 |
A 1972 Chevy Nova that spent four decades sinking into the dirt gets a second chance in Hagerty’s newest budget build. Restoration duo Dustin Hallinan and John Brito set themselves a brutal number: bring it back to life for less than $5,000. What they find underneath says a lot about what’s still possible in today’s classic car market.
A running second-generation Camaro can still be bought for the price of a tired commuter car, and the aftermarket supports it like a Mustang. Chevrolet built 282,571 Camaros in 1979 alone, which is exactly why the unloved big-bumper years remain the cheapest honest door into classic muscle. The catch is a short list of rust spots that quietly turn a bargain into a parts car.
A 1965 Dodge Monaco spent roughly forty years buried and forgotten before Dylan McCool’s team pulled it back into the light — and paired it with a second wrecked car nobody else wanted. What followed was a fully custom body swap and a budget Hemi build that reportedly turned a profit instead of draining one. Fans in the comments are already asking for a sequel. See how two written-off cars became one running Hemi-powered Monaco.
Dalton pairs a rust-riddled 1967 Buick Skylark with a Pontiac LeMans engine on a strict $2,500 budget, turning what looks like scrap into a running muscle car. Pole Barn Garage’s low-buck formula has built a loyal following, including viewers who say the builds genuinely motivated them to get back to their own garages. Watch the full transplant come together.
A small-block Chevy engine builder with decades of grease under his fingernails sets out to settle one of the hobby’s oldest arguments: which factory cylinder heads are actually worth chasing, and which ones are budget-build traps. Casting numbers, camel-hump chambers, and a warranty-replacement secret tied to the 1969 Z/28 Camaro all make an appearance. Viewers with their own engine-building histories have kept the debate going in the comments for over a decade. Watch to find out which heads made his list, and which ones did not.