There's something downright intoxicating about a classic American muscle car that looks like it means business. Black paint, big rear tires, a nasty V8 rumble, and enough horsepower to make the laws of physics seem more like friendly suggestions than hard-and-fast rules.

There's something magical about an American muscle car with a thunderous V8, a menacing stance, and enough horsepower to make the rear tires beg for mercy. Throw in a couple of turbochargers, a supercharger, or a full-blown racing engine, and things get interesting in a hurry!

Few American muscle cars wear their performance credentials quite as convincingly as a Ford Torino Cobra with a snarling big-block V8 beneath its long, muscular hood. From the sleek, NASCAR-inspired SportsRoof models of the late 1960s to the unmistakable Gran Torino Sport of the early 1970s, Ford's intermediate lineup delivered a compelling combination of horsepower, attitude, and Blue Oval engineering.

Big improvements don't always require big bucks. These five budget-friendly upgrades can make your classic Mustang look better, feel better, and become even more enjoyable to drive. 

There's something magical about sliding behind the wheel of a first-generation Ford Mustang, twisting the ignition key, and hearing that familiar engine rumble to life. Whether your pony car packs a thrifty 200-cubic-inch inline-six, a spirited 289 small-block, a 351 Cleveland, or a thundering 428 Cobra Jet, the experience is pure automotive Americana.

In the streets of Southern California, specifically Orange County around Costa Mesa and the planned community of Irvine, there's a daily-driven prowling cat that knows just where it's at in the American pony and muscle car landscape. The uninformed think it's a funny looking, if not upscale customization of a first-generation Mustang. True gearheads shake their heads at such an outlandishly incorrect assumption. For goodness sakes, the new for 1967 Mercury Cougar was appointed Car of the Year by the automotive scribes at Motor Trend (an automotive car mag of considerable repute back in the swingin' muscle car '60's - in the February 1967 issue).

Few automobiles occupy a more fascinating corner of Corvette history than the five original 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sports.

They weren't production Corvettes with bigger engines. They weren't ordinary Sting Rays converted into race cars. And despite their familiar C2 silhouette, they shared surprisingly little with the Corvette sitting on a Chevrolet showroom floor in 1963.

Founder of the Ford Motor Company and inventor of the assembly line at the start of the Industrial Revolution, Henry Ford is famous for saying the following, "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black". Now Mr. Ford, mind you, was saying that to save money and time, as the Ford Model T's matriculated down the assembly line from approximately 1914 to 1926. As you lay your eyes on this ink well deep, three dimensional jet-black 1997 GMC Yukon GT 4WD, you're probably wondering what in the heck does a bunch of black tin lizzies training down Henry's production line have to do with this commanding beauty?

Few cars invite closer inspection than a 1963-1967 Chevrolet Corvette. At any show, auction, or cars-and-coffee, someone will eventually lean over the passenger-side fender looking for numbers. There's a good reason: the difference between an ordinary small-block Sting Ray and a documented, original-drivetrain big-block car can be six figures or more.

This guide shows you how to read those numbers, what each one can prove, and where each one stops.

For Corvette C1 enthusiasts, a string of letters and numbers can reveal the beginning of a car's story.

Is that Corvette really a 1957? Where was it assembled? What does the VIN say about that 1955 Corvette's original engine?

Every August, the Monterey Peninsula becomes the center of the collector-car universe.

For a few glorious days, seemingly every road connecting Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca become an impromptu rolling car show. Ferraris mingle with Porsches. Prewar classics cruise alongside modern hypercars. Vintage racers thunder through the hills, and automobiles carrying seven- and eight-figure valuations suddenly seem almost commonplace.