POWERNATION’s Detroit Muscle crew takes on Project Ultra Violet, a 1970 Dodge Challenger so rusted it needs sandblasting before the real work can even begin. What follows is a uni-body-to-full-frame conversion built around a Jeff Schwartz G-Machine chassis and a low-deck, all-aluminum Hemi backed by a T56 six-speed. This is not a preserved survivor — it’s a genuine rust-bucket resurrection. Watch to see how far the team pushes it.
Posts Tagged: original
RamblinAround tracks down one of only 503 original 1969 Dodge Charger Daytonas ever built, still running its factory 440 V8 and finished in correct T5 Copper paint. The Daytona’s nose cone and rear wing were built to break NASCAR speed records, and did, forcing the sport to change its rules. Watch to see the winged Mopar that inspired decades of dream-car regret in the comments.
Don Dames’ 1970 Chevrolet Nova wears Green Mist paint and runs a six-cylinder rather than any of the big-block options that usually headline Nova stories. It sat in storage for years and emerged roughly 80 percent original, a survival rate that eludes almost every Nova built for straight-line speed. Read on for why the six was actually the most popular engine that year, and why honest survivors like this one are getting harder to find than restored SS cars.
Ken ‘Big Stick’ Godsey’s 1964 Mercury Comet tribute to drag racing legend Ronnie Sox made its first nine-second pass at the NHRA Holley Hot Rod Reunion — a wheels-up, bouncing four-speed launch that still gets commenters talking about clutch adjustment and crash-box durability years later. Barely a minute long and almost entirely without narration, the clip lets the launch speak for itself. Watch to see the pass that earned it.
A 1964 Dodge Polara doesn’t usually headline a muscle car video, but a 440 cubic-inch big block fed by dual Edelbrock quads, a 4-speed manual, and a Dana 60 rear end change that equation fast. Southern-car rust history and a seller’s unusually honest paint rating round out a listing built for buyers who read spec sheets, not just headlines. See why this overlooked full-size Mopar is drawing serious attention.
Ford outsold Chevrolet by 10 percent in 1951, and the optional 239 cubic inch flathead V8 under this coupes hood was part of the reason why. That same engine, simple enough for anyone to modify, became the foundation of the postwar hot rod movement and helped define an entire era of American car culture. Here is why builders still chase this engine family decades later.
The 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS LS6 454 carried a factory rating of 450 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque, the highest gross horsepower GM ever officially assigned a muscle car. This feature breaks down exactly why that number happened in 1970 specifically, and why regulatory changes the following year made sure no muscle car would ever match it again in the same way. Even Mopar loyalists show up in the comments to give credit where it’s due. Watch to see the case laid out in full.
The 1966 Ford F-100 was the last of its kind, replaced by an all-new truck the following year, which makes it an odd starting point for a show-quality street build and also exactly why it works. Underneath is Ford’s Twin I-Beam front suspension in only its second season. Inside is a custom cabin that has nothing to do with hauling lumber. Read on to find out what makes this generation of F-100 worth the money.
Buick only built 2,487 LeSabre convertibles for 1970, and this numbers-matching example carries the rare high-compression 350 that most buyers skipped over. Kept in the same Texas family since new, with original paperwork to prove it, it’s a documented survivor from the last year of a body style before Buick’s convertibles started disappearing for good. Here’s what made the high-compression option worth chasing.
Nelson Racing Engines’ Tom Nelson sat down with 1320video at SEMA to explain the Maximus Charger — a 2,000-horsepower 1968 Dodge Charger built to recreate a scene from the original Fast and the Furious inside Furious 7. Over 2,000 hours of bodywork went into a car commenters initially assumed was fake. Watch the full breakdown of the build above.
Bob Gough grew up idolizing European sports cars after a few childhood years in France — until a 1967 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S changed his mind. Over more than twenty-three years of ownership, he’s swapped in a 340-cubic-inch V8, a Tremec five-speed, and nitrogen shocks, building a car with enough torque to ‘leave Porsches behind’ on the straights. Watch to see why one habit still catches him out in the corners.
This 1970 Chevrolet Impala, powered by a 350 small-block paired with a TH350 automatic, hadn’t run since 1993, 23 years of silence before this restart attempt. Using nothing more than a dwell meter, timing light, and decades of hands-on know-how, host Jonathan walks through exactly what it takes to wake up an engine everyone assumed was finished. Watch to hear how it sounds once it finally catches.
John Strewe’s 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 in yellow, powered by a 428 Cobra Jet, isn’t a barn find or an investment flip — it’s a second chance. Strewe owned a Cougar just like it as his first new car, sold it, and regretted that decision for years before finding this one at a Mercury car show and buying it on sight. Featured on My Car Story with Lou Costabile at the Cars & Cops Car Show in Chicago, this Cougar carries the kind of personal history that no auction house can manufacture. Watch to hear the full story from the man who lived it.
This two-owner 1968 Ford Torino GT carries a documented 390 four-barrel rated at 335 horsepower, backed by window stickers, the original invoice, and a title copy tracing it to day one. Ford built the Torino to go head-to-head with the Chevelle SS and GTO, and this survivor still wears the paper trail to prove it earned its place. Read on to find out what period testers clocked at the drag strip.
