The 1970s were the glory years for American muscle. Gas was cheap, and insurance companies hadn’t yet realized just how different an LS6 Chevelle was from a 350-cubic-inch commuter special. The 454-cubic-inch, 450-horsepower LS6 engine was put together, along with the car it rode in, at Chevrolet’s big-block V8 production […]

Created by Troy Trepanier, Intruder came out of the box in San Bernardino, California, with three miles showing on the odometer. Six days and 2,900 cross-country miles later, on the Hot Rod Power Tour, Intruder had performed flawlessly, and even returned 20 miles per gallon. The goal for Rad Rides, […]

Frank and Morris Eckhart of Auburn, Indiana, started the Auburn Motor Company in 1903. As their business grew, they acquired more dealerships to stay ahead of the competition, but by the mid-’20s size had caught up with them and they were in need of new leadership. In 1925 E. L. […]

The car that most Corvette collections consider the ultimate was never meant to be. In GM’s master plan, the new body style introduced in 1968 was intended for 1967 production. Fortunately for Corvette fans everywhere, delays forced the continuation of the Sting Ray for one more year. Corvette designers were […]

The Mustang was the first of the pony cars and the most charismatic. When equipped with a high-performance, 289-cubic-inch, 271-horsepower engine, they became favorites at the stoplight drags. However, once sports-car maestro Carroll Shelby got his hands on the Mustang, they entered a different league. With subtle but critical modifications […]

Buick marked their 50th anniversary in 1953. With V8 engines gaining popularity, it was quite natural that Buick would celebrate its golden anniversary by introducing a modern overhead-valve V8. Remarkably, in addition to the first Buick V8 engine and the first use of a 12-volt electrical system, the 1953 Buick […]

Earl “Madman” Muntz is the type of all-American character that we would have to create had he not already existed. In a career that lasted more than six decades, Madman Muntz made and lost many fortunes, in a bewildering variety of businesses. A few highlights of Muntz’s entrepreneurial endeavors include […]

In the days following WWII, man’s “need for speed” manifested itself in many different ways. If your name was Kimberly or Cunningham, you wrote a $10,000 check for a red European sports car. This wonderful obsession for performance had nothing to do with family fortunes, however, and was just as […]

Jim Kellison was a fighter pilot during the Korean War who went on to study aircraft engineering at UCLA. In 1954, he founded his own company, Kellison Engineering, and began building professionally-engineered sports cars with fiberglass bodies. A Kellison J-4 Grand Turismo coupe cost $6,700 in 1959. To put that […]

Inspired by Carroll Shelby’s success in shoehorning a Ford V8 into the AC Ace to create the Cobra, Rootes asked Shelby to perform the same trick with its Sunbeam Alpine sports car. Ford’s 260 cubic-inch (4.2-liter) unit was chosen, similar to that used in the Cobra and more than capable […]