 |
Plymouth needed an answer to the Pontiac GTO, and in 1967 they built one by dropping a standard 440-cubic-inch, 375-horsepower Super Commando V8 into a dressed-up Belvedere and calling it the GTX. Unlike most muscle cars of the era, buyers didn’t have to option their way up to big power – Plymouth handed it to them standard, with the fabled 426 Hemi waiting as an upgrade.
The first car ever to wear the Dodge Charger name was built to introduce America to the 426 Hemi, but the engine slated for it got pulled at the last minute to save a race team’s season. What actually powered this showcar for years was a secret hiding in plain sight. Decades later, a full restoration finally gave it the Hemi it was always supposed to have, and turned it into a seven-figure piece of Mopar history.
This 1961 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible carries a badge that traces back to a genuinely rare factory combination, only 142 original Impalas got both the SS package and the new 409 V8 before a production issue shut it down. This particular car skips all of that history entirely, running a modern 572 cubic-inch big block that dwarfs anything Chevrolet’s engineers could have offered in 1961. Read on to find out just how rare the real thing actually was.
Only 15,631 examples of the 1956 Ford Thunderbird were built, the lowest total of the original two-seat run, after Ford’s ambitious 20,000-unit target ran into a late launch. That shortfall came with real upgrades, though: a relocated spare tire, more trunk room, and an optional 312-cubic-inch V8 pushing 260 horsepower. Read on to find out what made 1956 the most refined year of the first-generation ‘Bird.
A 1968 Plymouth Barracuda spent 32 years parked in a garage, untouched, and what rolled back out is one of just 18 documented examples of its exact build. The owner has confirmed it carries an original BO29 code and a four-speed transmission, a combination rare enough to turn a routine garage find into a genuine survivor story. See the car exactly as it looked the day the door finally opened.
This 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo carries a 454 big-block from the SS 454’s rarest and final model year – just 1,919 were built before Chevrolet pulled the package for good. Under the formal, Cadillac-inspired sheet metal sits an LS5 big-block tuned for effortless torque, not a screaming redline. See the full Gateway Classic Cars photo set and find out why this overlooked big-block deserves as much respect as its Chevelle SS cousin.
This 1953 Buick Special convertible sits at a fascinating crossroads in Buick history — the last model year for the brand’s straight-eight engine, riding on a rare 3-speed manual instead of the Dynaflow automatic most buyers chose. With only 4,282 Special convertibles built that year, survivors like this one do not turn up often. Take a closer look at the gallery below.
Dave’s 1973 Ford XA Falcon Superbird — one of around 750 built — hadn’t run since 1988. Twenty-five years of silence later, the engine finally gets its first crank in this video, with a full restoration promised to follow. For a car this rare, every attempt carries real stakes. Watch to see if it fires.
This ’68 Plymouth Barracuda wasn’t restored for a car show — it was cast as the villain’s ride in the 2004 film “Highwaymen,” starring Jim Caviezel, and put through real stunt driving on public roads outside Toronto. Fans still debate the reverse-chase sequence and mourn what the stunt work did to a genuine Cuda. See the scene that’s kept this movie alive in car chase circles for two decades.
This 1970 Camaro’s split front bumper is one of the most misunderstood details in the entire pony car world, and this candy-painted, big-block example backs the look up with a full custom interior from Steve Holcomb’s shop. Read on to find out where the split bumper actually came from, and why it can’t tell you what’s really under the hood.
This 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air wears a drivetrain Chevrolet never actually offered that year — a modern 350 crate engine swapped in place of the factory’s top-spec 283. Chevrolet’s real 1957 lineup topped out with a fuel-injected small block that made history as GM’s first one-horsepower-per-cubic-inch engine. Read on to find out what made the factory Tri-Five drivetrains so significant, and why so many owners choose a modern small block swap instead.
Jon Kosmoski, the founder of House of Kolor and the man who essentially invented modern candy paint, walks a 1977 Camaro from bare metal to a mirror-finish Candy Apple Red in this hands-on demonstration. The techniques he explains have barely changed in decades — and for good reason. Watch to see why.
A Plymouth Fury wasn’t even a real model in 1956 — it was just a gold-trimmed performance trim you checked on a Belvedere order form. By the mid-1960s it was hiding a 365-horsepower “Street Wedge” V8 in a full-size body, and by the mid-1970s it had swapped that muscle for cruise control, a digital clock, and a six-barrel-optioned GT package along the way. Read on to find out how one nameplate lived several completely different automotive lives.
This 1970 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II was built to race the Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird on NASCAR’s fastest tracks, using the same aerodynamic-war engineering, before a rule change ended the entire aero era before it ever competed. Owner Steve Honnell preserves the genuine 1-of-1 car alongside its period jacket and factory stereo, complete with the 429’s unmistakable 12.5:1-compression growl. Watch to hear a NASCAR weapon that never got to fight.
Only 281 examples of this supercharged 1964 Studebaker Avanti R2 were built before the South Bend factory shut its doors for good, making it one of the rarest slices of an already tiny production run. Raymond Loewy’s radical fiberglass body hid a genuine Paxton supercharger putting real power behind its aircraft-inspired styling. Read on to find out how a dying company built one of its most memorable performance cars right at the very end.