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This 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle convertible is not a trailer queen or an over-the-top custom. It is a genuinely nice cruiser with a supercharged LSX under the hood, a tasteful custom interior, a great stance, and the right wheels. The ’66 was the year the Chevelle found its coke-bottle shape, and dropping modern LS power into that body is one of the smartest moves a builder can make. Read on to find out why the combination works so well.
Built by Griffey’s Hot Rods and Restorations, the 1950 Cadillac Series 62 street rod known as LOTACAD lays low to the ground, wears chrome on chrome, carries a full custom interior by Steve Holcomb of Pro Auto Custom Interiors, and hides a modern 6.2-liter V8 making a little over 500 horsepower where Cadillac’s original 331 once lived. It can be naughty or nice, as its builders put it. Read on to see how far this build pushed past Cadillac’s 1950 engineering.
A 1963 Ford Falcon was never supposed to be a show car — Ford built it to be cheap and forgettable, not fast or beautiful. The build that turned up at the 2017 Detroit Autorama, with a modern 5.0 Coyote V8 under the hood and a stance that reportedly makes nearby Camaros look sad, argues otherwise. Even longtime enthusiasts in the comments admit they never expected to be impressed by a Falcon. Watch to see the build that changed their minds.
This 1932 Ford roadster proves the old hot-rodder rule that the engine badge never mattered as much as what is actually bolted to it, under the hood sits a bored-out Pontiac 400 breathing through a tri-power setup pulled from a completely different Pontiac decades later. Add in a mix-and-match interior built around 1940 Ford components, and this roadster tells the story of a builder who cared more about the finished product than staying loyal to one brand. Here is what makes this kind of cross-brand hot rod build a genuine hobby tradition, not a shortcut.
Finished with only three days to spare before Cruisin the Coast, this 1967 Chevrolet Impala SS is a near-stock restoration that skips the flashy paint and stretched stance in favor of getting every factory detail right. Read on to find out why 1967 marked the Impala SS’s last real high point before the package faded away.
This 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 pairs a rare four-speed manual with a factory-correct Medium Garnet Red paint job, restored to a standard clean enough for both show judging and a summer cruise. Read on to find out what separated Chevrolet’s three versions of the 396 and why the manual gearbox matters so much to collectors today.
Tom Lembeck has owned fourteen 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda convertibles, but this Jamaica Blue example with the 440 Six Pack still holds a specific title: the first big-block ‘Cuda he ever bought, back in 1997. Nearly three decades later, it still looks close to showroom-fresh. Watch to hear why, out of fourteen cars, this is the one Tom keeps coming back to.
This bagged, stock-interior 1963 Chevrolet Impala turned up at Cruisin’ The Coast without a single show trophy to its name – just a clean stance, real wheels, and the honest wear of a car that’s actually been driven. Its SS badge was still an option package that year – the Impala SS wouldn’t become its own series until 1964 – backed by an optional 409 big-block that inspired a Beach Boys song. Read on to find out why a driver like this one outshines the trailer queens parked next to it.
The 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger built its reputation on a 340 small-block that punched well above its weight class in a lightweight A-body, despite the Dart nameplate’s humble slant-six reputation. This particular example takes a different road, running a heavily built 318 with an aggressive cam and a stout rear end. Read on to see what the build actually delivers on the street.
Phil Martin sold his 1965 GTO, regretted it, and bought this charcoal blue 1966 replacement in 1995 to fill the gap it left behind. Lou Costabile catches up with Phil and the car at Rosemont’s World of Wheels show, and the comments spend as much time praising the restoration work as they do debating whether 1966 or 1967 wore the GTO’s taillights better.
1971 was Chevrolet best-ever year for truck production, and the C10 pickup was the model buyers wanted most. This street build pairs a 355 small block and roller cam with tasteful two-tone paint over a truck that already had a strong factory foundation. Here is what made the stock 1971 C10 such a good starting point in the first place.
This 1969 Mercury Cougar convertible goes all-in on triple black paint, top, and interior, powered by the brand-new 351 Windsor V8 that debuted that same year and would go on to power Fords for two more decades. Cougars have always delivered genuine Mustang performance with a nicer interior, at a lower price than the badge everyone remembers. Read on to find out why this triple-black build makes that case so well.
This restored 1978 Dodge Warlock predates the far more famous Li’l Red Express by a full year and nearly wore that program’s name before the two split into separate trucks. Its black-and-gold looks now come backed by genuine mechanical work, including an Edelbrock-topped V8 and a completely rebuilt bed riding on American Racing wheels. Read on to find out how a stylish work truck ended up starting a whole Mopar legend nobody quite remembers correctly.
Three years of build time went into this 1970 Chevelle, and it shows in details most viewers would never think to look for: nickel-plated trim swapped in for factory chrome, and baseball-style seam stitching on every seat. The result is a resto-mod so thorough that even seasoned muscle car fans in the comments are struggling to find a flaw. Watch to see what three years of obsessive attention to detail actually looks like.
Ford quietly developed the 428 Cobra Jet under a program called “Cougar-Mustang Performance Car” starting in late 1966, and when it finally hit dealer lots in April 1968 it turned an already popular pony car into a genuine drag strip weapon almost overnight. Only 1,299 Mustangs got the option that year out of roughly 317,000 built. Read on to find out how a mid-year engine swap changed the Mustang’s reputation forever.