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In June 2017 the Dodge Challenger did something it had not managed in at least seven years: it outsold both the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro in a single month, 6,605 units to 6,186 and 4,691. The platform underneath it dated to 2008, and both rivals were far newer. Here is how the segment’s supposed underdog pulled off the upset, and why the year-to-date numbers tell a more complicated story.
A stock-looking late-model Mustang that pushes 1,420 horsepower and still gets driven on coffee runs sounds like a tall tale, but this Hellion Turbo build makes it real. Driven by the company owner’s wife, it runs sub-nine-second quarter miles while staying fully streetable, with no trailer required. Read on to see how a twin-turbo system can hide that much power in plain sight, and why the streetable half of the equation is the hard part.
In the years right after World War II, Packard wasn’t just competing with Cadillac for America’s luxury car buyers — it was actually winning, with the Clipper-era lineup outselling Cadillac and LaSalle combined for a stretch. This 1949 Eight represents that high point: America’s last great straight-eight era, built the same year Packard’s total production topped 116,000 cars. It also marks the beginning of the end, since the brand still lacked the modern overhead-valve V8 that was about to reshape the entire industry.
Ford gave the compact Falcon real muscle with the Sprint package and its 289 V8, only to watch its own Mustang, built on the same platform, make the Falcon obsolete almost overnight. Just 300 Sprint convertibles and 2,806 Sprint hardtops were sold in the model’s final year. Here is the story of the compact that lost to its own sibling.
Oldsmobile’s 1966 Toronado paired a 425 cubic-inch V8 with front-wheel drive at a time when that combination was nearly unheard of in America. Hagerty’s Stefan Lombard heads to the Lingenfelter Collection to walk through exactly what separates a well-sorted example from a expensive mistake, and makes the case for why this overlooked personal luxury coupe deserves real collector attention. Watch for the full checklist.
The decades-old Mustang-versus-Camaro rivalry has found unlikely new life in China, where Ford’s later-arriving pony car has outsold Chevrolet’s by more than 3-to-1 despite a four-year head start for the Camaro. The gap traces back to one detail muscle car fans will recognize instantly: engine choice. Read on to find out why a turbocharged four-cylinder cost Chevrolet the fight.
This 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback wears the GT500 look down to the stripes, but its VIN tells a more complicated story than the badge on the fender does. A 390-cubic-inch FE V8, Edelbrock heads, and a limited-slip 3.73 rear end back up the build, while a push-button C6 transmission has viewers picking sides in the comments. Watch to see the full walkthrough.
The AMC Javelin SST arrived for 1968 with safety features its bigger-budget rivals hadn’t even considered yet, plus a 343 V8 that could be ordered with a performance-oriented “Go Pack” four-barrel carburetor. It’s a pony car that out-engineered the competition in ways period buyers rarely noticed, and one that’s genuinely restorable thanks to shared GM parts. Read on to find out exactly what made AMC’s underdog pony car worth a second look.
On a recent episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage,” appraiser Donald Osborne challenged Leno to guess which of three unrestored classics had appreciated the most — and even Leno got it wrong. The reveal says a lot about how collectors actually value originality over polish, a lesson echoed by Ralph Lauren’s own decades of collecting and by the crowds still showing up to events like the Daytona Turkey Run. Read on to see why the roughest-looking car in the lineup won.
This 1966 Chevrolet Impala SS hides a 427 big-block under sheet metal most people assume belongs to a plain family car. Built during GM’s most dominant era in the U.S. market, it proves the company’s full-size lineup could hit just as hard as its dedicated muscle cars. Read on to see which 427 option actually made it special.
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.
Long before muscle cars ruled the streets, an electric car with no engine roar at all set the record for fastest vehicle on earth. Camille Jenatzy’s La Jamais Contente broke 100 km/h in 1899 using nothing but two electric motors and a featherweight aluminum shell. This trivia roundup also covers the Chevy Vega’s ill-fated Car of the Year win and the shifting balance of global car manufacturing power.
This 1970 Pontiac Firebird now runs a 632-cubic-inch big block making 853 horsepower on pump gas, built by Bulletmotorsports with no expense spared and featured on a magazine cover. But according to commenters with apparent firsthand knowledge, the car originally ran a smaller Butler Pontiac engine already making 850 horsepower and running 9-second quarter miles, sparking a real debate about whether the swap was an upgrade or a mistake. Watch to see the build and decide for yourself.
This 1929 Ford Model A pickup keeps its century-old shape but swaps everything underneath for modern Ford hardware: a 351 Windsor crate V8, a C6 automatic, and a Ford nine-bolt rear end, all tied together with four-wheel disc brakes. The all-Ford drivetrain is a deliberate choice in a restomod world where builders often mix brands freely. 1929 also marked the year Ford introduced the closed-cab pickup, quickly overtaking the open roadster body this truck wears. The result is a genuinely drivable classic built around one brand’s parts bin.
Ford reshaped its mid-size muscle car for 1973 to meet new federal bumper rules, and the redesign paid off with a 52 percent jump in production over 1971. Buyers could choose between a humble inline-six and a deeper bench of V8 options than you’d guess, with the sportiest Gran Torino Sport reserved for V8 power only. The changes pushed the Torino ahead of its longtime rival, the Chevrolet Chevelle, in Fords ongoing battle for intermediate muscle car sales.