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There’s no single right answer to which manufacturer built the best muscle car — it depends entirely on what you’re measuring. Pontiac gets credit for starting the whole era with the GTO, Ford dominated on raw sales with the Mustang, and Dodge now leads in what collectors are actually willing to pay. Three completely different rankings, three completely different winners. Which measuring stick do you trust?
A supercharged Hemi wasn’t the surprising part of the Charger SRT Hellcat – the stopwatch numbers were. This four-door family sedan runs 0-60 in roughly 3.6 seconds and tops out near 204 mph, numbers that would embarrass plenty of dedicated two-door muscle cars. Here’s how Dodge built a genuine supercar into a car meant for car seats.
Nearly 2,700 Mopars show up every year at a raceway built along Ohio’s old National Road, making this one of the largest single-brand car shows in the country. What started decades ago as a gathering for classic Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrysler muscle has slowly grown to include modern performance iron too. Here’s a look at what makes the Mopar Nationals worth the drive.
Dodge borrowed a system every car already has — the air conditioner — and used it to make the Challenger SRT Demon’s engine breathe colder, denser air on demand. The result, called the SRT Power Chiller, was strange enough to win an award usually reserved for actual tech gadgets, not muscle cars. Paired with a supercharger larger than the Hellcat’s, it helped the Demon set new benchmarks for factory-built drag performance.
A 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda convertible surfaced after roughly thirty-five years in storage, and its VIN tells a story most barn finds cannot back up: it is one of only 17 factory 440-6 Barrel convertibles Plymouth ever built. Viewers immediately started arguing over what a car this rare is actually worth, with estimates ranging from six figures unrestored to well over a million dollars fully restored. Watch to see the car — and the debate — for yourself.
Lou Costabile visits Roanoke Motor Co. in Illinois to see a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird 426 Hemi in Alpine White, pulled straight from dealership owner John Gastman’s personal collection. The car’s 53-pound cast aluminum wing and NASCAR-driven aerodynamics tell only part of the story; according to Gastman, the horn has never even been used. Built to homologate Chrysler’s aero package for racing, fewer than 2,000 street Superbirds exist today. Watch to see why this one has barely been touched since it arrived.
Dodge never intended the compact Dart to carry a 440-cubic-inch big block, but a small number of 1968 GTS buyers ordered exactly that combination anyway. Paired with a four-speed manual, it’s one of the rarest engine-transmission combos Mopar ever built into an A-body. Here’s what makes this particular Dart worth a closer look.