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This Coyote V8 build takes an unusual path to big power: first converted to carburetors, then switched back to fuel injection using an AEM Infinity standalone ECU and Ford Racing parts, ultimately reaching 625 horsepower and spinning to 8,500 rpm without any forced induction. Produced by Power Automedia’s EngineLabs team, the build has sparked a comment section full of swap ideas, from a 1970s Road Runner to a Fox-body Mustang. Watch the full build to see how a stock Coyote gets there.
Mopar’s Crate HEMI Engine Kits let owners of any 1975-or-earlier Mopar bolt in genuine modern HEMI power — 383 horsepower from the 5.7-liter kit or 485 horsepower from the 6.4-liter version — without chasing down custom wiring or tuning. Each kit ships with an unlocked, pre-calibrated PCM that sidesteps the usual factory security headaches of a late-model engine swap. Debuted on two complete builds at the 2016 SEMA Show, the kits have owners of everything from Dusters to Aspens asking if their own project qualifies. Watch the full rundown of what’s included.
Two cars, three decades apart, both built around the same unusual idea: a high-performance engine wrapped in a body shaped for hauling people and cargo, not chasing lap times. One is a full-size American wagon with a glass-topped rear cabin. The other is a V12 shooting-brake from Maranello that sends power to all four wheels. Which one actually deserves the garage space?
Ford built the Boss 351 for exactly one model year, 1971, to homologate a racing program it had already walked away from. Fewer than two thousand left the factory before the entire Boss nameplate was retired. Underneath the wider, heavier restyled Mustang sat a 351 Cleveland assembled from a parts-counter wish list, and in Grabber Lime it announced itself from a block away. Here is what the engineers managed to push through, and why the car is still undervalued.
A 1969 Dodge Dart GTS with a small block 340 lines up against a 1969 Camaro SS 396 packing the rare solid-lifter L78, and the spec sheet says this should not even be a contest. It nearly wasn’t, just not in the direction anyone expected. Watch the quarter mile that has Mopar and Chevy fans still arguing over which engine really won.
John Hennessey does not usually get excited about a car he has not modified, but the 2017 Camaro ZL1 earned an exception. In this test drive, he runs the supercharged 650-horsepower Camaro through every gear on a public road, reaching a top speed that still gets cited in owner forums today. The explanation for why it stops exactly there is the most interesting part of the whole run. Watch to see how close a factory Camaro really gets to supercar territory.
MotorTrend’s Generation Gap pits a rare, numbers-matching 1969 COPO Chevelle, 427 cubic inches, 425 horsepower, and a body that looks like grandma’s car, against a McLaren-tuned 1987 Buick GNX turbo V6 that quietly out-torques expectations. Both cars disguise serious performance behind unassuming looks. See which one the hosts, and the comment section, actually side with.
Two Hemi-badged muscle cars, side by side, and no caption to settle the argument. Whichever specific models these are, that small emblem alone guarantees a debate, the 426 Hemi was rated at 425 horsepower when it reached showrooms in 1966, a figure most enthusiasts still consider conservative. It is proof that in the Mopar world, the badge can matter as much as the car wearing it.
For most of automotive history, more power meant worse fuel economy, and everyone accepted the trade. Then both numbers started improving at the same time, and the average new car quietly got faster than a 1970s muscle car while returning double the mileage. Read on for the specific technologies that broke the old compromise, and what it means for anyone shopping for performance today.
Car and Driver rides shotgun in the new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 at Willow Springs International Raceway, a demanding high-speed circuit known as “The Fastest Road in the West.” The track’s unforgiving sweepers are exactly the kind of test that separates real aerodynamic grip from marketing claims. Watch to see how GM’s most track-focused Corvette handles it.
About 1,500 muscle cars, hot rods, and customs rolled through Galesburg, Illinois for a nostalgic one-night revival of the town’s old cruising strip along historic Route 66. Illinois still hosts a dense calendar of Route 66-adjacent cruise nights up and down the corridor, the same basic formula that built American cruising culture decades ago. No trophies, no judged classes – just a reason to drive somewhere and be seen. Here’s why turnout like this still happens.
Lou Costabile heads to Schwartz Performance Inc. headquarters in Woodstock, Illinois, to check out a custom 1966 Pontiac GTO owned by Dale Schwartz, whose father Jeff runs the shop’s build team. The orange paint gets attention, but the real story is underneath: a lighter, stronger custom frame plus disc brakes and improved steering. Watch to hear directly from the builders why the chassis mattered more than the finish.
A 1965 Pontiac GTO Tri-Power, the car most historians credit with inventing the muscle car category, takes on a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T and its 375 horsepower 440 Magnum in a quarter-mile pass that is closer than the 15 horsepower gap between them suggests. Viewers in the comments have pointed out that the GTO actually lost to a red-light foul, not a straight-line beating. Both cars run essentially stock, full-weight, and unmodified off the factory floor. Watch the start as closely as the finish to see why.
No-prep drag racing strips away the sticky track surface most cars depend on for grip, turning every run into a battle against wheelspin on bare concrete. At the Conquer the Concrete event at Thunder Valley Raceway Park near Oklahoma City, James ‘Birdman’ Finney turned that chaos into a $10,000 payday. It capped a run that had already put more than $45,000 in his pocket across his previous three major no-prep races.