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Gearhead Garage breaks down 11 of the most common muscle car upgrades that actually hurt performance, safety, or resale value — from oversized wheels to spool rear ends. Some of these mods are things owners save years to install. According to this list, that might be the problem. Watch Part 1 to see the full breakdown.
Getting real drag wheels onto a modern Camaro, Mustang, or Challenger is nothing like bolting slicks onto a classic Chevelle, and that fitment gap is what Race Star Wheels built its business around. From a single design launched in 2009 to Friction Stir Fusion welding and a partnership with Pro Stock stars Greg Anderson and Jason Line, here is how one wheel company earned its place on serious drag cars, and what that means for the weekend racer.
Most 1969 Chevrolet C10 pickups left the factory with a small-block six or a 350 doing the work. This one didn’t take the usual path — a 396 big block sits under the hood, a combination Chevrolet built but never pushed hard in its truck lineup. Read on to find out why a big-block C10 is a rarer find than most people assume.
This 1959 Corvette left Chevrolet’s factory with a 283 small block, but it now runs a 350-based 383 stroker wrapped in a bold Packers green and yellow rally wrap over what used to be plain silver paint. That combination signals a car built for driving and attention rather than numbers-matching judging classes. Read on to find out what Chevrolet actually offered in 1959 and how far this particular Corvette has strayed from it.
This restomod build doesn’t just show off a finished classic — it walks through the entire transformation, from a full teardown to a modern powertrain swap, upgraded brakes, an all-new wiring harness, and a fresh interior that still respects the original design. It’s a rare look at everything that goes into bridging vintage style with modern performance, including the costs most builds prefer to leave out. Read on to see exactly what a build like this actually takes.
Everybody remembers the SOHC Cammer Comets that terrorized A/FX in 1964, driven by names like Dyno Don Nicholson and Arnie Beswick. Fewer people remember what Bill Stroppe’s shop built the following year to chase down the class just below it, a stripped, small-block Comet that could embarrass cars with a full inch of displacement advantage. Read on to find out how a 289 beat cars it had no business beating.
1979 was the biggest sales year the Firebird ever had, and the Formula sat in an interesting spot between the budget-focused Esprit and the flashier Trans Am. This example carries the shaker hood and dual exhaust that made Formula buyers feel like they’d gotten the enthusiast’s Firebird without paying Trans Am prices. Read on to find out what made 1979 such a pivotal year for the second-generation Firebird lineup.
A pair of veteran car show judges pulled back the curtain on what actually earns points on the show field – and it’s rarely the stuff that catches a casual walker-by’s eye. From factory-correct parts and materials to inspections of the engine bay, trunk, and undercarriage, judging a classic car is a far more forensic process than most owners realize. Here’s their advice on where to actually focus your restoration.
A soft yellow paint job and gold cloth interior make this 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II look like grandma’s Sunday driver, until you find the 426 Hemi hiding under the hood. Chrysler built the Street Hemi to satisfy NASCAR homologation rules after banning the race version outright, and only a handful of Belvederes ever left the factory with one. Read on to find out just how rare a combination like this really was.
At the 2017 Wide Open Spring National in Rivanazzano Terme, Italy, a grid of American muscle — Plymouth ‘Cudas, Chevy Novas, Pontiac Firebirds, and more — ran quarter-mile times as quick as nine seconds flat in front of a crowd of Italian fans. Comments poured in from viewers across Europe praising the rare sight of so many Mopars racing together, and at least one fan asked for a future USA-versus-Europe showdown. Watch to see American iron holding court a world away from Detroit.
A seven-minute Steel Dreams walkthrough on inspecting a classic car before you buy sparked a comment section debate bigger than the checklist itself. Viewers point out that the host is sharing only a fraction of what he knows, and one reply frames a real collector’s dilemma: save five affordable classics or pour everything into one or two done right, since these cars will outlive any single owner. Other commenters zero in on a single pinch weld that supposedly tells you everything. Is a quick checklist really enough to protect a buyer?
Filmed on the lot at Garrett Classics in Lewisville, Texas, this 1966 Pontiac GTO wears the setup serious muscle car buyers wanted most: a 389-cubic-inch V8 with Tri-Power carburetion and a genuine four-speed manual. Factory power brakes, power steering, and correct Rally wheels round out a car Pontiac loyalists in the comments call one of the best-preserved examples they’ve seen. It’s unrestored, unmodified, and exactly as honest as a 1966 GTO should be.
This 1985 Chevrolet El Camino crossed a strange threshold: old enough to be called a classic, but built for buyers who still saw it as a practical work vehicle rather than a collectible. Nicknamed the Cowboy Cadillac for straddling truck and car in equal measure, it carries original paint, original bench seating, and a full comfort-options sheet, plus a GM Goodwrench 350 crate engine standing in for whatever came from the factory. Read on for what made this coupe-utility, and its unlikely nickname, last eight years longer than its closest rival.
Only 201 of these 1969 Yenko Camaros were ever built, and this one’s owner hoped it would clear $300,000 at auction. When the gavel fell at roughly $240,000, the comment section split over whether that was a fair price or a steal. Commenters also debated which of the 201 cars are truly the most desirable, and warned future buyers just how much paperwork it takes to prove a Yenko is real. Watch the sale and the debate it sparked.