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Plymouth priced the Road Runner to undercut everything else on the showroom floor, then quietly offered a 390-horsepower triple-carburetor 440 for $250 more. Fewer than 2,000 buyers in 1970 said yes. Nick’s Garage just put a numbers-matching survivor back on public road, pistol-grip shifter, vinyl bench seat and all.
A restorer who wouldn’t hand his own ‘Cuda over to anyone else, a paint color pulled straight from Chrysler’s loudest era, and a 440 that one viewer called “a monster” before the walkaround even finished. Lou Costabile caught up with Tom Benson on the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale floor to find out how a self-restored 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda ended up looking factory-fresh in Sassy Grass Green. The comments reveal an even wilder history hiding behind that color code. What was it actually like to own one of these new?
Chevrolet sold the 1970 Super Sport as a checkbox on a Malibu order form, not as its own model – which is why a genuine SS and a well-built tribute carry the same VIN format. A ,995 big-block car in Iowa puts the problem in sharp relief. Here is the documentation that separates a ,000 driver from a ,000 collectible.
The 400 small-block is mostly remembered for something almost embarrassing: which parts from other small-blocks will not bolt onto it. This guide traces Chevrolet’s 4.0-inch bore small-block family — the race-bred 302, the ubiquitous 350, and the siamese-bore 400 — and explains the external-balance quirk that catches out first-time engine swappers. Read on to find out how to tell these engines apart before you buy or build one.
Only about 3,097 Buicks got the 455 Stage 1 engine in 1970, and its 510 lb-ft of torque beat every Hemi and LS6 on the street. So why does nobody count it? The answer is sitting in a Chicago driveway, painted gold, with an automatic behind it.
The 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe RST pairs a 420-horsepower, 460-lb-ft 6.2-liter V8 with a 10-speed automatic shared with the Camaro ZL1, hitting 60 mph in a claimed 5.7 seconds while still towing up to 8,300 pounds. Choosing that engine also unlocks Magnetic Ride Control, plus optional Borla exhaust and Brembo brakes. It’s proof Chevy is willing to loan its performance parts bin to the family truck.
Ryan Snyder’s warehouses hold 11 Yenko Camaros, ZL-1 number 65, and a Z/28 wearing a color Chevrolet never sold to the public. Muscle Car Campy got a camera inside for a half-hour walkthrough of the Chevrolet building alone. The rarest car on the floor isn’t the one most people would guess.
‘She’s real fine, my 409’ turned a Chevy engine option into one of the most quoted lyrics in hot rod history — and this 1962 Impala carries the exact engine the Beach Boys were singing about. The real surprise is how fast that combination actually was on the street, not just on the radio.
Ford’s DOHC Coyote makes as much as 480 horsepower and weighs less than an iron 302 – but it measures roughly 29 inches across, and a 1965 Mustang’s shock towers were never asked to make room for that. CJ Pony Parts walks through the control packs, clearance calls, and hidden costs that decide whether this swap becomes a weekend win or a two-year money pit.
A 1969 Ford Mustang GT is rarer than most shoppers realize — Ford built only 5,396 of them that year as buyers rushed toward the flashier new Mach 1 instead. This numbers-matching example carries a genuine 320-horsepower 390 four-barrel, dual exhaust, and the tighter chassis tuning that made the GT package more than a stripe kit. Read on to find out why the GT still trails the Mach 1 in recognition despite being the tougher car to find.
The Cougar Eliminator replaced the Cougar GT on April 1, 1969, and just 302 of the 2,250 built left the factory with a 428 Cobra Jet under the scoop. Jay Leno spends an afternoon with one of the survivors — a big-block pony car with a genuine Trans-Am pedigree and a 335-horsepower rating almost nobody believes.
Long before The Dukes of Hazzard turned a 1969 Charger into the General Lee, Dodge had already built one of the best-designed muscle cars of the era, with an engine lineup broad enough to include a version most buyers never even knew existed. From a color-coded engine bay to a sunroof option only 260 buyers ever ordered, the second-generation Charger’s story is full of details even devoted fans overlook. Read on to find out what made it so special.
Chevrolet built the L88 Corvette without a radio or heater on purpose, a deliberate filter to keep casual buyers away from an engine dyno-tested at roughly 560 horsepower against its official 430 hp rating. This entry breaks down the auction results that made L88 Corvettes the benchmark for six-figure muscle car money, including a 1969 example that sold for $825,000 with just 20,000 miles. Read on to find out what separates true scarcity from marketing hype.
Recorded off broadcast television around 1995 and quietly preserved with no monetization attached, this documentary traces stock car racing’s real origin story — from Prohibition-era moonshine runners outrunning revenue agents to the factory muscle cars racing rules eventually pushed Detroit to build. It has racked up over half a million views with zero promotion behind it. Watch to see what a pre-internet retelling gets right that modern documentaries often miss.
This 1970 Chevrolet Nova wears a modern LS swap and carbon fiber accents, but the platform underneath was already capable of serious performance straight from the factory — Chevrolet’s own 396-badged, actually 402-cubic-inch, big block was available for just $475 that year. Read on to find out what Chevrolet’s engineers offered buyers before anyone thought to drop in an LS.