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A Ford Torino GT built for Street Car Takeover’s Heavy Street-style class went into eliminations with zero test passes — and still lifted its front wheels beating a 707-hp Hellcat Charger, a Hellcat Challenger, and a Cadillac CTS-V. See how a half-century-old Ford handled three modern factory muscle cars in one quarter-mile pass.
The Pigeon Forge Rod Run has filled Tennessee’s Parkway with flathead V8s and muscle car chrome for more than thirty years, but it began in a hotel parking lot in 1983, when organizers expecting a few hundred cars watched roughly 1,000 arrive. The region’s taste for fast cars runs deeper still, back to moonshine runners outrunning the law on Smoky Mountain roads. Read on to find out how a car club’s cruise-in grew into one of the Southeast’s biggest gatherings.
A featherweight 1970 Plymouth Duster 340 and a rare, dealer-installed 1967 Chevelle SS396 L78 lined up on a Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race strip, where every part has to match factory specs. The $2,547 economy car many owners still call a ‘Big Block Killer’ had to prove it against one of only 612 genuine L78 Chevelles built that year.
Lincoln’s 1953 Cosmopolitan packed a freshly reworked 317 cubic-inch V8 good for 205 horsepower, a 45-hp jump over the prior year. That extra muscle wasn’t just for show — Lincoln sent the Cosmopolitan into the brutal Carrera Panamericana road race and swept the top four spots against bigger-engined Cadillacs and Chryslers. See the full story behind this Hydra-Matic-equipped survivor and what made it a genuine road-racing sedan in formal luxury clothing.
The 1971-1975 Ford Maverick Grabber hid a genuine 302 V8 in a car nobody expected to see one in — and for one strange model year, it out-gunned Ford’s own Mustang II. Here’s the story behind Detroit’s most overlooked small-block bargain.
This 1979 Camaro Z/28 wears T-tops, flat black stripes and a Procharged small block sending more than 600 horsepower to the rear tires. The factory version made 175. That gap is the entire story of the second-generation Z28, a car that sold in record numbers during the worst period for American performance in living memory. Read on for how it managed that and why builders still start here.
Pontiac’s most famous nameplate spent its final factory year bolted onto a compact economy car most enthusiasts wrote off as a pretender. This surviving 1974 Ventura GTO still wears the shaker hood and Rally wheels that made the badge official — with one telling upgrade under the hood. Here’s how a car built to save face turned into a genuine bargain for the 7,058 people who bought one.
By 1973 the muscle car era was supposed to be over, and Pontiac had not been told. That model year produced the Super Duty 455, an engine with four-bolt mains, forged rods, and dry-sump provisions wearing a production badge. It almost did not reach customers at all. Read on for what separated a real SD-455 from every other big-inch Firebird, and what a loud startup usually means underneath.
Jay Leno daily-drives a 1964 Dodge Polara carrying a race-only 426 Max Wedge V8 that should never have fit under a full-size Dodge’s hood. The reason it does traces back to a rumor about General Motors that turned out to be completely wrong.
The 1981 AMC Eagle wagon kept the four wheel drive formula alive with a GM sourced base engine and two brand new smaller siblings. Here is why AMC borrowed a rival’s four cylinder, and how this overlooked wagon quietly invented the crossover years before the word existed.
A hidden Oregon warehouse holds one of the largest private muscle car collections on Earth — more than 350 vehicles, including a one-of-two 1969 Camaro ZL1 and the prototype that convinced Carroll Shelby to supercharge the GT350. The owners have never revealed their names, and the doors open only a few days a year.
A 1967 Mustang Fastback is running a genuine retired 1990s NASCAR engine good for 816 horsepower, and its owner treats every full-throttle pull like a Sunday ritual. See why fans are comparing the sound to a full-tilt Trans-Am car.
Dodge did what no other muscle car maker had tried when it gave the Challenger GT all-wheel drive, pairing the system with the 305-horsepower Pentastar V6 and an eight-speed automatic. The front axle engages automatically in freezing temperatures, when the wipers come on, in Sport Mode, or the instant traction is lost, then disconnects to protect fuel economy while keeping a rear-drive feel. Read on to find out how Dodge built the first factory muscle car that does not have to hibernate every winter.
A 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda rolled onto Pawn Stars with a $90,000 price tag and Rick Harrison’s boldest compliment yet. Sharp-eyed Mopar fans in the comments weren’t buying the superlative without proof of what engine was actually under the hood. Here’s what really separates an ordinary ‘Cuda from the 114 factory Hemi cars collectors now pay millions for.
Oldsmobile wasn’t allowed to put its 455 V8 in a 1969 4-4-2 — GM’s own corporate rule capped intermediate engines at 400 cubic inches. Here’s the loophole that let roughly 900 buyers get one anyway, badged as a Hurst/Olds instead.