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This 1962 Buick Invicta wagon carries the nickname “Airwagon,” earned when Air Ride Technologies took on the rare nine-passenger body style as a build project. Under the hood sits a numbers-matching 401 Nailhead V8, swapped from its original two-speed Turbine Drive automatic to a smoother four-speed. Gateway Classic Cars photographed the full car for this gallery, from the engine bay to the polished chrome trim, one of the least common body styles Buick built during the Invicta’s run.
Legendary Motorcar’s Dream Car Garage put a genuine 1970 Hemi Cuda through its paces for a segment that still draws passionate comments from Mopar fans years later. The car’s reputation as a straight-line weapon comes directly from Chrysler cramming its most extreme racing engine into a chassis never quite built to handle the weight, yet one detailed comment pushes back, praising the torsion bar suspension’s composure on paved circuits. Watch the full segment to see why viewers still mourn the show that filmed it.
Ilona spent years building her reputation as a Pontiac loyalist, running a 1969 Firebird convertible and a 1969 GTO through her driveway before her daughter Roxy ever got behind a V8. So why does a 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 — widely considered the best all-around 4-4-2 ever built — now sit in the family collection? Here’s the 455-cubic-inch answer, and why Oldsmobile muscle still trades at a discount it doesn’t deserve.
Bobby Alloway’s shop built this 1960 Ford Starliner around a black exterior, a lipstick red interior from Pro Auto Custom Interiors, and a 429 Boss V8 that Ford never offered when the car was new. It debuted at the 2017 Goodguy’s Nashville Nationals to a wave of praise from hot rod builders who rarely get impressed by paint alone. One viewer remembered owning an original 1960 Starliner as a teenager before selling it ahead of being drafted in 1966. What does it take to make a sixty-year-old body style look this fast standing still?
The 1940 Ford Deluxe didn’t just out-style its Depression-era rivals — it quietly became one of the best-selling cars in America and handed hot rodders the flathead V-8 platform they’d spend the next fifty years building an entire culture around. From the Lincoln Zephyr-inspired nose to the three-speed column shifter, every detail on this car earned its keep.
When a cylinder head company decides to throw its own car show, the results look exactly the way you’d hope. Air Flow Research’s V8 Builds event filled a Southern California speedway with everything from muscle cars to SEMA build stars. Read on to find out what a fifty-year racing pedigree brings to a car show.
This 1965 Chevrolet Malibu SS convertible wears Evening Orchid over a white bucket seat interior with a four-speed manual, which is about as bold a specification as a buyer could order that year. The Malibu SS was a trim and appearance package rather than a factory hot rod, but 1965 turned out to be the year Chevrolet quietly changed what a Chevelle could be. What arrived partway through the model year reshaped the entire line. Read on for the mid-year decision that made 1965 matter.
In February 2013, Lars Skroder challenged his brother to find an unrestored 1971 Hemi ‘Cuda with a build sheet, a four-speed, and its original owner still attached. Three weeks later, a YouTube video led him to Greg Peterson, who had owned the Hemi Orange car since he was sixteen. Read on to find out how a graduation gift became one of the most original ‘Cudas on the planet.
Plymouth built the 1970 Superbird for exactly one model year, in exactly one body style, to accomplish exactly one thing: win at NASCAR and bring Richard Petty back from Ford. It did both. Then dealers could not give the leftovers away, and buyers had the wings removed to make them sellable. Today those same cars are six-figure collector pieces. Read on for how that reversal happened.
This 1968 Camaro is running an engine that didn’t exist when it left the factory — a ZZ4 crate small block bolted beneath dripping-wet custom paint and polished Torque Thrust wheels. Here’s why builders keep skipping the era-correct big block for a modern crate motor, what separates a resto-mod from a numbers-matching original, and why the first-generation Camaro remains the platform builders reach for most.
MotorTrend paired three muscle car legends with their modern descendants — a ’69 Camaro SS396 against a 2011 Camaro SS, a ’70 Challenger against a 2011 SRT8, and a ’69 Shelby against a modern GT500 convertible — to settle whether nostalgia holds up against real engineering progress. The results aren’t as simple as newer-is-better. Watch to see which era actually wins the argument.
This 1970 Pontiac Firebird now runs a 632-cubic-inch big block making 853 horsepower on pump gas, built by Bulletmotorsports with no expense spared and featured on a magazine cover. But according to commenters with apparent firsthand knowledge, the car originally ran a smaller Butler Pontiac engine already making 850 horsepower and running 9-second quarter miles, sparking a real debate about whether the swap was an upgrade or a mistake. Watch to see the build and decide for yourself.
This 1980 AMC AMX Spirit has under 8,000 original miles and has stayed with owner Bud Brick, unmodified, since 2011 — a remarkable survival story for a car built by the smallest of Detroit’s automakers. Its straight-six engine draws real praise in the comments from owners who gave up only about 10 horsepower compared to the V8 option. My Car Story host Lou Costabile continues his search for overlooked American survivors. See how well this AMC has held up.
Plymouth built only about 115 genuine Hemi ‘Cudas in 1971, each rated at 425 horsepower. This restomod trades that legendary but comparatively modest engine for a modern 572-cubic-inch Hemi crate motor pushing past 800, wrapped around a one-off grille and a five-time Detroit Autorama award-winning interior. Here’s how a crate engine nearly doubled the original’s output, and what that does to a ‘Cuda’s value.
The Plymouth Barracuda beat the Ford Mustang to market by two weeks in April 1964, yet spent the next decade being remembered as the follower rather than the pioneer. Across three generations – from its Valiant-based origins with the largest rear window ever fitted to a production car, to the dedicated E-body platform that could be ordered with the 426 Hemi – the Barracuda repeatedly reinvented itself before the 1973 energy crisis ended its run after 1974.