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When Chrysler’s 6.4-liter HEMI SRT V8 launched, it used a pushrod layout that critics considered outdated — and still made 470 naturally aspirated horsepower across the Charger, Challenger, 300, and Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Chief engineer Gary Rogers explains the engineering decisions behind the numbers directly in this Insider Interview. Watch to understand why an ‘old’ engine architecture kept winning arguments it wasn’t supposed to win.
This 1948 Studebaker Commander keeps its groundbreaking postwar styling but swaps everything underneath for modern GM hardware — a Chevrolet 305 V8, a 700R4 overdrive automatic, and a Camaro front subframe with Mustang II-style steering. It’s a build that raises a fair question about how much of the original Commander survives beneath the sheet metal. See the full restomod in the photos below.
This 1970 Pontiac GTO isn’t a real Judge, and the Texas dealership selling it isn’t trying to say otherwise — it’s a genuine 242-code GTO wearing a body-up restoration and Judge-tribute styling, priced at $33,900. Under the hood is a correctly dressed 400 with HO heads, backed by Baer disc brakes and Hotchkis suspension for a car that can actually stop and turn. At 57,000 original miles, it’s asking buyers to decide what authenticity is really worth.
George was not hunting for a classic when he spotted a Buick Skylark with a for-sale sign in Lisbon, Ohio, in the summer of 2014; he just stopped for a closer look. What he found was a GS455-powered GSX tribute car with its original numbers-matching 350 engine stored safely away, parked in a garage alongside a small private muscle car collection. Read on to find out about the one-of-a-kind GM production mistake that makes a factory GS455 Stage I Skylark one of the rarest muscle cars of 1970.
General Motors built five Corvette Grand Sports in 1963 before corporate leadership shut the program down, and those five became some of the most valuable Corvettes in existence. Superformance now builds continuations under official GM license, on a tube chassis with hand-laid bodies. This one carries a Lingenfelter LS7, Wilwood discs, and air conditioning.
Street Outlaws built its reputation on real grudge matches between real cars, and few rivalries carried more weight than Kye Kelley’s nitrous-fed Camaro, the Shocker, squaring off against a twin-turbo rival known as the Mistress. Nitrous versus turbos is one of drag racing’s oldest arguments, and this matchup played it out in front of a national television audience. Read on to find out how a garage-built Camaro became one of the most recognized cars in the entire street racing scene.
Beyond the well-known bargains, plenty of affordable muscle car ownership still hides in plain sight. Cars like the Chevrolet Nova, Dodge Dart Sport, and Buick Skylark deliver real small-block performance for a fraction of what a comparable Camaro or Mustang costs. The simple reason: fewer buyers chase these badges, which keeps demand, and prices, refreshingly low.
Ford reshaped its entire truck lineup for 1937, offering buyers a choice between an economical 136 cubic inch V8 and the more powerful 221 cubic inch flathead in the same rounded, streamlined body. It was not fast by modern standards, but the flathead-powered ’37 pickup became one of the most popular hot rod platforms of its era. These photos, courtesy of Gateway Classic Cars, show a well-preserved example of that transformation.
Mercury built more than ten thousand Cyclone GT hardtops for 1970, but only a few hundred of them left the factory with the engine that made the model’s reputation. Three different 429s were available, ranging from a smooth cruiser to a solid-lifter drag car, and a well-restored example tells you almost nothing about which one you are looking at until you check. Here is how to read a 1970 Cyclone GT, and why the Drag Pack cars are the ones worth chasing.
Dodge offered its fearsome Max Wedge 413 across the entire 1962 Dart lineup, station wagons included, pairing a genuinely dangerous big-block with a brand-new lightweight unibody platform. Two states of tune were available, both capable of closing in on a 12-second quarter mile in a car built to also haul groceries. Chryslers engineers proved a mid-size car could out-drag much larger machinery years before the GTO existed. This wagon is a reminder that Mopars muscle car reputation started in unlikely places.
John Wischmann set out to run 7-second quarter-mile passes at every stop of Rocky Mountain Race Week in a twin-turbo big-block Camaro, then drive it on public roads to the next track and do it again, without a single mechanical failure. Viewers keep comparing the turbo whistle to a screaming eagle, and the launches show almost no wasted motion or tire shake. Reliability and speed are not supposed to go together at this level. Watch to see whether this build proves that wrong.
The 1967 Chevrolet Nova SS looked like a mild refresh of Chevrolet’s compact Chevy II, but underneath was a genuine giant-killer: a 350-horsepower 327 V8 available for just $93 more than the base engine. Here’s how the Nova went from economy car to muscle car contender, and what the safety updates of 1967 changed for good.
A small-block Chevy engine builder with decades of grease under his fingernails sets out to settle one of the hobby’s oldest arguments: which factory cylinder heads are actually worth chasing, and which ones are budget-build traps. Casting numbers, camel-hump chambers, and a warranty-replacement secret tied to the 1969 Z/28 Camaro all make an appearance. Viewers with their own engine-building histories have kept the debate going in the comments for over a decade. Watch to find out which heads made his list, and which ones did not.
Ranking the greatest muscle cars of all time was always going to start an argument, but slotting a Mercedes-Benz Brabus Bullit 800 into the number three spot sent this comment section into open revolt. Viewers debate what actually counts as a muscle car, what got left off entirely, and whether horsepower numbers alone should decide the list at all. See which cars purists say are missing.
EngineLabs and the Horsepower Wars crew settled the endless LS-versus-Coyote debate the only way that counts: two engine builds, a strict $9,999 budget each, and a dyno at the respected Westech Performance Group that doesn’t care about brand loyalty. The results compare more than peak horsepower, weighing efficiency and power delivery across the curve for both platforms. See which engine came out on top — and why the argument still won’t die in the comments.