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Two years after the Black Ghost joined the National Register of Historic Vehicles, the son of the street-racing, Hemi-powered 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T’s original owner has decided to put it up for auction, consigning it to Mecum’s Indianapolis sale.

Godfrey Qualls, a Detroit native who had spent time in the Army during Vietnam, had just entered the police academy when he decided to order the Challenger. The impetus behind the decision came not from his chosen career but from his brother Cleolous, who had bought a black 1968 Dodge Charger for organized drag racing—the kind that takes place on a drag strip in clear view of anybody and everybody. According to Gregory and his uncles, Godfrey had urged Cleolous to order the Charger with a Hemi, but when Cleolous instead chose the less expensive 440-cu.in. V-8. That galvanized Godfrey to buy a Hemi of his own and to prove it in unorganized street racing—the kind that takes place under the cover of darkness far from the purview of authorities.

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

​Built to Race

Qualls ordered the Challenger from Raynal Brothers Dodge on Chalmers Avenue in Detroit in black with a white stripe, similar to his brother’s Charger, and with the Hemi that he had his heart set on. Along with a four-speed manual transmission, he also ordered the A34 Super Track Pack with 4.10 gears, J45 hood pins, S83 Rim-Blow steering wheel, R35 multiplex AM/FM stereo, V1G Gator Grain vinyl roof, and a host of other options that added up to a total cost of nearly $5,300. He also specified a Shaker hood, which didn’t come with the car when it arrived. According to Gregory’s uncles, Godfrey threatened to sue either the dealer or Chrysler; he eventually got the hood assembly, but then never had it installed. The only race prep he deemed necessary consisted of an aftermarket coil, 11-inch slicks, and unhooked mufflers.

Sometime after ordering the car, Qualls graduated from the academy and joined the Detroit Police Department, assigned to traffic enforcement in the department’s 11th Precinct. By day he rode a motorcycle, writing speeding tickets. Then, by night, he’d back the Challenger out of his garage on the East Side and prowl the streets for the next race.

“I’m pretty sure he’d have lost his job if his superiors found out,” Gregory says. “They wouldn’t take kindly to that.”

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Black Ghost Hemi 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

How It Earned the Name Black Ghost

He was careful. He took few chances at getting caught. He didn’t tell anybody his name, didn’t hang out with the racing crowd, and only appeared for the occasional race. The Challenger thus became a sort of urban legend among the Detroit street racing crowd, a car that would show up on Telegraph or Woodward or Stecker Street to dominate, then disappear for months at a time. “That’s what made it so mysterious,” Gregory says. “Everybody apparently called it the Black Ghost.”

Qualls took care of the car, too. He racked up more than 45,000 miles on it but it still has the original Hemi and it reportedly never needed a clutch. After its street racing glory days, he socked it away in the garage, covered with blankets and NOS parts that he accumulated with a full restoration in mind. He’d beat cancer once before, but it came back in 2015. Before he died on Christmas Eve of that year, he had Gregory bring a thick envelope full of papers to his hospital bed. Godfrey pulled out the title and handed it over to his son.

“He said he wanted me to have the car, just not to get rid of it,” Gregory says. “He just smiled, and that was the last time I saw him happy.”

Gregory Qualls had gone for a ride in the car here and there as a youngster and talked about restoring it with his dad, but he’d never driven it. He took the Challenger home and, with the help of a few friends, went through the car to determine what it would need. “Everything looked pretty decent, not corroded like we expected it to be,” he says. Still, they had to change all the fluids; replace the belts and hoses; swap out the Tiger Paws that were on it for a set of reproduction F60-15 Polyglas GTs; rebuild the brake booster and carburetors; and install a new radiator, clutch fan, and master cylinder. “We didn’t want to take any chances—we wanted to make it safe and drivable.”

Black Ghost Last Call Dodge Challenger R/T

Into the Daylight

Since then, he unveiled the Black Ghost at the 2017 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, then took it to the 2018 Chrysler Nationals at Carlisle, where it won the Historic Vehicle Association’s National Automotive Heritage Award and where he met the HVA’s Casey Maxon, who later nominated the Challenger for a spot on the National Historic Vehicle Register. He also displayed the Black Ghost at Amelia Island and met Ralph Gilles, who advocated for the car to serve as the model for one of Dodge’s Last Call cars—a series of seven Charger and Challengers meant to send off the Hemi-powered rear-wheel-drive muscle car platform and to pay homage to Mopar history.

The Black Ghost Last Call Challenger features a Hellcat Hemi V-8 along with black paint (set off by a white bumblebee stripe) and a simulated Gator Grain roof graphic. It’s one of two Last Call cars—alongside the King Daytona inspired by Big Willie Robinson’s Charger Daytonas—meant to recall Black racers in Mopar history.

As Gilles told Hemmings late last year, the decision to pay tribute to Qualls and Robinson—which he made with Tom Sacoman, the director of Dodge Product and Motorsports—resulted from “the shortest conversation ever: ‘Yes, of course we will do this.’ There wasn’t any hesitation.”

“We auto enthusiasts don’t talk about diversity enough,” Gilles says. “We didn’t set out to solve any problems with these cars […] we want to shed a light on the diversity in our history and open the doors to that conversation.”

Gilles at the time said the car was a million-dollar car. While Mecum has released no pre-auction estimates for the Black Ghost, Mecum Vice President of Consignments Frank Mecum said the car’s value “is well into seven figures.” Hemi-powered 1970 Dodge Challenger convertibles have crossed the million-dollar threshold at auction before (a Plum Crazy example sold for $1.43 million in 2019 while a Sublime example sold for $1.65 million in 2016), but it appears no hardtop Challenger has done so.

The Black Ghost will cross the block as part of Mecum’s Indianapolis auction, which will take place May 12-20 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. For more information, visit mecum.com.

Adding new parts to an unrestored car often creates enough aesthetic dissonance to warrant either refinishing what hasn’t been modified or, as we’ve seen in rare instances, distressing the appearance of the new parts to match the originals. Rather than taking the restomod or fauxtina routes, the builder of this 1963 Ford Falcon Futura listed for sale on Hemmings.com decided to retain the original patina and modify it as he saw fit—with function in mind rather than form. The end result appears to perform as intended with its stroker 347, stiffened chassis, and body mods, but it also manages to effortlessly blend the old with the new.

From the seller’s description:

This Falcon was built with influence from experience racing at the legendary Mexico La Carrerra Panamericana and at Pikes Peak. It was built with the intent to be a street drivable, track capable car. The build began with a “little old lady” futura and all the fabrication and mods retained the original paint “patina.” The car was put on a rotisserie and the front clip and undercarriage were media blasted. The front structure was solid welded and then raptor lined.

A complete rollcage was fabricated and tig welded into car. The dash was removed and a cross bar installed for a cleaner look and more leg room. The significant addition of metal made for a significantly stiffer chassis all around.

All the suspension components were purchased from Evergreen performance in Co. who specialize in vintage road racing Mustangs and Falcons. The rear suspension includes a full floater 9 inch with their overrider system and vintage style rear disc brakes, a big sway bar, Bilstein shocks, and road race leaf springs with panhard bar. A Borgeson power steering box now handles steering duties. Bronze powder-coated 17×8 American Racing wheels were fitted and pack substantially more rubber than the car would have originally run.

The engine is a custom-built 347ci in Ford with forged internals, a solid roller cam, AFR heads with roller rockers and stud girdles. Induction is by way of a cobra intake with Weber 48IDA carbs. The engine is tuned, starts well, and drives good. It produced 505hp on the dyno and also features an MSD ignition system and Doug Thorley tri-y headers with custom, stainless 3 in. exhaust. Shifting is handled via a fully built top-loader 4 speed by David Key.

The interior is all business with a custom fabricated aluminum that has been powder coated black and the inside floor is raptor lined with a painted roll cage and other details. A handmade Steering wheel by HRG features a racing quick release hub. All windows are plexiglass with a new, real-glass windshield.

1963 Ford Falcon Futura

1963 Ford Falcon Futura

1963 Ford Falcon Futura

1963 Ford Falcon Futura

1963 Ford Falcon Futura

Part of the charm of squarebody Chevrolet pickups is their ruggedness. For their utility and simplicity, most people who gravitate toward the 1973 to 1987 generation of pickups expect a tradeoff in conveniences and comforts. Rather than accept that compromise, the Roadster Shop has introduced its Legend Series squarebody chassis, the first production platform for the custom chassis producer, and will offer the first truck from that series at auction later this month.

“We designed these to drive every single day like a new truck and to not think twice about using it,” said Jeremy Gerber, the co-owner of Roadster Shop with his brother Phil. “Everybody loves the old truck look, but people forget what it’s like to drive an old truck.”

Typically, Gerber and his crew build custom chassis for high-performance muscle cars and restomods, utilizing updated suspension technology and geometries to make them “feel like a brand new sports car,” he said. Seemingly every other car built for the SEMA Show or for the Ringbrothers these days sits atop one of the company’s chassis. The natural evolution of that approach, according to Gerber, is to apply it to pickups.

“The squarebody is the quintessential truck,” Gerber said. “They just don’t drive well, and that’s a limitation of the steering and suspension.”

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Roadster Shop's Legend Series chassis development

Improving the Squarebody

So in 2017, Gerber tasked his staff of engineers with designing an entirely new chassis for the squarebody, one that would incorporate as much modern componentry as possible. Built from two-inch-by-six-inch .125-inch-wall rectangular tube, the frame carries over nothing but the body mounting points. Instead, its designed to mount a front differential and complete independent front suspension from a GMT K2XX platform Chevrolet 1500 Silverado, along with hydraulic rack-and-pinion steering, an LT-series V-8, an 8L90-E eight-speed automatic transmission, an MP3024 transfer case, and 13-inch disc brakes, all sourced new from GM. The 12-bolt rear axles, fitted with 3.70 gears and 12-inch disc brakes, hang from softer Deaver-built long-travel multi-leaf spring packs similar to those used on Ford Raptors. Specified for the chassis are custom two-piece aluminum billet wheels measuring 17 by 9.5 inches and designed to accept the stock hubcaps.

“This isn’t the chassis to put 5.13 gears and 44-inch tires on, then go bury in the mud,” he said. For that, the Roadster Shop already offers the solid-axle RS4 chassis.

Plans call for Roadster Shop to offer both rolling chassis complete with drivetrain and wiring and turnkey pickups using donor bodies supplied by the customer or by Roadster Shop. As of right now, Roadster Shop only offers the Legend Series in Blazer or shortbed wheelbases (106.5 and 117.5 inches, respectively), but “we are working on a Suburban chassis design, and we’ve seen a lot of interest in early 1969 to 1972 Blazers,” Gerber said. Engine choices will be either the 480-hp naturally aspirated LT1 or the 650-hp supercharged LT4.

Roadster Shop's Legend Series test mule

Roadster Shop's Legend Series test mule

Roadster Shop's Legend Series test mule

Roadster Shop's Legend Series test mule

Roadster Shop's Legend Series test mule

Roadster Shop's Legend Series test mule

Preparing for Production

While Gerber had Roadster Shop’s LT4-powered Legend Series test mule done by early 2019, he and his staff have spent the last few years putting miles on it and tweaking it in preparation for series production. In the meantime, He’s also started to stockpile clean, rust-free squarebody trucks with a little bit of patina to use as donors for turnkey trucks based on the series.

“We’ve been searching high and low for good examples of nice, original trucks,” he said. Because original shortbed K10s of that era are in such demand these days, he’s typically sourcing shortbed C10s from the southern and western United States. He said he has about half a dozen ready to go at this point.

(As a side note, Roadster Shop is not selling the turnkey Legend Series square bodies under the recently passed low-volume replica laws. Rather, they still wear their original C10 VINs and are being sold as any other shop would sell a restomodded or hot-rodded vehicle. However, “we are seeing some interest among replica manufacturers with using our rolling chassis,” he said.)

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Roadster Shop's Legend Series 1973 Chevrolet C10

Serial Number 001

The donor for the first production turnkey Legend Series truck, however, came from right inside Roadster Shop. According to Gerber, a customer had already brought a clean Fremont-built 307-powered 1973 Chevrolet C10 to the shop, but didn’t like the color and instead found another. With the development on the test mule done and production of the chassis underway, the Roadster Shop crew began by lifting the Burnt Orange Poly truck’s body off the two-wheel-drive chassis and rolling the latter—complete with small-block, steering column, and brake system—away.

Gerber decided to keep most of the interior intact for the first truck after so many customers showed their appreciation for the original interior of the test mule, equipped with the same old blanket that covered the test mule’s ratty bench seat when it first arrived in the shop. “It was unanimous—everybody loved the character of the factory interior,” he said. That’s not to say the interior of the 1973 remains factory stock. After stripping out the original interior, the shop updated every mechanical aspect of the cab, from the Corvette door latches to the modern air conditioning system. They then added a layer of Boom Mat to quiet the truck before layering in insulating fabrics developed specifically for these trucks by a Detroit-area OEM interior provider.

The paint, Gerber said, remains 100 percent original. “All we did was wipe it down. This seems to be what everybody wanted—a finish that was old and distressed that they didn’t have to polish and keep nice.”

As with the test mule, the 1973 received an LT4 in its modernized chassis.

With all of the development work done, Gerber said it’ll take roughly four weeks to assemble the Legend Series trucks. Prices for the bare frames start at $30,000 and run up to $100,000 for complete LT4-powered rolling chassis. Gerber said he has 10 of the trucks going together at the moment and will “let the market decide” how many Roadster Shop will build rather than limit production to a certain amount.

The first production Legend Series truck will cross the block with no reserve at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction, which takes place January 21 to 29. For more information, visit Barrett-Jackson.com.

There’s opulence, and then there’s this 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood listed for sale on Hemmings.com. Built by Heinz Prechter for somebody with the initials RMN, this Cadillac dubbed “Madame X” is an exercise in extreme addition, from the coach lamps, hood-mounted chrome horns, and dual spotlights to the plush interior featuring a color television and tassels aplenty to the monograms on perhaps every panel of the car. While it remains unaltered from its Prechter state, the engine shows less than 13,000 miles, and the interior looks like it hasn’t aged outside of its fashion choices, the exterior looks like it’s taken a few dings and hasn’t;t benefited from the utmost of care over the years. From the seller’s description:

At the time of the build at Custom Craft, the story told by our seller and supported by the builder is that President Nixon’s Limousine was being built at the same time and coincidentally, the initials ”RMN” belonged to both the owner of this Cadillac and Richard M. Nixon. Please note that this Cadillac is being sold is ”as is” condition and the seller has not indicated any problems that need to be addressed. This is simply a well kept, ”one of a kind” 12,843 mile 1966 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham ”as it was built” with noted minor flaws from age.

1966 Cadillac Fleetwood for sale on Hemmings.com

1966 Cadillac Fleetwood for sale on Hemmings.com

1966 Cadillac Fleetwood for sale on Hemmings.com

1966 Cadillac Fleetwood for sale on Hemmings.com

Detroit Speed and Engineering has long been known for its efforts to bring modernized chassis and suspension components to classic muscle cars and trucks. Originally founded in 2000 by Kyle Tucker, a former suspension engineer on GM’s Corvette development team who started designing suspension upgrades for a ’69 Camaro project in his spare time, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based company has become one of the preeminent shops for pro touring hardware in the years since. But did you know that DSE has a stable of incredible in-house builds as well?

The latest entry in the growing roster of DSE stunners is this 1965 Buick Riviera GS. As Detroit Speed’s Matt Butts explains, it’s a build which epitomizes the company’s overarching goal of bringing contemporary performance to vintage platforms without compromising classic style. “The big thing for us is that we want to keep the elements that made the car cool in the first place. From there we expand on the details and refine the overall package, but we never want to lose the original vibe of the car. And from a performance standpoint, we of course always put a lot of emphasis on the handling, drivability, and the ride quality of the vehicle.”

Although it looked like a fairly clean example when it first rolled into the shop, Butts says that it soon became clear that the team had their work cut out for them with this particular GS. “We discovered a ton of rust, and anyone who knows Buick Rivieras from this era can attest to the fact that there’s not a lot of reproduction parts available for them. So that meant that a lot of those parts needed to be built from scratch. But the overall concept was clear from the get-go: Take an iconic car and make it even better than it originally was.”

Being a DSE build, the chassis was an obvious focal point for the build. But while the company offers an array of direct bolt-in suspension systems for everything from first-generation Mustangs to Chevy C10 pickups, some projects call for a more bespoke approach.

“With this Riviera, we ended up grafting our first-gen Camaro hydroformed subframe assembly into the car,” Butts says. “And our engineering team basically scratch-built a rear suspension for it using our QuadraLink system components. The Riviera’s original rear suspension is kind of unusual – it’s a three-link design. We wanted to stick with that three-link setup, so we basically just built our own using our Swivel-Link components. It goes back to staying true to what the original vibe of the car was.”

The custom suspension setup has been matched up with hydraulically-adjustable JRi JRide shocks that can raise or lower the car by as much as three inches without changing the car’s ride characteristics, while a DSE rack-and-pinion system bestows the Riviera with a level of steering precision that Buick engineers could only have dreamed of back in the day. Stopping power has also been dramatically improved thanks to a Bosch Motorsports ABS system, Brembo calipers, and carbon ceramic rotors.

It’s all seriously impressive stuff, but where things start to get really interesting is under the hood. Although the power plant might look like a traditional Buick Nailhead V8 at a glance, it’s actually a 468-cube Black Label LSX from Mast Motorsports that’s outfitted with a custom Mast three-bolt core cam, Mast Black Label LS1 295cc cylinder heads, a Holley dual throttle body intake, and a Holley Dominator EFI system. It’s a combination which belts out a healthy 730 horsepower while also perfectly matching the car’s overall aesthetic.

“The Nailheads have really distinct head and valve cover designs – it’s a really wild looking engine,” Butts points out. “We wanted to capture some of that here as well, so we machined adapters that bolt onto the cylinder heads so we could make them look larger and give it the look of that Nailhead orientation. From there we machined some finned valve covers with the Buick script and hand-fabricated the air cleaner.”

The dual-snorkel intake was also purposely oversized in order to hide the fuel rails and wiring, an effort that adds to the engine’s convincingly old-school appearance. “We also relocated the coil packs – they’re all mounted in a cluster at the very back of the intake manifold, so it looks like a distributor,” he adds.

The exterior’s sinister red paint was inspired by Ferrari’s Rosso Mugello hue, and a range of custom exterior touches have been applied to give the build a unique look without abandoning the original sense of style. “We hand-fabricated the front and rear bumpers,” Butts tells us. “They’re sort of stock-style, but they’re sleeker and tucked really tight to the body. We also 3D-scanned the factory headlight assemblies because those clamshells have a really tight bar spacing to them from the factory, and then we designed our own headlight assemblies that perfectly match the spacing of the grille bars. We 3D printed them to make sure they would have the symmetrical look that we wanted across the front of the car, and then we machined them out of billet aluminum and chrome plated them.”

DSE also relocated the tail light assemblies from bumper into the tail panel to clean up the look out back. Similar to the development process of the headlight assemblies, a rendering was created and then 3D-printed up to verify that everything was up to snuff. The finished pieces were machined out of solid pieces of brass and then chrome plated.

Despite the emphasis on big power and chassis tuning to match, the Riviera is still a grand touring machine more than anything else, so the cabin is appropriately well-appointed. As Butts pointed out earlier, reproduction parts can be hard to come by for these cars, so DSE refinished the parts that they deemed usable and fabricated the ones that they did not. Since the team had to create the entire custom floorboard in order to accommodate the custom frame and modern 6L90E gearbox, they also fabricated a custom center console and made other design tweaks where they saw appropriate.

“The idea was to create an interior that looks original but is actually far from it,” says Butts. “So all of the wood inserts in the door panels and the center console are constructed from bloodwood planks which were milled down to veneers, cut to fit, and satin clear coated. Satin tends to bring out more of the grain pattern than a gloss finish does.”

The steering wheel is also a custom piece. While the team wanted to retain the look and feel of the original, they also wanted to provide the driver with more control over the transmission when needed. They incorporated paddle shifters into its design as a result, an assembly which now includes more than a dozen billet machined components. Adding to the vintage-meets-modern motif are the repurposed the factory climate control sliders, which now control the adjustable suspension and Hooker Blackheart exhaust cutouts.

After a five-year gestation period, the Riviera made its debut at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this year. And as you’d expect, it turned plenty of heads on the show floor. “I think it’s one of the more detailed Riviera builds of the last few years,” Butts says. “For us it’s about extenuating the style and refining the overall package without losing that original flavor.”

Detroit Speed 1965 Buick Riviera

Once a cult classic, 1979-1993 (“Fox” or “Foxbody”) Mustangs have reached full-blown collector status, with values to match. But you don’t have to be a trust fund baby to afford one—especially if you avoid the Fox Unicorns and Holy Grails. There are plenty of affordable 1980s Mustangs that are reasonable—even bargains—if you wander off the beaten path. As collectors fight over low-mile 1993 Cobra and Saleen Mustangs, some under-the-radar variations are ripe for picking at bargain basement prices. Making a few compromises can scratch that pony car itch while keeping more money in your wallet.

5.0 Liter Ford Mustang LX Coupe

Back in the day, a 1987-1993 Mustang 5.0 LX coupe was the one to have. It packed the lineup’s powerful, durable, small-block V8 and 5-speed manual transmission into the stiffest, lightest Mustang chassis. The result was a pocket rocket that scooted from stoplight to stoplight quicker than just about everything else of the era. When small-block Chevy engines dominated aftermarket offerings, the popularity of the Fox Mustang released pent-up demand from the Ford faithful, and Ford speed part sales skyrocketed. The result is a double-whammy in the collector car market: nostalgic demand for “five liter coupes” and the scarcity of said coupes that were unmodified make these particular Fox Mustangs’ fetch values far above their peers.

So, what are your options if you’re looking for some Fox Mustang fun, but don’t have spare organs to sell? The further you stray from the five-liter, five speed coupe formula, the more affordable 1979-1993 Mustangs become. You can get that special Fox Mustang experience without breaking the bank by adopting one of the black sheep in the Fox Mustang family tree. Here are a few examples of affordable, eccentric Fox bodies that are rare, collectible, and still a bargain:

1979 Mustang Turbo Four Pace Car

1979 Mustang Turbo Four Pace Car

Ford commemorated the new-for-1979 Mustang pacing that year’s Indianapolis 500 by offering a replica pace car package. Pace car replicas featured V8s or turbocharged four-cylinders under their hoods. Besides unique exterior paint and graphics, the interior featured Recaro seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel, and unique instrument panel. About 10,400 were made, with production about evenly split between turbo 4s and V8s.

1979-1986 Mercury Capri

1979-1986 Mercury Capri

An often-overlooked Fox “Mustang” is the Mercury Capri. Mercury Capris were Fox Mustangs with mildly different body panels and different badging. Mechanically, they’re identical to Mustangs—which is perfect for those looking for something “different,” without paying a premium for the privilege. Capris featured some unique features, including flared fenders (though the overall body width remained the same) and optional “bubble back” rear hatch glass.

ASC McLaren Mustang and Capri

ASC McLaren Mustang and Capri

American Sunroof Corporation (ASC) partnered with McLaren to produce a low-volume, specialized version of the Mustang and Capri for buyers wanting a higher level of style—while still being loyal to the blue oval. The result was a series of coupes and convertibles that—by no accident—brought German styling to the Fox chassis. With production numbers in the hundreds (not thousands), exclusivity is now available at affordable prices.

1984-1986 Mustang SVO

1984-1986 Mustang SVO

Electronic fuel injection in production cars brought turbocharging to the masses. Automakers harnessed the ability to pack big power into small, lightweight engines for better fuel economy and attract customers attracted by high-tech transportation. The Mustang SVO was the result when Ford engineers were locked in a room and left to their own devices. The SVO was marketed as containing technology that trickled down from Ford’s contemporary sports car racing programs. The Mustang SVO featured a 2.3-liter turbocharged engine, unique suspension, four-wheel disc brakes (a first for Mustang), five-lug wheels, unique aerodynamics, and driver-focused interior. The SVO’s relatively high retail price and American preference for hairy-chested V8 grunt made the SVO more of a nerdy oddity than a sales smash. That continues with the collector car market as well. The sheer number of unique parts on the SVO make basic replacement parts (such as front ball joints) difficult to find, and often require retrofitting parts from more common V8 counterparts. The result is SVOs are affordable but require resourcefulness to restore and maintain.

1984 Mustang G.T. 350

1984 Mustang G.T. 350

Don’t let the name fool you: these weren’t “Shelbys,” though ol’ Shel likely kept Fords lawyers busy anyway. Ford decided (apparently at the last minute) to commemorate the Mustang’s 20th anniversary with a special styling package for 1984. Mustangs. G.T. 350s were mechanically the same as other Mustangs, and were powered by V8s or 4-cylinder turbos, with only 5,261 cars produced.

While the big money chases a few Fox Mustangs, the rest of these examples have flown under the radar…which makes them excellent prospects for entry-level collectors and enthusiasts.

It’s finally time! Time to take our rehabbed 1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z out for a full road test and review and see if the upgrades we made we’re worth our two-week thrash. To recap, we installed a brand new 380-hp Edelbrock small block with their Pro Flow EFI system, a new Tremec TKX 5-speed manual transmission from American Powertrain, along with a host of suspension upgrades such as KONI Yellow shocks, BMR lower control arms and torque arm, along with QA1 sway bars both front and rear from Summit Racing.From there we hit the cosmetics, and with help from Classic Industries, revamped both the interior and exterior to give the IROC the look and feel we ultimately wanted. Finally, it was time for a proper test drive, and trust us when we say, this 35-year-old Chevy did not disappoint!Click below to start the hunt for your perfect Chevrolet Camaro now!