The 1964 Pontiac GTO started life as a loophole in GM’s own corporate rulebook, and the rarest version of it packed three carburetors instead of one. Only a fraction of that first model year’s production carried the Tri-Power option that made the GTO a genuine performance threat. Here’s what separated the base car from the one everyone really wanted, and why a correct restoration is harder than it looks.
For a few months in early 1968, Ford’s legendary 427 side-oiler found its way into the last car anyone expected: a plush, chrome-trimmed Mercury Cougar GT-E. Only 357 of these cars ever left the factory with that engine, making it the final production application of Ford’s storied big-block before the 428 Cobra Jet took over. Read on to find out why this quietly luxurious pony car cousin still ranks among the rarest big-block Fords of its era.
The “Eleanor” Hero Car from Gone in 60 Seconds sold for $1 million at Dana Mecum’s 26th Original Spring Classic — a result that stunned auction regulars watching bids climb in real time. See what made this 1967 Mustang worth seven figures, and how it stacks up against the biggest movie car sales in history.
Bladed Angel’s tour of six fast American cars under $10,000 has become a minor cult favorite for one honest reason: the host flubs a torque unit on camera, catches it, and leaves the apology in rather than editing it out. Picks range from a Mach 1 to sleeper domestics most budget shoppers overlook, but the real twist comes later, when the host admits he ignored his own Mustang advice and bought a 2016 GT instead. Watch to see the full list and the confession that follows it.
Lou Costabile found something rare at Rosemont’s World of Wheels show: a 1972 Corvette Stingray in Cascade Green paint, still with the same owner who bought it new nearly 50 years ago. No restoration story, no reconstruction guesswork — just one person’s decision, repeated for five decades, to keep the car instead of selling it. Viewers are already calling it one of the best ’72s they’ve ever seen. Watch to hear the full story behind the color and the miles.
A single red convertible on a showroom floor kicked off one of Detroit’s fiercest rivalries — and the car everyone assumes won wasn’t the one that actually won in 1955. Ford’s Thunderbird and Chevy’s Corvette arrived within a year of each other, aimed at the same buyer, but built on opposite ideas of what a “sports car” should be. One offered two-seat purity; the other offered a V8, power windows, and comfort. The sales gap between them that year still stuns people who assume the Corvette always ruled.
Long before Detroit had ever heard of sliding doors on a sports car, one designer built this one in total secrecy, using a patent he’d been sitting on for years and a platform meant for a completely different, far duller Kaiser sedan. Only 435 were built before the whole program collapsed in under a year, and the man who designed it refused to let it disappear quietly. What happened to the leftover cars is stranger than the car itself.
Chevy built the 1972 Nova during the leanest years of the muscle car era, when the hottest factory SS you could get made a modest 200 horsepower. This one ignores that history entirely, packing a 408 cubic inch small-block under a stunning orange metallic shell, more than double the output of anything Chevrolet offered in a ’72 Nova. It’s a textbook Pro Touring build: vintage Nova looks with a powertrain the factory never dreamed of. Read on to find out why 408 inches and a ’72 body make such a perfect pairing.
Calvo Motorsports took a factory Dodge Viper ACR Extreme, kept the aero kit and stock 19-inch wheels untouched, and pulled 1750 horsepower from a sleeved version of the production block. The result: 0-200 mph in under half a mile at Texas Invitationals. See why this build still has fans wishing Dodge built it this way from the factory.
An ordinary commute turned into an extraordinary sighting when this creator passed a warehouse full of exotic and muscle cars being seized by the DEA and U.S. Marshals — combined value pushing toward four million dollars. From a Diablo Roadster to a heavily modified American muscle car, see what was inside before it scattered to auction forever.
Everyone assumes Pontiac invented the mid-size muscle car formula and the rest of Detroit just copied the homework — except Buick found a clever way around GM’s own displacement rules and almost nobody gives the brand credit for it. The result, culminating in the 1970 GSX and a quarter-mile time Motor Trend called the fastest they’d ever tested, remains one of the most underrated muscle cars of the entire era. Read on to find out which loophole Buick exploited first.
At the Goodguys West Coast Nationals, a fully functional miniature blown V8 — 6.3 cubic inches, 16 horsepower, built by Ken Hurst and Dwight Giles of the Bay Area Engine Modelers — draws a crowd as dedicated as any full-size muscle car. Every system of a real supercharged engine is here, just scaled down. Watch to see it come to life.
A fan rendering imagines the Shelby GT350R wearing police livery, and the fantasy holds up better than most once you look at the real car underneath. The GT350R’s 5.2-liter Voodoo V8 revs to 8,250 rpm and makes 526 horsepower, the highest-revving naturally aspirated V8 any American automaker has built. Read on for why the powerband suits pursuit duty, why Mustangs have worn the badge before, and why this one would still never survive a fleet manager’s review.
Only about three percent of 1965 Ford Mustangs were ordered with a front bench seat, and this Texas Hill Country convertible is one of them. With a 289 two-barrel V8 and a Cruise-O-Matic automatic, it was built for easy cruising rather than stoplight battles, and its rare interior makes it more interesting than most early Mustangs with far more horsepower. Read on to find out what made buyers skip the option almost everyone else wanted.
When Dennis Ermi bought this 1968 Plymouth Road Runner in 2009, it needed serious paint and engine work before it earned the nickname “Old Runner.” Today it runs a supercharged 472 cubic-inch engine producing roughly 1,000 horsepower under a pearlescent orange-and-black finish. One commenter recognized himself standing next to it in the video and left a promise instead of a caption: “till death do us part.”
