Quarter Mile Terrors: 18 Greatest Drag Racing Muscle Car Specials

Vukasin Herbez February 20, 2018

16. 1968 Plymouth Barracuda Hemi

The 426 Hemi engine was not a regular production item in the Barracuda until the 1970 model year. But for 1968 racing season, Plymouth produced 50 drag racing specials using the Barracuda Fastback bodies and 426 race-spec Hemi engines. They shared the manufacturing with the Dodge Hemi Dart in Chrysler’s Hamtramck, Michigan plant.

As a Dodge Hemi Dart, Barracudas came as pure racing, non-street legal vehicles they sold only to racing teams. They even painted them in primer ready to be personalized by the racers.

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17. 1969 AMC AMX 390 SS

American Motors Company was a legendary economy car manufacturer that battled Detroit’s Big Three for decades. But, eventually, they folded in the mid-80s. AMC was always famous for its wide selection of compact and affordable cars, interesting concepts and dependable mechanics. However, in the late ’60s, AMC decided to enter the muscle car market since it would bring some excitement to AMC’s lineup.

This was a good decision. Today, people remember AMC for its muscle cars, not for their basic, low-optioned family sedans, which were what they produced the most. AMC presented two models, a four-seat coupe they called the Javelin and a two-seat coupe they called the AMX. At that time, the AMX was the only American two-seater model besides the Corvette.

They built the AMX on a shortened Javelin chassis. It featured better equipment, more powerful engines and lots of go-fast options. Both the Javelin and AMX enjoyed considerable success at the time. However, there was one rare, special version, and that is the AMX SS 390. They built this car in cooperation with Hurst, a famous company from the era.

It featured lots of modifications and the biggest AMC engine, the 390 V8 with 340 HP. This may not sound as much as some other muscle cars of the period, but the AMX SS 390 was light, compact and brutally fast. They only made 52 of them. Most were red, white, and blue machines that went to drag strips where they beat much more powerful cars with ease.

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18. 1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1

Back in the late ’60s, Chevrolet was under a racing ban General Motors proposed. This meant no official Chevrolet products could race. It also meant Chevrolet as a manufacturer couldn’t participate in any racing activity. But, nobody stopped Chevrolet from helping racing teams through its backdoor programs where they developed special engines and components.

In the late ’60s, Can-Am was a popular racing series featuring prototype-class cars with V8 engines. Chevrolet wanted to purpose-build a power plant for this championship, so they produced an all-aluminum 427 big block called ZL-1 in 1969. It was a high-revving, 7.0-liter V8 with around 550 HP in mild tune. Chevrolet produced around 200 of those engines. While most of them went to Can-Am racing teams, they installed 69 ZL-1s in C.O.P.O Camaros, selling them to drag racing teams.

The Camaro ZL-1 was the same as a regular 1969 Camaro on the outside, but it was so fast, it was barely street-legal. Chevrolet literature in 1969 didn’t mention the ZL-1 option for the Camaro. However, if you were a successful drag racer or dealer, you knew about this expensive option. That is why they only produced 69 Camaro ZL-1s.

These are the top 18 quarter-mile terrors – the greatest drag-racing muscle car specials of all time. They broke records and introduced new engines and upgrades. These cars are forever an important part of muscle car history.

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Quarter Mile Terrors: 18 Greatest Drag Racing Muscle Car Specials

16. 1968 Plymouth Barracuda Hemi

17. 1969 AMC AMX 390 SS

18. 1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1

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