This 1967 Camaro convertible trades its long-gone factory small-block for a 383 stroker, backed by a TH350 automatic, Hugger Orange paint, and enough chassis work to put real power down. Convertibles were already the rarer first-gen Camaro body style before anyone touched the drivetrain. Read on to find out what it takes to build a driver-focused first-gen right.
Posts Tagged: V8
A 1956 Buick Special barn find doesn’t usually come with a $900,000 price tag, but this one earned it: twin turbos strapped to a 401 Nailhead V8 push output to roughly 800 horsepower, backed by Ride Tech suspension and a Corvette C6 independent rear end. The Nailhead’s origins as a quiet 236-horsepower luxury engine make the transformation even more remarkable. Here’s what makes this one of the more unexpected restomod builds in the muscle car world.
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.
This 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle SS went through a nearly three-year restoration before Vanguard Motor Sales put it up for sale, and the spec sheet reveals more than a fresh coat of paint — Edelbrock heads, a Ford 9-inch rear end, and an engine block with a story of its own. Watch the full walkaround to see what’s really under the surface.
By 1972, Plymouth had pulled every big-block engine from the ‘Cuda lineup, leaving buyers with nothing bigger than a detuned 340 small block. This particular ‘Cuda refuses to accept that answer, carrying a modified 7.2-liter 440 making 600 horsepower under its hood. Read on to find out why 1972 became one of the strangest years in muscle car history, and why builders keep finishing the story Chrysler left unresolved.
Few nameplates carry as much baggage — good and bad — as the Pontiac Trans Am, a car that went from low-volume performance special to pop-culture icon almost by accident. This transformed example takes that legacy and pushes it somewhere new, keeping the silhouette that made the Trans Am famous while updating what’s underneath. Read on to find out how a build like this honors the Trans Am’s history instead of erasing it.
A Plymouth Fury wasn’t even a real model in 1956 — it was just a gold-trimmed performance trim you checked on a Belvedere order form. By the mid-1960s it was hiding a 365-horsepower “Street Wedge” V8 in a full-size body, and by the mid-1970s it had swapped that muscle for cruise control, a digital clock, and a six-barrel-optioned GT package along the way. Read on to find out how one nameplate lived several completely different automotive lives.
This 1964 Mercury Monterey wears the Marauder name, but that badge meant three different cars and two different engines that year, and only one combination makes this survivor genuinely special. Its FE-series 390 has reportedly never been rebuilt or swapped in six decades of ownership, a rarity among full-size 1960s Mercurys that mostly got driven hard and scrapped. Read on to find out which version of the Marauder package is actually hiding under this hood, and why full-size Mercury collectors still consider it one of the era’s best-kept values.
This 1959 Corvette left Chevrolet’s factory with a 283 small block, but it now runs a 350-based 383 stroker wrapped in a bold Packers green and yellow rally wrap over what used to be plain silver paint. That combination signals a car built for driving and attention rather than numbers-matching judging classes. Read on to find out what Chevrolet actually offered in 1959 and how far this particular Corvette has strayed from it.
The 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger never wore a big-block badge, but do not let the compact A-body fool you — Dodge tucked a 240-horse 340 V8 under that unassuming hood for buyers who knew what to look for. Add in a mid-year facelift and sales north of 200,000 units across the Dart lineup, and you have got one of Mopars most underrated sleepers hiding in plain sight.
This 1969 Plymouth Road Runner A12 was Chrysler’s original pilot car — the very first A12 package ever built, tested and tuned by Mopar legend Ronnie Sox before it landed a feature in Super Stock Magazine. Under the fiberglass hood sits a 440 Six Barrel rated at 390 horsepower, backed by a four-speed and 4.10 gears. Chrysler called it the fastest A12 ever built. Watch to see what earned it that title.
In 1959, Chevrolet finally gave the Impala its own model line instead of treating it as a Bel Air option package, and backed it up with a lowered, widened body sharing sheet metal with Buick and Oldsmobile, horizontal tailfins, and an engine range topping out at 315 horsepower. A year later, Chevrolet toned almost all of it down. Read on to find out what changed, and why some Impalas from this era were hand-built in Australia.
Chevrolet’s 1957 Bel Air offered buyers a fuel-injected 283 rated at 283 horsepower, a four-speed manual that helped the car win roughly 21 NASCAR races, and, improbably, an electric razor you could bolt to the dashboard. Underneath the tailfins and chrome sat one of the widest engine and options ranges Chevrolet ever offered in a single model year. Read on to find out which combination collectors chase hardest today.
The 1983 Fox-body Mustang GLX convertible almost never happened the way people assume — Ford shipped brand-new coupes out to a contractor just to get the top cut off and a folding roof installed. Add a four-barrel carb that boosted the 5.0 V8 by nearly fifty horsepower, and you have got a genuinely underappreciated turning point in Mustang history hiding behind a badge nobody talks about.
This 1978 Pontiac Firebird Formula shows just over 47,000 miles and still wears its factory interior, which is no small thing for a car built during Detroit’s smog-choked malaise era. Formula buyers that year actually had a real decision to make between three different V8s, and this car’s 350 split the difference between the base 305 and the range-topping 400. Read on to find out whether that choice was actually the smart one.
