It's not every day that you get to see old muscle cars in their purest form go head to head, do we? But, here we are. This particular duel saw a 1970 Pontiac GTO take on a 1968 Chevelle SS 396 at the annual Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race or PSMCDR, held in September at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex.

1970 Pontiac GTO

The first car that we have here is a 1970 Pontiac GTO. This one is rocking a 455 H.O under the hood. According to the Cars and Zebras YouTube channel, this GTO was a perfectly street-able car making for a great daily driver as was its ability to tear up the drag strip over the weekends.

Under the hood of the GTO lies a 455 cu.in or 7.5 liter V-8 that put out 360 ponies and 500 pound-feet of torque. This engine had a compression ratio of 10.25.1. That beast of an engine is mated to a three-speed automatic. The GTO tips the scales at 3,996 lbs.

1968 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396

The other car here is this gorgeous 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396. This one was a barn-find with 46,000 miles on the clock. A father/son duo took it upon themselves to turn this car around.

They gave it a thorough once-over along with a tune and she was ready to hit the drag strip.Under the hood of the Chevelle lies an L78, 396 cu.in (6.5-liter) V-8 engine that produces 375 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque. This one had a compression ratio of 11.1. This Chevelle features a four-speed manual transmission. Weight? 3,916 lbs.

The Races

Round 1

The lights on the Christmas tree went out, and from the dig, both cars were neck and neck. But, by the midway point, the Chevy was ahead of the GTO by half a car length. The Chevelle managed to gradually increase that lead, hence taking the first round, with a 1/4 mile time of 13.37 seconds at 105.85 mph against the GTOs 13.51 seconds at 101.13 mph

Round 2

Round two saw both cars switch lanes, with the GTO is now on the left lane. This time, the driver in the Chevy got a great launch, while the Pontiac suffered from traction issues. As a result, the Chevy managed to build a big gap over the Pontiac by the time the two cars got to the line. So, that's another round to the Chevy, with a 1/4 mile time of 13.36 seconds at 104.63 mph against the Pontiac's 13.93 seconds at 101.15 mph.

Round 3

For the third and final round, we saw the two old-school muscle cars switch lanes once again. On this particular occasion, it looked like the Chevy had traction issues and hence left the door open for the GTO. While the Pontiac did cross the line first with a 1/4 mile time of 13.52 seconds at 101.47 mph, the YouTuber argues that the GTO did red light, and hence it is the Chevelle that takes this round as well.

Final Thoughts

So, that's three out of three for this 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle. It is definitely a lot of fun to watch these old-school almost, unmodified, muscle cars go head-to-head. We got the chance to witness the kind of performance that cars offered, prior to the oil crisis back in the 70s and the one we're having today.