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For years, Detroit street racers only knew the Black Ghost by reputation, a black 1970 Challenger R/T SE with a 426 Hemi that beat them and vanished before anyone learned who was driving. Gregory Qualls knows exactly who, because it was his father, an off-duty Detroit police officer. After decades in storage, the car resurfaced, earned a spot on the National Historic Vehicle Register, and inspired a full documentary. Hear the son tell the story only he can tell.
A 1964 Corvette with an engine that rises above its own roofline is not built to blend in. This Pro Street build claims 2,600 horsepower from a stacked, blown big-block that turns the car’s hood into an afterthought, putting it in the same conversation as some of the most extreme builds the genre has ever produced. Read on to see where that claim actually stacks up.
1959 was the year Pontiac reinvented itself, debuting the Wide-Track stance, the split grille, and a genuinely potent 389 V8 all in the same model year, and taking home Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for it. This black Bonneville wears that transformation beautifully, every line of the redesign sharpened by the deep paint. Read on to find out why Pontiac decided to stop playing it safe.
This 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 pairs deep black paint with the rarest option Dodge offered that year: the 426 Street Hemi, ordered by just 136 of 55,700 Coronet 500 buyers. Behind the badges sits a story of NASCAR bans, a $907.60 option box, and a factory clutch upgrade needed just to handle the torque. Read on for what made this car so hard to order in period, and what it takes to prove one is genuine today.
This 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 carries the 426 Street Hemi in its earliest, sharpest form – a solid-lifter cam Mopar would trade for a milder hydraulic unit by 1970. Owner Ray DuPuis brought the car to the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois, and walked through exactly what separates an early Hemi from the ones that followed. Longtime Mopar owners in the comments call this the best version Chrysler ever built. Watch to hear the case for why.
Scott Zeller’s father owned three Mercury Cougars before Scott bought this 1969 XR7 in black paint with a 351 V8, and that family history is central to why this particular car keeps drawing a crowd at Chicago-area car shows. Filmed at the Monday Night Car Shows in Skokie, Illinois, the video captures a nameplate that history has quietly underrated next to its Mustang sibling. Watch to hear the engine and the story behind it.