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GM capped intermediate cars at 400 cubic inches in 1968 — so Hurst and an independent Michigan dealer built this Cutlass-based coupe outside the factory line to get around it, stuffing a 455 under the hood. This vintage road test captures the resulting Hurst/Olds exactly as period journalists first experienced it. Watch to see the loophole car in action.
Sherwin M. found his 1970 Ford XL through a classified ad with photos so bad the car was barely recognizable, which is probably why nobody else called first. What he found in person was a sixteen-year-dormant, numbers-matching survivor with its original 429 engine still intact. Read on to find out how a factory-correct rebuild turned this rare full-size Ford into both a daily driver and a genuine 14-second track car.
Ryan’s Mustang looks like an ordinary, clean S550 until you learn it’s making 930 wheel-horsepower through a fully built motor and Procharger supercharger, built for everything from weekend blasts to half-mile racing. Gears and Gasoline rides along to find out what that much power actually feels like from the passenger seat — fuel economy be damned, by the driver’s own admission. Viewers have called it one of the best sleeper builds they’ve seen on the platform. Watch to find out what 1000 horsepower is really like.
In spring 2017, Dodge fitted a factory production Challenger with hardware normally reserved for professional dragsters – a trans brake capable of building 534 lb-ft of launch torque via its Torque Reserve system. With 840 horsepower on 100-octane fuel, a driver’s seat as the only seat that came standard, and a production cap of just 3,300 units, the Demon reportedly ran too quick for NHRA certification without a roll cage. Read on to find out how the technology actually works.
Only 3,939 Ford Torino GT convertibles were built in 1970, and this one adds a rare M-code 351 Cleveland engine, factory air conditioning, and a deluxe interior on top of that already-thin production number. Read on to find out what made the Cleveland worth chasing and why so few buyers ordered the open-air version at all.
Muscle car. Pony car. Most enthusiasts use the terms interchangeably, and most of the time nobody calls them on it. This breakdown draws an actual line between the two categories — one built around a big engine stuffed into a mid-size body, the other built around an affordable, sporty compact platform that started with the 1964 Ford Mustang. The difference turns out to matter more than you’d think.
Pontiac only sold the 400-cubic-inch W72 with a mandatory four-speed manual in 1979, the final year for its biggest V8, and this factory-correct four-speed Trans Am backs that combination with an aluminum intake, Edelbrock carb, and long-tube headers. 1979 was also the single best sales year the Trans Am nameplate ever had. Read on to find out what made the last big-block Bird so specific.
A 1968 Plymouth Barracuda spent 32 years parked in a garage, untouched, and what rolled back out is one of just 18 documented examples of its exact build. The owner has confirmed it carries an original BO29 code and a four-speed transmission, a combination rare enough to turn a routine garage find into a genuine survivor story. See the car exactly as it looked the day the door finally opened.
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.
A 30-year barn find just resurfaced wearing one of the rarest factory engine combinations Ford ever built — a triple-carbureted 406 big block that fewer than 124 full-size Mercurys ever received from the factory. Paired with a factory 4-speed and a special-order 4.11 rear axle, this Monterey is a genuine sleeper hiding inside a plain-looking family sedan. Read on to find out what made this engine option so rare, and what a numbers-matching survivor like this is worth today.
Two months before any other Ford product carried it, the FE V8 made its debut in the unlikeliest of cars: the all-new 1958 Edsel. From there it split into truck duty, police-package cruisers, and factory tri-power setups shipped loose in the trunk, before a redesigned block gave rise to the short-lived but influential 406. Read on to find out how a workhorse engine family quietly built the foundation for Ford’s most feared big-blocks.
A 1970 Dodge Super Bee, brought back through a full rotisserie restoration and finished in Dodge’s factory Vitamin C orange, is listed at $38,900 with a spec sheet deep enough to satisfy a serious Mopar buyer: a built 440 with Holley and Edelbrock parts, a 727 TorqueFlite, an 8-3/4 rear end, and period-correct details down to the Pistol Grip shifter. See exactly what’s under the paint and whether the asking price actually holds up.
A 1969 428 Cobra Jet Mustang Mach 1 sat untouched in a basement for 28 years, emerging with just 41,525 original miles, its factory tires still in the trunk, and a sealed bag of unused headlight adapters Tommy Higgins has already turned down $2,500 for. Documentation includes the original bill of sale, build sheet, and a confirming Marti Report. Read on to find out what else survived nearly three decades of dust.
1954 was the final model year for Chevrolet’s Advance-Design trucks before an all-new generation took over in 1955, and Chevy spent that last year finally fixing the split windshield and dated grille that had barely changed since 1947. This 3800 panel delivery represents the most refined version of a design that spent seven years hauling America’s small businesses. Here’s what made 1954 the year Chevrolet got it right, just before moving on.