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The Chevrolet Corvair, America’s quirky answer to the VW Beetle, wowed with its rear-mounted, air-cooled engine from 1960 to 1969. It was a hit with budget-conscious buyers, offering style in various body types, including a convertible and even a pick-up truck! The Corvair revved up the sports car scene with the turbocharged Monza Spyder. Yet, Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe at Any Speed” in 1965 pulled the brakes on its popularity, proving that sometimes bad press trumps good engineering.
For the 1969 model year, the Camaro was the belle of the SCCA Trans Am ball, equipped with Corvette-like stopping power thanks to four-piston calipers. Only 206 of these beauties sported the $500 JL8 option, making them rarer than a unicorn on a racetrack. The Z28 package was a powerhouse, boasting a 302-cubic-inch engine, and the COPO version went rogue with a 427-cubic-inch beast, courtesy of Don Yenko. And let’s not forget the ZL-1, an all-aluminum marvel, crafted with love and 16 hours of labor!
The 1965-66 Shelby Mustang GT350, affectionately known as the Cobra, was a beast on wheels with only 562 units in ’65 and 1,378 in ’66. Its 289 cu in engine roared with 306 hp, making it more “zoom-zoom” than “comfort-cruise.” With quirks like a trunk-mounted battery that caused fume complaints and a spare tire cozily sitting where the back seat should be, these models were the epitome of “race first, comfort later.” And let’s not forget Hertz’s “rent-a-racer” GT350-H models—return them with fewer parts, anyone?