Posts Tagged: muscle car build
Project Henchman started as a bone-stock 1969 Pontiac GTO — the kind of car that never got the factory Judge treatment. A frame-off restoration and a 500-plus horsepower LS swap later, it looks every bit the part, but not everyone in the comments is happy about the engine choice. See the build, the backlash, and why one viewer is already using it as a blueprint for their own Pontiac Tempest project.
Autotopia LA profiles Donnie and his 1969 Chevy Nova SS, a Butternut-and-pearl-white build hiding a 502 big block making roughly 700 horsepower behind a deliberately misleading ‘350’ fender badge. Built by Hood Muscle Cars, the Nova became a fan favorite for Donnie’s infectious on-camera energy as much as its raw power. Comments have since taken on a more emotional tone, with viewers sharing that Donnie has passed away and paying tribute to him and the wider Hood Muscle Car community. It’s a build video that has become something closer to a lasting tribute.
Only 69 real 1969 ZL1 Camaros left the factory. MuscleCar and Chevrolet Performance set out to build a 70th from a completely bare shell, with welder Tommy Boshers doing fabrication work fans can’t stop praising. One viewer who saw a real ZL1 in person as a 13-year-old in 1969 says the tribute build comes close to capturing the original. Watch the full build unfold.
Brito and Dustin dig a 1972 Chevy Nova out of 40 years of dirt with no engine and a badly rotted floor, then give themselves a hard $5,000 limit to make it run and drive. Hagerty’s Driveway series skips the million-dollar restoration fantasy for something scrappier and more relatable. Watch to see how far junkyard ingenuity and a tight budget can actually go.