for our 21st episode, we decided to challenge ourselves, seeking muscle cars for an outlay of $10,000 or less. we quickly discovered that 10 grand won't buy you a hemi-powered plymouth superbird, but it could get a 1968 pontiac firebird with a 400-cubic-inch v-8, a lot of rust, and some bizarre modifications. yes, we found a lot of potential restoration projects, but we also managed to come up with a few good, clean muscle cars and pony cars.
to make sure we got our facts straight, we invited c/d contributor and muscle-car aficionado scott oldham to shop with us. a lover of burnouts, oldham owns five muscle cars and professes his love of solid rear axles, v-8s, and rear drum brakes. he was definitely the right guest star for this episode; after all, he knows that cragar s/s wheels automatically add 100 horsepower to any car.
we address the age-old question of "is it a pony car or a muscle car?" and discuss whether a personal luxury vehicle with a big engine actually counts as a muscle car. one of our choices is likened to a reverse mullet. a woodie wagon somehow makes its way in there and even a couple sedans that could arguably be considered muscle cars—if you're being kind. if you're anything like us, you'll be blown away by an $8900 surprise from down under.