Over-Drive Magazine’s Fact Sheets cover everything you want to know about midsize models from base coupes and sedans through ’69 PLYMOUTH MUSCLECARS.
Plymouth, like its brand-mate, Dodge carried over most of its high-performance models and 340, 383, 440 and 426 Street Hemi engines for the 1969 model year. For increased durability on drag strips, “A33 Track Pack” and “A34 Super Track Pack” options with 9 ¾-inch Dana Sure-Grip rears were available for four-speed high-performance cars with...
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Musclecars
‘49 OLDS ROCKET 88: GM’s FIRST MUSCLECAR!
General Motors started the industry’s OHV revolution in 1949 with Cadillac and Oldsmobile. Racers loved the ‘49 OLDS ROCKET 88: GM’s FIRST MUSCLECAR!
Decades before 1964 when Pontiac created the GTO by putting a big motor in a Tempest, and even before 1949 when Cadillac and Oldsmobile introduced powerful overhead valve (OHV) V-8 engines, carmakers had been keenly aware of the public’s need for speed and responded accordingly. Low-volume, high-performance cars debuted shortly after the turn of t...
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1966-’67 DODGE CHARGER: HORSEPOWER & HERITAGE!
Dodge hit the midsize-muscle market running in 1966 with a luxurious fastback Charger. Hagerty’s Eddy Eckart chronicles the history of the Charger nameplate, from rare badge-engineered Dart to the 1966-1967 DODGE CHARGER: HORSEPOWER & HERITAGE!
Ask enthusiasts the first thing they think of when they hear “Dodge Charger,” and they’re bound to mention Hellcats or reference the 1968-70 second-generation cars, which were popular in their own right before securing their everlasting fame ...
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THE GREAT ONE: 1968-1972 PONTIAC GTO.
Hagerty’s Greg Ingold guides us through the second generation of the Supercar that started it all in THE GREAT ONE: 1968-1972 PONTIAC GTO.
Pontiac called it “A Device For Shrinking Time & Distance.” Magazine editors called it a “Supercar”. And in 1964 enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers from coast to coast to see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac, not Ford, Chevy or Plymouth, essentially created an option that ignited the Supercar Revolution and an...
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ROYAL PONTIAC’S LIGHTWEIGHT GTO.
Back in the day, Motown’s Van Seymour, a GM employee, was a “sleeper” driver of ROYAL PONTIAC’S LIGHTWEIGHT GTO.
Few people even knew that Pontiac built lightweight GTOs for racers across the country. It’s a missing link in Pontiac history. Ace Wilson’s Royal Pontiac was one of the brand’s “connected” dealers and sponsored under-the-radar “sleeper” drivers to promote the dealership and brand on the street and at drag strips. Van Seymour raced his GTO in B/Stock in 1965 and B/MP from 1967 throug...
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FLINT FLYERS: BUICK’S SECRET GS SKYLARKS
Inspired by Chevy’s ’65 Chevelle Z16 Malibu SS-396, Buick engineers developed the FLINT FLYERS: BUICK’S SECRET GS SKYLARKS. Ken Kayser owns a rare survivor that’s prominently featured in his new Buick performance history book.
Every Musclecar enthusiast knows something about the Chevelle SS-396, Pontiac GTO and Olds 4-4-2, and Chevy Malibu (RPO L37) SS-396 aficionados know all about the highly-prized 200 Z16 Malibu SS 396/375 Police Specials. However, virtually no one knows about Buick’...
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COMPACT MUSCLE COMPARO: ‘69 CHRYSLER VS. GM.
Musclecar guru, Diego Rosenberg, shows that GM and Mopar high-performance specialty compacts are similar on paper only in COMPACT MUSCLE COMPARO: ‘69 CHRYSLER VS. GM.
“There is more than one way to skin a cat.” You’ve probably heard this folksy proverb before, and it holds weight in the automotive world. During the high-performance sweepstakes of the 1960s, manufacturers developed their own approaches to go from Point A to Point B—often 1320 feet at a time.
With 375 horsepower, the ...
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1970 GM-455: MAGNUM FORCE FROM MOTOWN
The new year ushered in bigger, more powerful engines, new specialty Supercars and a plethora of Ponycars. Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile muscle machines, powered by similar but different 455-inch engines, led the displacement race: 1970 GM-455: MAGNUM FORCE FROM MOTOWN.
In many ways, 1970 was the storm before the calm. The war in Southeast Asia continued casting a pall over a much-divided country and thinning the ranks of young enthusiasts. Carmakers’ racing budgets were being drasticall...
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POPULAR V-8 MOTORS: DISPLACEMENT DISCREPANCIES.
Diego Rosenburg, Musclecar maven and walking encyclopedia of 1960s-1970s high-performance engine codes and options, decodes the displacement dilemma of 5 popular V-8s whose numbers are questionable. It may only be an inch or two, but truth matters: POPULAR V-8 MOTORS: DISPLACEMENT DISCREPANCIES.
1967 Ford R-Code dual-quad 427.
We know that the 1960s were full of horsepower hijinks, but did you know that manufacturers sometimes fibbed about the size of their engines? Indeed, that burbling V-8...
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1970: MUSCLECARS AT AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS
In 1970, Motown’s Maximum Muscle - 1970: MUSCLECARS AT AMELIA ISLAND CONCOURS - showcased the biggest and baddest engines, head-turning wings, sound & fury, an endless list of performance options, and limited-production models.
A special class of 1970 Musclecars, including a Buick Stage 1 Skylark GSX, will celebrate the pinnacle of Detroit’s fast and loud Musclecar era at the 26th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance on May 23, 2021. The first wave of Baby Boomers was graduating...
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