The Modern Muscle Car Era Has Ended: A Look Back at the Most Powerful Icons
With the end of production for the Challenger and Charger as we know them, and the Camaro’s future uncertain, it’s time to reflect on the horsepower kings that defined the modern muscle car era. Ford stands alone as the last of the Big Three still building traditional muscle, though even CEO Jim Farley hints at hybridization for future high-performance models.
This shift marks the perfect moment to celebrate the wild horsepower wars of the last two decades. Let’s take a nostalgic trip through some of the most iconic, high-horsepower production muscle cars that have roared down our streets.
Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 (fifth-generation) — 505 hp
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The fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro bowed out with a resurrected Camaro Z/28, the first time that Chevrolet had used the model name since 2002. The Camaro Z/28 was only available for the final two years of fifth-gen Camaro production — 2014 and 2015 — and was second in the horsepower stakes only to the 580-hp fifth-gen ZL1, with 505 hp and 481 lb-ft of torque coming from a 7.0-liter LS7 engine — one of the best LS engine generations ever.
But while the Camaro Z/28 may have lost out in pure horsepower, Chevrolet engineers were chasing a very different goal. The Z/28 was conceived as a track monster, with weight-saving measures allied to components such as Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve dampers, extra-wide Pirelli PZero Trofeo R tires, Brembo carbon ceramic brakes, and a new aero kit for increased downforce. It didn’t have the raw power of the ZL1, but the changes made the Z/28 the better car to drive — it was even good enough to win MotorTrend’s Best Driver’s Car award in 2014.
The Camaro Z/28 was still plenty fast, too. 0 to 60 mph in 4.0 seconds is impressive even in 2024, and its quarter-mile time of 12.3 seconds at 117.2 mph — both as tested by MotorTrend — competes with all but the highest-horsepower versions of Dodge’s Charger and Challenger muscle cars. Sadly, Chevrolet opted not to bring the Z/28 back for the Camaro’s sixth generation.
Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing — 668 hp
Cadillac
General Motors’ supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 — which first debuted in the 2015 Corvette Z06 — did wonders in the Camaro ZL1’s engine bay, so it’s not surprising that it turned to the engine again for the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. But Cadillac didn’t just drop the exact same engine into the CT5-V’s engine bay: Instead, the CT5-V’s LT4 makes 668 hp and 659 lb-ft of torque, putting it ahead of the Camaro ZL1 and earning it the title of the fastest and most powerful production Cadillac ever when it debuted.
Cadillac claimed 0 to 60 mph and quarter-mile times of 3.4 and 11.3 seconds, respectively — impressive results that were echoed in MotorTrend’s tests. But Cadillac wasn’t just after straight-line speed with the CT5-V. To prove the car’s on-track credentials, Cadillac Arabia strapped current F1 Academy driver Amna Al Qubaisi behind the wheel in 2022, asking her to send it around the famous Yas Marina circuit. The Blackwing earned another accolade in the process, its 2:20:98-second lap making it the fastest production sedan to ever lap the circuit.
It’s a record that still stands, as far as we can tell — although that may just be because no other company has felt the need to challenge it. Still, the CT5-V Blackwing’s lap isn’t anything to sneeze at, especially considering it has four doors and weighs over 4,000 pounds. The Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is alive and well, with Cadillac announcing a mostly aesthetic 2025 refresh in early 2024; you can make one yours starting from $93,495.
Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak — 807 hp
Stellantis
The Challenger may have been the flag-bearer for Chrysler’s horsepower push in the late 2020s, but it wasn’t the only model the company chose to bless with the high-output version of its 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI V8 seen in a handful of Challenger variants.
Chrysler introduced the revived Charger to its stable in 2006, a couple of years before its two-door relative would hit the streets. Like the Challenger, Charger power levels would creep inexorably upward over its life, with the 340- and 425-hp HEMI V8s of its debut year well and truly forgotten once Chrysler introduced the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye in 2021. The Hellcat Redeye produced 797 hp and 707 lb-ft of torque, courtesy of the same supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI in high-powered Challengers like the Redeye and Super Stock.
The engine’s copious power meant claimed 0-to-60-mph and quarter-mile times of 3.6 and 10.6 seconds — competitive with the upcoming Dodge Charger Scat Pack, even with the torque advantages of electric motors. While independent testers couldn’t quite match Chrysler’s numbers due to traction issues, none could deny the engine’s pulling power and infectious performance, even if drivers were in for an expensive time at the pumps.
Chrysler added just that little bit more in 2023, introducing the 807 hp Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak in 2023 as a final hurrah for the HEMI. The extra 10 hp came from a “revised powertrain calibration,” in Chrysler’s words, although torque remained the same at 707 lb-ft.
Dodge Challenger SRT Demon — 840 hp
Stellantis
Dodge introduced the Challenger SRT Demon as a limited-edition, one-year-only version of the Challenger in 2018 with an ultra-special version of the supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat HEMI V8 under the hood. The Demon’s V8 shared the Hellcat’s displacement but featured many changes that set it apart from its predecessor. These included a new engine block, crankshaft, pistons, connecting rods, and an even beefier supercharger.
The Demon V8’s twin-screw supercharger displaced 2.7 liters (instead of the Hellcat engine’s 2.4 liters) and ran at a higher 14.5 psi. When fed with 100-octane race fuel, the Challenger SRT Demon made a massive 840 hp and 770 lb-ft of torque, with numbers dropping to 808 hp and 717 lb-ft on regular 91-octane pump gas. Chrysler made a huge song and dance about the SRT Demon’s performance in its promotional material, boasting proudly that the NHRA had banned it for hitting a 9.65-second quarter-mile time.
Chrysler’s claimed 0 to 60 mph time was no less impressive, with the Demon allegedly managing that feat in 2.3 seconds. It wasn’t all talk, either, and independent reviewers managed to come close without having much in the way of drag racing chops — aided, no doubt, by the Demon’s launch control. Chrysler only built 3,300 SRT Demons but would reuse the engine in its pump gas tune for the SRT Challenger Redeye, Redeye Jailbreak, and Super Stock — the former with 797 hp and the latter two getting 807 hp.
Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 — 1,025 hp
Stellantis
For a while, it seemed like the 840-hp Challenger SRT Demon from 2018 was the most powerful production muscle car we would ever see. But Dodge and SRT had one more trick up their sleeves for 2023: an epic, drag-strip-destroying final farewell to the internal combustion Challenger as we know it, called the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170.\n\nThe SRT Demon 170 was part of Dodge’s \”Last Call\” series, released to celebrate the end of the Challenger and Charger in their gasoline-powered HEMI guises. The Demon 170 was the final model to be unveiled, and Chrysler certainly saved the best for last. For the Demon 170, SRT engineers upgraded the 6.2-liter HEMI from the 2018 Demon with a bigger 3.0-liter supercharger and all-new internals, bringing power numbers to a scarcely-believable 1,025 hp and 945 lb-ft on E85.\n\nAlongside other changes such as a drag suspension, new driveline, beefy
