In January 2017, Classic Industries held its first Media Open House event. This event invited select members of the automotive press to visit our Huntington Beach headquarters for lunch and some big news.

First, Classic Industries CEO Jeff Leonard spoke about the history of the company, the growth of the automotive restoration industry, and the upcoming launch of all-new Classic Industries catalogs for several Buick models:

1970 Challenger T/A 340 Six Pak four-speed. This series of numbers and words will mean very little to the average person on the street, but say them in front of a car enthusiast, and you'll immediately have their attention. This EV2 Hemi Orange Mopar comes from what many consider to be the peak year of the muscle car generation, and only about 2,400 of these special T/A models were made during the single-year production run.

Every journey into classic car restoration has to start somewhere, whether that's diving in head-first with a basket-case wreck from a junkyard, or starting gradually by putting a few finishing touches on a partially-completed project. For Gilbert Villegas, of Anaheim, California, this 1968 Barracuda Formula S represented the beginning of a love for working on classic cars.

One of the many reasons we love classic cars is that each one tends to have a fascinating story behind it. Some cars are preserved untouched in garages for decades, without leaving the town where they were originally sold. Others were driven every day and abandoned in a scrap yard, only to be lovingly restored by a new owner many years later. These stories add character to every machine.

Breaking News: at the SEMA Show this week in Las Vegas, Mopar announced its official restoration partnership with Classic Industries. This announcement comes as part of the unveiling of Mopar.com/restoration — a new online resource for owners and restorers of classic Dodge and Plymouth vehicles.

The first-generation Plymouth Road Runner was one of the quintessential muscle cars of the late '60s, and remains an icon of the era to this day. The long-nosed body, quad headlamps, and sweeping C-pillars offer a distinctive and memorable look.

The metallic green 1969 Road Runner seen here belongs to Joe Bahash, of Huntington Beach, California.

One of our favorite things about classic Mopar cars is their unabashed use of bright, head-turning colors. These cars were not afraid to show off their "in your face" attitude, with famous High Impact colors such as Sublime, Vitamin C, Top Banana, and Plum Crazy. There's nothing subtle about a roaring V8, flashy chrome, and vibrant paint.

The science of aerodynamics is closely intertwined with the history of automotive design, especially when it comes to race cars. By the late 1960s, the high-banked NASCAR oval tracks were becoming more competitive, and manufacturers were looking to improve lap times by reducing their vehicles' drag coefficients.