, the Voodoo engine became the longest-stroke flat-plane V8 ever mass-produced — and then Ford stopped building it.
What happens when engineers deliberately hunt for the moment an engine grenades? In this Engine Masters episode from MotorTrend, the victim is a humble stock 305 Chevy small-block, still wearing its factory cast crank and pistons, fed more and more nitrous until something lets go. Before the inevitable failure, the dyno reveals exactly how much a stock bottom end can take and how to run nitrous safely. It is spectacle and genuine education in one. Watch to see how much the little 305 could stand.
Everyone has felt the frustration of a slow car parked in the fast lane, but few can explain why it is genuinely dangerous rather than just rude. This heavily viewed Vox explainer breaks down the real reason, and it comes down to speed variance rather than speed itself. When traffic has to brake and weave around a slow left-lane driver, every maneuver adds a fresh chance for a crash. It is a sharp lesson in how highways are actually meant to work. Watch the full explainer.
Once a year the world’s wildest custom cars fill a Las Vegas hall, and only a few are strange enough to stop the crowd. OutRun’s SEMA 2016 walkaround finds a menacing Dodge Charger, the custom Shomad Nomad, a Goolsby-built Mustang, and one car wearing a 1970 Mustang body that hides a Nissan GT-R underneath. It is American muscle styling fused with Japanese twin-turbo engineering, exactly the kind of impossible build SEMA exists to create. Watch the cinematic tour to see them up close.
Beyond the ZL-1 Camaro and Hemi ‘Cuda convertible, the rarest American muscle cars share a pattern collectors have only recently caught onto: overlooked badges, one-year-only engine options, and production runs smaller than a typical high school graduating class. The Buick GSX Stage 1, built just 846 times across three years, is the clearest proof that rarity doesn’t always announce itself at the time.
Most cars need a full suspension and brake overhaul to handle 100 extra horsepower. The sixth-generation Camaro SS didn’t. Thanks to GM’s stiffer Alpha platform, owners could bolt on a supercharger and push output well past 550 horsepower with the stock chassis intact. The only real cost: a voided factory warranty, quickly replaced by aftermarket coverage built for exactly this kind of upgrade.
Every August, the Bonneville Salt Flats fill with streamliners, lakesters, and vintage muscle cars chasing a record that could vanish within a year. Speed Week traces back to 1937, when five Southern California hot rodders founded the SCTA to bring order to dry-lake racing. By 2017’s 69th running, it had become something rarer: a motorsport with no purse, no crowd, and nothing to prove except how fast you really are.
Dodge called the 2018 Challenger SRT Demon the most powerful V8 production car ever built, and the numbers back it up: 840 horsepower on race fuel, a certified 9.65-second quarter-mile, and a 0-60 time that beat cars costing four times as much. It launched so violently NHRA had to write new rules just to tech-inspect it. Here’s what made the Demon different from every muscle car before it.
FCA revealed almost nothing about the Demon before its April 2017 debut beyond a nickname: “Hellcat on steroids.” The production 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon justified the hype with 840 horsepower, a 2.3-second 0-60 sprint, and a 9.65-second quarter-mile, numbers that made the teasers look understated. It remains one of the quickest-accelerating production cars ever sold with a factory warranty.
Muscle car and pony car both trace back to 1964, but they started from opposite ideas, one a mid-size sedan overloaded with V8 power, the other a compact built for style and affordability. The real difference isn’t horsepower, it’s construction: full-frame muscle versus unibody pony cars built to balance performance with everyday drivability. Both categories blurred almost immediately, which is exactly why the terms still get swapped today.
Before the Dodge Demon existed publicly, all anyone knew for certain was that it would wear enormous drag radials and sound like an angry supercharger. What arrived turned out to be a purpose-built 315/40R18 tire, 12.6 inches wide, engineered to put 840 horsepower onto the pavement without spinning into smoke. That combination gave the Demon 15 percent more contact patch and more than double the grip of the standard Hellcat.
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!