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D. Brian Smith

Recent Posts by D. Brian Smith:

The All-New Classic Industries Digital Firebird Trans Am Parts & Accessories Catalog

Classic Industries has long been a trusted source for restoration and performance parts, and now the experience is even better with the all-new Digital Firebird Trans Am Parts & Accessories Catalog. Designed specifically for Firebird and Trans Am owners, this modern, easy-to-use catalog brings the entire shopping and research experience into a streamlined digital format - so you can spend less time hunting and more time building.

Whether you’re restoring a concours-correct Trans Am, refreshing a driver, or upgrading a pro-touring build, this digital catalog is built to help you identify the right parts faster, learn what you need with confidence, and order with fewer mistakes.

Video: Built to Break the Air: Bobby Allison’s '69 Dodge Daytona NASCAR

The 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona exists for one reason, and one reason only: to win races. Dodge’s Charger Daytona program was never about styling exercises or showroom traffic - it was about domination on the high banks, and this NASCAR-built example stands as a direct artifact of that superspeedway mission. Today, any street-going Daytona is coveted, but this car occupies rarified air altogether - a singular, one-of-one survivor that directly recalls Chrysler’s all-out assault on NASCAR’s aerodynamic frontier.

Video: 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona: The Aero Car That Changed NASCAR

If you’re a Mopar person, you already know the vibe: there are muscle cars… and then there are aero cars - the factory-built, street-legal loopholes that Detroit unleashed when NASCAR glory mattered more than subtlety. At the top of that food chain sits the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, the pointy-nosed, high-winged homologation special that looks like it escaped from a wind tunnel and somehow got license plates.

This wasn’t a decal package or a trim-level flex. The Daytona was Dodge’s full-send answer to high-speed oval warfare - built to stop the Charger from acting like a parachute at 180+ and start acting like a missile with turn signals.

1968 Ford Mustang GT/CS - Grandpa & Grandson Restoration

Thanks to a bit of some smart horse trading, a couple of vintage Mustangs are being kept all in the family. Seven years ago, Westminster, California resident, Rudy Doles, and his family were attending his Uncle Vic's funeral. Rudy noticed that Vic's 1967 Mustang convertible wasn't in his garage. Rudy asked a cousin attending the funeral where the drop top pony car might have wandered off to.

1978 Special Edition Y88 Pontiac Trans Am - Golden Bird

At first glance, it looks like a refined late-’70s Trans Am - long hood, wide hips, Solar Gold paint glowing under the sun. But this one isn’t about nostalgia. This is what happens when a second-gen Trans Am grows up, gets real money thrown at it, and decides it’s done pretending.

Video: 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 R-Code - Ford’s Factory-Bred Street Brawler

If you’re talkin’ blue-oval heavy hitters from the muscle-car glory days, the 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 R-Code sits right at the top of the food chain. This thing wasn’t built for grocery runs or Sunday cruises. Ford engineered it with one purpose: to hunt Chevys and Mopars at the drag strip. What rolled off the line was basically a Detroit-born fist fight on wheels - raw, loud, and absolutely unfiltered.

1968 GMC Short-Bed C1500 Fender-Side - Pickup's Potential Realized

Many vintage American truck enthusiasts regard the 1968 GMC C1500 short-bed fender-side as a ready for work pickup truck with an earnest countenance. About three years ago, Surf City USA resident, Chris Van Schyndel, was surfing around on Craigslist. Wearing a flat black, rattle can paint scheme, Chris saw a GMC fender-side that really seemed to be trying to hide its rugged good looks.

Videos: The 1963 Chevy Impala Z11: A Legend of Factory-Bred Drag Racing

Among Chevy diehards, the 1963 Impala Z11 is more than just a special-order oddball - it’s one of the most lethal, purpose-built drag-strip predators General Motors ever unleashed. Born during the heat of the early-’60s Super Stock wars, the Z11 was Chevy’s hush-hush, factory-sanctioned answer to Ford’s 427 Galaxies and Mopar’s Max Wedge brutes. Only 57 were ever built, and today they stand as unicorns - mythical, snarling artifacts from the golden era of Detroit performance one-upmanship.

Below is a deep dive into why the Z11 still makes automotive enthusiasts talk in hushed, reverent tones.

The Unicorns of Auburn Hills: 1970 & 1971 Hemi ’Cuda Convertibles

Few machines occupy the highest echelon of American muscle car mythology quite like the 1970 and 1971 Hemi ’Cuda convertibles. These cars are so rare, so purpose-built, and so brutally charismatic that even the most seasoned collectors speak of them in hushed tones. In the world of Mopar performance, a Hemi ’Cuda convertible represents lightning captured in steel—a moment in which Detroit unknowingly birthed rolling royalty.

Transforming a 1971 Camaro into a Modern Pro-Touring Beast

American muscle cars are being maintained, restored, renewed, and restomodded on a daily basis around the globe. From amateur DIY'ers to pro-builders that have last names like: Worman, Johnson, Trepanier, Strope, Brizio, Foose, and etc. - these American muscle car artisans are to be commended for preserving automotive history and keeping these rolling works of industrial design, magnificent mechanization, and art looking great and running strong.