Oksana

@fruitjuice

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1969 Dodge Dart GTS 440 What happens when you stuff an enormous 7.2-liter 440 cid V8 in a mid-size coupe? You can’t fit in other essential things like a brake booster or power steering. Given that the Dart GTS 440 could gobble up the quarter in 14 seconds, stopping on those drum brakes was an absolute nightmare, with reports of the car hopping sideways and violently shaking when trying to slough off speed, all while you wrestled with the heavy tiller. To that scary scenario, we say what’s the fun of speed without a little drama?

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@fruitjuice 2017 Pontiac Trans Am Super Duty Technically, this is a Chevy Camaro SS that the folks at the Florida-based Trans Am Worldwide completely overhauled. It gets a custom fabricated front and rear fascia, glass T-tops and, of course, a hood scoop with a screaming chicken emblazoned on the hood. Under that poultry, nothing is stock. An LSX mill is dropped in, and a Whipple supercharger, and custom headers and exhaust, mated to a six-speed from Hurst. All in, the powertrain is good for 1,000 horsepower and the builders had a hard time getting it to stay on the dyno, estimating there’s more than 700 lb-ft of twist at the tires. The cost? More than $150,000, excluding the cost of the donor Chevy.

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@fruitjuice 1968 Mercury Cyclone GT The Cyclone’s facelift for the 1968 model year was substantial. Gone was the squared-off Ford Fairlane body, replaced by the comely, sleek swooped-back lines borrowed from a Torino. While the stock engine in the Cyclone GT was downgraded from a 390 V8 to a 302, you had the option to drop in a 427 V8, which generated 390 horsepower. The rarest of the Cyclone GTs are the convertibles with the optional four-speed transmission.

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@fruitjuice 1966 Chevy Biscayne Don’t sleep on the cheapest full size Bow Tie; it’s no slouch. By ditching all the fancy things, like power seats, power windows, and cheaper carpeting and seats, the Biscayne saved a little weight. It also had incredible tick-box options, including a 427 L72 V8, which also saw the suspension upgraded with beefier springs, shocks, and roll bars. Or the even better F41 suspension option, which added an even thicker front roll bar, and one in the back. Without hood scoops or any outward indicators of these enhancements, few knew what you were packing until you left them in the dust off the line.

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1964 Dodge Polara 500 The name Polara is a nod to the Polaris star, meant to spark excitement around the space race of the era. This Coronet successor was a drag strip dominator, particularly the 1964 models, which could be specced with a Ramcharger 426 Wedge engine (good for 415 horsepower), or the 426 Hemi (good for 425 horsepower, though it technically generated closer to 550 ponies). With a full drag strip tune, the Polara 500 was hustling through the quarter in 12 seconds at nearly 120 mph.

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1966 Oldsmobile Toronado—Jay Leno Edition Stock examples of the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado came with a 7.0-liter V-8 offering 385 hp. But that wasn’t enough for Jay Leno, who gave one such Olds the equivalent of automotive steroids by fitting it with a heavily altered aluminum, twin-turbo 425 cubic-inch V-8 LS6 that produces 1,070 hp. From the outside, this muscular Oldsmobile looks stock, but it’s actually riding on a revamped C5 Corvette chassis and suspension. And while the original Toronado was front-wheel drive, Leno wisely opted to push all the power to the rear-axle of his modified monster.

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1967 Mercury Cougar GT Meet Mercury’s most successful launch, the Cougar, with 150,000 built in 1967. Among those, 12,000 were gussied up to the GT trim level. Hiding behind those rotating headlamps is a 390 cubic-inch Marauder GT V-8, good for 320 hp. An upgraded suspension, larger brakes, wheels, and tires, as well as a less-restrictive exhaust, helped translate all that oomph to the road.

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1969.5 Dodge Coronet Super Bee A12 This mid-sized muscle option from Dodge was conceived and launched halfway through 1965—hence the odd nomenclature—and aimed at attracting a thriftier consumer with a need for Mopar. And the 390 hp V-8 features a new-at-the-time configuration of three two-barrel carburetors. Engineers also tinkered with a number of engine and suspension components to increase power and speed. The “Bee” in the moniker is believed to refer to the car’s “B” platform body style, while the “Super” is self-explanatory when considering the power train.

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1970 Ford Mustang Boss 429 Back in 1970, a Mustang Boss 429 would’ve set you back $4,087 (about $33,000 in today’s dollars). With 375 hp, the Boss 429 could hustle through the quarter-mile with a respectable time of 14 seconds flat, and reach a top speed of 120 mph. The model was only produced in 1969 and 1970, with less than 1,400 examples leaving the assembly plant.

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1970 Oldsmobile 442 W-30 Convertible Vying to compete with Pontiac’s GTO, the honchos at Oldsmobile ginned up this 442 option, derived from the “police apprehender” version of its Cutlass. The beefed-up beauty has a four-barrel carb, four-speed manual, a dual-plate clutch, and a 455 cubic-inch V-8 making 370 hp. The W30 package tacked on extra speed and efficiency bits, including a functional air scoop on the hood, an aluminum intake manifold, and an upgraded cam. A total of 3,100 examples of the 442 were built, but only 264 of them were convertibles.

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1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-455 A Super Duty (SD) 455 was the beating heart of the 1973 Firebird, and while that wasn’t a new engine, per se, it had a litany of modifications to help bolster performance. These included a strengthened cylinder block, with four-bolt main bearings to help rigidity. This model variant soon became known as the fastest Pontiac ever. Stock, the engine produced more than 400 hp, but with a race tune (including a modified intake manifold, a more aggressive camshaft, and better headers) that SD-455 could create more than 600 hp and 600 ft lbs of torque.

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1987 Buick GNX Buick built this modified Grand National for only one year, and it was a test run, which explains the “X” for experimental. It was the fastest production car in the world at the time, with a 3.8-liter V-6 that churned out 276 hp and 360 ft lbs of torque, at least according to Buick. When it hit the dyno, those numbers jumped to 300 hp and 400 ft lbs of torque, more than ample to allow the 1987 Buick GNX to reach 60 mph from a standstill in 4.7 seconds. (For the record, that was faster than a Lamborghini Countach and that year’s Corvette.) It’s no surprise that the power train was so impressive—Buick had help from McLaren (yes, that McLaren) to sort out the engine and suspension.

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1971 Plymouth GTX Plymouth couldn’t name its asphalt annihilator the GTO, so it settled on GTX, for Grand Touring Extra. Fewer than 3,000 examples of the GTX were built, and restored variants are currently fetching up to $150,000. Yet of the total number manufactured, only 30 featured the Hemi engine, a 426 hp V-8 with 490 ft lbs of torque.

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1970 Ford Torino King Cobra When Ford wanted to tackle Dodge and Plymouth, reclaiming the “King of Speed” title from the Daytona and the Superbird, it opted to tweak a base Torino coupe. A select team of engineers added an aero kit—one seamless piece instead of just a nose cone—and fabricated a larger grille, which was closer to the ground to increase airflow. Unfortunately, what the engineers omitted—a honking rear spoiler—ended up leaving the King Cobra difficult to drive, particularly at 200 mph. The car’s hindquarters kept lifting in high-speed turns, making it unpredictable. Instead of diving back into development, Ford scrapped the project and only three King Cobras were produced.

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1970 Buick GSX Handsomely clad in Saturn yellow, the 1970 Buick GSX is a looker with the performance chops to match. The standard mill in the model was a 455 cubic-inch V-8 with 350 hp and 510 ft lbs of torque. In case you were wondering, that latter figure represented the highest amount of torque available in any muscle car at the time. Now, GSX Stage 1 models, of which only 479 examples of the up-tuned beast were made, command more than $120,000.

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1966 Ford Galaxie 500 The Ford Galaxie 500 was both a popular sedan for motorists and a mainstay on NASCAR circuits and drag strips. The choice year for the model, however, is definitively 1966, when the new 7.0-liter Thunderbird V-8 was offered by Ford. If you can find one, try opting for a “police interceptor” variant, which features an uprated 360 hp version of the 428 cubic-inch engine.

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1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt This homologation special from the Blue Oval only saw 100 units built, just enough to get into the NHRA Super Stock series. (Spoiler: it won.) It’s a skunkworks project that was just magnificent. Power comes from a 7.0-liter V-8 that makes 425 hp, though, again, because everyone was sandbagging then, it’s closer to 500 hp. A proper race car for the road, the Fairlane Thunderbolt ripped from zero to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds and ran a sub-12 quarter-mile.

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1963 Pontiac Catalina In period, lightened versions of the NASCAR-derived Pontiac Catalina dominated drag strips. The two-door sports sedan packs a 421 H.O. V-8 mill good for 370 hp, and Catalinas from the 1963 model year are particularly beloved for their Super Duty (SD) trim. Already crafted with lightweight parts, several examples also feature “Swiss cheese” frames, making their power-to-weight ratio even more impressive. Alas, the SD program would cease later that year due to GM’s ban from racing, but the Catalina will always be a contender in our book.

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1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS Convertible The Chevelle Super Sport was an immensely popular muscle car during production. More than 51,455 examples of the model rolled off the General Motors line, though only 1,100 drop-top units were made. These convertible Chevelles are now selling for upwards of $70,000 when in solid condition. Base power in the top-optional models is provided by the RPO L34—a 396 big-block engine good for 350 ponies and 410 ft lbs of twist.

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1969 Pontiac GTO Judge Convertible While the original Pontiac GTO was a powerhouse and a stunner, the Judge trim afforded unique striping, chrome-delete on the grille, and a body-colored spoiler, visually ensuring you knew this one was spicier than its cousins. The Judge features a 400 cubic-inch V-8 with a Ram Air III system that delivers 366 hp. By 1969, demand for convertibles had waned, and only 150 or so examples were produced, making it the rarest of the top trim.

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