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When GM wanted to revive the GTO nameplate in 2004, it didn’t design a new car, it imported one, rebadging the Australian-built Holden Monaro after board member Bob Lutz read a single magazine article that convinced him. The resulting car packed a Corvette-sourced LS1 V8, then a 400-horsepower LS2 in 2005, but a currency-inflated price tag and understated styling kept American buyers cold. Read on to find out how a business trip to Australia became one of GM’s most divisive muscle car revivals.
Hagerty’s 2017 list of the best classic cars to buy leaned hard on 1980s models, and even early-2000s cars, as smart future investments, a call backed by real appreciation data rather than nostalgia. The same year, a $70 million Australian museum opened, the History Channel greenlit a series on a 57-year-old car museum, and a 650-horsepower Camaro ZL1 squared off against a Hellcat. Read on to find out what all of it says about where classic car values were headed.
At Summernats 30, Killa B Camaro delivered one of the most talked-about burnout performances the event has ever seen, running a massive blower stacked on a big-block V8 that buried the car in blue smoke. Street Outlaws cast member AZN even rode along to see what all the hype was about. Watch the full run that’s racked up millions of views and counting.
The second-generation AMC Javelin looked like nothing else in 1971, with flared fenders, a molded grille and an asymmetrical dashboard wrapped around the driver. It also won the Trans-Am championship, went to work as a police car, and could be ordered with a 401 V8 built to survive 8,000 rpm. AMC’s smallest-budget muscle car may have been its most audacious. Read on for the full story.
The fourth-generation Pontiac GTO was not designed in Detroit. It was built in Australia, imported nearly complete, and given a GTO badge because a General Motors board member read a magazine article and then drove one on a business trip. It had Corvette power, a legitimate 13.8-second quarter, and an exhaust note reverse-engineered from archived recordings. American buyers still walked past it. Read on for why, and why that makes it a bargain now.
Bond’s DB5 and Dom Toretto’s Charger are not the only movie muscle cars worth remembering. A black Trans Am and a customized Mustang fastback both left just as big a mark on car culture, one by boosting real-world sales and the other by spawning an entire tribute-car industry. Here is the rest of the list.
The Chevrolet SS was a genuine rear-wheel-drive V8 sedan hiding in plain sight on American dealer lots for four model years, and most enthusiasts either never noticed it existed or spent years quietly recommending one before it disappeared. Built on a rebadged Holden Commodore platform in Australia, it packed a 415-horsepower LS3 V8 and, eventually, a genuine six-speed manual. Its cancellation had almost nothing to do with American sales. Read on to find out what actually killed it.
In November 2016, a Ford F-450 reclaimed the Guinness World Record for Largest Flag Pulled by a Moving Vehicle, towing a 4,124-square-foot American flag around Homestead-Miami Speedway to beat a Chevrolet Silverado’s earlier record by nearly 1,000 square feet. The Super Duty’s 440-horsepower, 925-lb-ft Power Stroke diesel V-8 got credit for the pull, which stretched well past the minimum distance required to set the new mark. It’s proof that truck bragging rights aren’t only settled at the drag strip.
Someone crowned this clip ‘The Greatest Burnout of All Time,’ a bold claim in a genre with no shortage of contenders. See where the tradition of smoking tires for a crowd actually started, how it spread from drag strip prep to parking-lot ritual, and why it’s grown into a full-blown competitive event at shows like Summernats.
Filmed for a Unique Cars magazine feature and aired on Australia’s Today Show back in November 2011, this video lines up American muscle against Australia’s own homegrown V8 legends – and the rivalry it sparked in the comments is still going strong. The Ford Falcon, a car Ford never officially sold in the U.S., squares off against the Mustang, while Holden’s VR Commodore SS and Chrysler’s Valiant Charger make the case for Australian engineering. So which country actually builds the better muscle car?
It shouldn’t be a fair fight: a rough-looking farm pickup against an Italian exotic built to hit triple digits before most trucks finish their burnout. That’s exactly why Farm Truck, made famous on Street Outlaws, has built a reputation on embarrassing Lamborghinis in matchup after matchup. This clip is one more entry in a long-running highlight reel of sleeper builds humbling supercars.
USA vs AUS!! is the entire debate, and muscle car fans on both sides of the Pacific are certain their country builds the better burnout. One side treats it as spontaneous hooliganism; the other turns it into a judged sport with a stage and a trophy. Read on to find out which country’s approach actually holds up.