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The third-generation Corvette ran for fifteen model years without a full redesign, longer than any generation before or since, while watching horsepower ratings collapse under new emissions rules almost the entire time it was on sale. Read on to find out how a car built on a Mako Shark II concept survived that transition — and which rare option is worth more than most entire classic cars.
Chevrolet planned to build one hundred Grand Sport Corvettes in 1963. Only five ever left the factory, and all five still survive in private hands today. That’s just the beginning of the story of the second-generation Corvette’s five model years, which moved from a one-year-only split rear window to a factory 427 so powerful Chevrolet wouldn’t put the real horsepower number on paper. Read on to find out how the Sting Ray earned its reputation.
Four cars line up for a pink slip race in 2 Fast 2 Furious, and the build sheet behind each one is more accurate than most movie car scenes ever bother to be. Brian O’Conner’s Evo VII wears taillights from the newer Evo VIII, Roman Pearce’s Eclipse Spyder kept its stock engine under a wide-body kit, and the Camaro squaring off against a 426 Hemi Challenger is actually a period-correct Yenko replica built just for the film. See which build holds up best once the lights turn green.
Every muscle car engine gets the glory, but horsepower means nothing until it reaches the pavement through the transmission standing between the crankshaft and the rear wheels. An animated breakdown of exactly how that transmission works, dog clutches, synchronizer rings, and all, earned praise from a self-identified automotive engineer as the clearest explanation they had ever seen. It even required its own creator to issue a correction. Watch to see what most drivers get wrong about their own gearbox.