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A ’69 Camaro running a 540 cubic inch big block met a ’66 Chevelle running a 427 of its own on a straight back road, and the resulting footage from the 540merlin channel pulled in 1.5 million views. Neither car is factory stock, and neither driver needed commentary to explain what was happening. Read on to find out why GM’s own displacement cap kept the 427 out of the Chevelle when it was new — and why both bodies still hold up decades later.
A 700-plus horsepower Chevelle convertible, an LS-swapped C10 pickup, a supercharged Hemi Cuda, and a naturally aspirated Ferrari 550 Maranello in the same test drive lineup. Three of them earned their character through modification decades after leaving the factory. One arrived that way. Read on for what separates a restomod from an engineered car, and which of the four actually wins on a back road.
The Malibu spent nearly a decade as a trim level before it was ever its own car — riding as the top of the Chevelle lineup from 1964 through 1972 and quietly picking up the SS-396 package, front disc brakes, and a full restyle along the way. When it finally split off as its own model in 1973, the depth of what had been built into that trim for a decade suddenly became obvious. Read on to find out how a badge became a bloodline.