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Posts Tagged: Automatic

This 1967 Chevrolet Camaro carries a detail that shouldn’t exist on paper: a 472-cubic-inch V8, a displacement Chevrolet never offered in any Camaro. The explanation is a later engine swap borrowing from Cadillac’s big-block lineup — a popular resto-mod move for builders chasing torque numbers the factory options sheet never allowed. Here’s how a Cadillac engine ends up under a Camaro’s hood.

This 1970 Plymouth Duster 340 H Code comes with original floors, an original color combination, and power steering and brakes — the kind of honestly preserved small-block Mopar that real enthusiasts could actually afford to drive daily. One viewer already spotted something unusual about the Rallye dash. See what caught their eye.

Pop the hood on this factory-black 1963 Plymouth Sport Fury and you’ll find the engine nobody brags about at car shows, and it might be the smarter choice. While everyone chases the 383 Golden Commando, this convertible went a quieter direction entirely. Read on to find out why the less famous engine might actually be the one to own.

1972 was a landmark year for the Oldsmobile Cutlass for two very different reasons: it was the last year you could order a standard Cutlass convertible until the body style returned in 1990, and it was the year a Hurst-badged Cutlass became the only Indy 500 pace car ever sponsored by a parts supplier instead of an automaker. Here is the strange chain of events, starting with a wrecked pace car the year before, that made it happen.

The 1967 Dodge Dart looks like a simple facelift year buried in Mopar’s compact lineup, but underneath that new sheet metal Dodge quietly reengineered the chassis to accept engines the old Dart never could. Wider front track, respaced frame rails, and a redesigned K-member set the stage for the small-block street fighters that would make the Dart name legendary just a couple years later. Add curved side glass, a new dual-circuit brake system, and 154,500 units built, and this transitional year deserves way more credit than the glory-grabbing GTS versions usually get.

A Ford Shelby GT350 built by Cordes Performance Racing runs an F1A Procharger, ARH long tube headers, and E85 fuel to a claimed 923 horsepower at the wheels — on a completely stock bottom end. At Shifts3ctor’s California Airstrip Attack in Coalinga, it lines up against a Chevrolet C7 Corvette Z06 kept close to factory spec. The horsepower gap looks enormous on paper. Watch to see whether launch and traction close it at all.

A 1973 Plymouth Barracuda could never have left the factory with a 426 Hemi under the hood, because Chrysler had already killed the engine two years earlier. That makes this performance-built tribute car something other than a fake, and Mopar collectors have long treated cars like it as legitimate in their own right. Behind the Hemi sits a 727 TorqueFlite, a Dana 60 with 4.11 gears, and Wilwood discs. Read on to find out why the combination works.

The 1974 AMC Hornet Sportabout pictured here traded big-block horsepower for a fuel-sipping 258 CID inline six, arriving right as the oil crisis reshaped what American buyers wanted from a car. Built by the smallest of Detroit’s automakers, this wagon paired practicality with just enough flair to avoid feeling like a compromise. Preserved by Gateway Classic Cars, it survives today as a rare, honest example of AMC’s underdog engineering.

The 440 badge on this 1964 Dodge has nothing to do with the famous 440-cubic-inch V8, that engine did not exist yet. It was simply the name of a mid-tier full-size trim, sitting between the base 330 and the upscale Polara, standard with a modest 225-cubic-inch slant-six, V8 power only as an option. Paired here with Chrysler’s dependable 727 TorqueFlite automatic. Here’s how Dodge’s confusing 1964 naming actually worked.

TFLcar lines up two Dodge Challenger Hellcats — one automatic, one manual — for a straight quarter-mile drag race to finally settle which transmission is actually faster. The results did not fully satisfy everyone, with one viewer arguing a 13-second pass meant the car simply needed a better driver. An unexpected background moment also stole some of the spotlight. Watch to see which transmission crossed the line first.

The 1965 Plymouth Fury III rode on an all-new full-size platform, and buyers could option it anywhere from a thrifty slant-six to a 365-horsepower Street Wedge V8 few ever actually ordered. Most Fury III buyers picked comfort over conquest, driving nearly 330,000 of these full-size Plymouths off dealer lots in a single year.

Ford built over 450,000 of these between 1928 and 1931, but almost none of the survivors still look the way they left the factory. This one carries a V8 swap that defined an entire generation of hot rodding — a tradition that started with racers chasing speed and never really stopped.

Two Dodge Challenger Hellcats, same 707-horsepower supercharged V8, different transmissions — one automatic, one manual. The Fast Lane Car crew lines them up for a straight quarter-mile shootout to settle which one actually gets down the track faster. The results split the comment section, with some viewers questioning a suspiciously slow run and others defending the manual on principle rather than elapsed time. Watch to see which transmission wins.

A slipping automatic transmission usually starts subtly, a delay between throttle and acceleration, or an RPM flare before the next gear catches. Mechanic Scotty Kilmer, with fifty years of hands-on experience, walks through why old or contaminated transmission fluid is often the real culprit, and how a DIY fluid change can resolve it before it becomes a full rebuild. Watch to see the fix in action.

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