Hemi | Muscle Car Fan

Classic green muscle car with raised rear and open hood at indoor car show.

Dodge Charger Daytona 1969 426 Hemi in Spring Green Metallic paint

Only seventy 1969 Dodge Charger Daytonas left the factory with a 426 Hemi under that towering rear wing, and finding one wearing a shade as bold as F6 Spring Green Metallic narrows the field even further. Built purely to win NASCAR’s aero war against Ford, the Daytona’s 18-inch nosecone and flush rear glass made it one of the strangest-looking muscle cars Detroit ever legalized for the street. Owner Tom Lembeck’s example pairs that homologation-special engineering with a factory color most buyers never got to see in person.

Close-up of a vintage Dodge Challenger grille and badge.

1971 Dodge Challenger 383 – vintage road test

by Wes

This vintage road test captures a 1971 Dodge Challenger 383 exactly as period buyers would have experienced it, with no idea yet that the model would go on to become a genuine collector icon. The 383 sat as the attainable middle option below the 440 and Hemi, the version most real buyers actually drove home. Watching it judged on its own contemporary terms reveals something modern reviews cannot. See what the era actually thought of it.

Custom orange muscle car with polished wheels at a car show.

1970 Charger R/T Street Shaker Is Absolutely a Head Turner!

by Wes

ScottieDTV singled out this 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, nicknamed ‘Street Shaker,’ at the Detroit Autorama — no small feat in a show packed with hundreds of builds. The nickname hints at a Charger pushed well past factory stock, with the attitude and stance to match. Watch the full walkaround to see exactly what earned this Charger its name and its spot at one of the country’s biggest indoor car shows.

1966 Plymouth Belvedere II 426 HEMI convertible car with classic design.

Breakdown/Review: 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II Convertible 426 Hemi

by Wes

Fewer than ten 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II convertibles were ever built with the factory 426 Hemi, making this light blue example from The Brothers Collection one of the rarest muscle cars still on the road. V8TV caught up with it for their long-running Muscle Car of the Week series, and the story behind why Mopar almost never put this engine in a convertible is as interesting as the car itself. Rarity like this doesn’t show up at cruise nights often.

Dodge Charger 1966-1967 G1

by Ross Mills

The Dodge Charger burst onto the scene in 1966, a sleek, fastback beauty that made its Coronet cousin look like the introverted sibling at a car family reunion. Luxuriously priced at $3,100, it was like a Marlin with a snazzier hat. Boasting hidden headlights and a taillight grin, it packed options from a 318-cubic-inch engine to the roaring 426 Hemi. In 1967, the Charger donned fender signals and a vinyl roof, but sales took a nosedive—guess not everyone wanted a car that could double as a disco.

Classic black muscle car with white-letter tires on display indoors.

Plymouth Road Runner 1969 440 A12 M Code in Black Paint

by Kiril

This 1969 Road Runner carries the A12 package – a mid-year 440 Six Barrel setup with a factory fiberglass hood held down by hood pins, a treatment Mopar never used on any other model. Only 1,412 were built, and Ronnie Sox once ran one to a 12.91-second quarter mile. Owner Frank Chicherchia previously showed a numbers-matching Hemi Coronet, so he clearly knows rare Mopar iron when he sees it. Find out what’s hiding under that fiberglass.

Ford Mustang 1969-`70-The Boss 429

by Ross Mills

The Ford Mustang Boss 429, a real heavyweight of its time, was Ford’s bold attempt to challenge the Chrysler 426 Hemi on the NASCAR tracks. With an engine so big, it needed a trunk relocation for the battery—because who needs trunk space anyway? Kar Kraft had to re-engineer the Mustang just to fit this beast under the hood. The result? A 375 hp engine that laughs at its own rating, easily roaring past 600 hp with tweaks. The Boss 429 is a muscle car icon, proving that size does matter!

Two vintage dragster cars with drivers preparing to race on a track.

Who is the Greatest Drag Racer of all Time? NHRA’s 50 Greatest

by Pat C

NHRA’s 50 Greatest Drivers list wasn’t slapped together as clickbait – it came out of a genuine blue-ribbon panel debate for the sanctioning body’s 50th anniversary, weighing everything from national event wins to the sport’s technological history. Don Garlits sits at number one, with John Force, Don Prudhomme, Bob Glidden, and Shirley Muldowney rounding out a top five that basically built modern drag racing. Decades later, NHRA even expanded it into a Top 75 list for its 75th anniversary. So who’s your pick for the top spot?

Chrysler Hemi Power 2 of 5

by Ross Mills

Chrysler’s Hemi engines, the original FirePower Hemi, kick off with a 331 cu in displacement, producing 180 bhp in the early ’50s. Things heat up by 1956 with the 354 cu in engine, cranking out 340 bhp, while the 392 Hemi in ’57-’58 dazzles with up to 390 bhp, thanks to a rare Bendix fuel injection. Meanwhile, Desoto’s engineers play catch-up with their own Hemi, peaking at 345 bhp in 1957. These engines are powerhouses, proving that Chrysler knew how to bring the heat, with a sprinkling of humor on the side!

Classic orange 1971 Plymouth Cuda muscle car in pristine condition.

1971 Plymouth Cuda Recreation For Sale

by Wes

This 1971 Plymouth ‘Cuda began life as a base Barracuda before a complete rotisserie build brought it to 440 Six Pack specification — Hemi 4-speed manual, Edelbrock triple carbs, and just 520 miles since the rebuild. Vanguard Motor Sales frames it as the real driving experience without seven-figure original money. See what a nut-and-bolt recreation actually looks like.

Classic black muscle car parked indoors.

Plymouth GTX 440 CID 4 Speed Manual 1967 images

by Ross Mills

Most muscle cars of 1967 made you pay extra for the engine that mattered, the Plymouth GTX just built it in standard, wrapping a 440 Super Commando inside comfort-focused styling borrowed from the upscale Satellite. Buyers chasing even more performance could step up to the fabled 426 Hemi, but most stuck with the 440 for good reason. Here is why Plymouth’s gentleman’s muscle car approach to the GTX still holds up as one of the smarter muscle car formulas of its era.

Dodge Super Bee 1969 images

by Ross Mills

Dodge built the Super Bee as a stripped-price alternative to its own Road Runner, but partway through 1969 it quietly added the 440 Six Pack — three two-barrel Holleys good for 390 horsepower — and only 1,907 cars ever left the factory with that combination. That makes the Six Pack Super Bee rarer than most people assume for a car built around the idea of cheap speed. Whether you got the common 383 Magnum, the scarce Six Pack, or the legendary Hemi, every ’69 Super Bee proves Dodge’s budget muscle car was never actually a budget performer.

Two muscle cars ready to race on an open road at sunset.

Mustang GT 5.0 vs Dodge Challenger RT 5.7L | STREET RACE & BURNOUTS!

by Wes

The Coyote versus Hemi debate gets settled the only way that actually counts on Modern Muscle: an owner-driven 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 lines up against the host’s own Dodge Challenger R/T 5.7 for a street race, followed by burnouts. Both cars chase the same goal with completely different engineering philosophies, and both have loyal owners ready to argue their case. See which naturally aspirated V8 actually wins the straight line.

A sleek blue 1968 Dodge Charger on a car carrier trailer.

A 1968 DODGE CHARGER ROARS ON THE DYNO

by Wes

A dyno room strips away every distraction and lets an engine speak for itself, and this classic blue 1968 Dodge Charger 383 had plenty to say at a Mopar show in Avondale, Arizona. Hosted by Mopars Unlimited of Arizona at a UTI Phoenix car show, the pull turned a routine dyno session into a genuine crowd moment. Turn the volume up before you watch this one.

Bright green 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird in a garage.

1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird 426 Hemi 4 Speed in Green

by Wes

Mike Fitzgerald has owned this numbers-matching 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird — 426 Hemi, four-speed, Limelight Green — since 1972, long before Mopar wing cars became six-figure collector pieces. My Car Story with Lou Costabile catches up with Fitzgerald and restorer Mark Sekula at the Belvidere MOPAR Happening to talk through the sixteen-month restoration that brought the car back to showroom condition. Half a century of ownership tends to produce stories worth hearing.

Posts Tagged: Hemi