Some "Insurance Beaters" that kick ass......If you can find one!

As far back as 1967 insurance companies were gouging musclecar owners-especially drivers under 25-your core buyer back then-with cars with engines 400 cubic inches or more. Often the insurance premiums were more than the payments!  To combat this and keep their customers buying cars two of the big three-GM, and Chrysler-came up with some great "insurance beaters" that were just as fast as their bigger brothers, but flew under the insurance radar. For some reason, Ford never cared about this market niche.  Here's some to look for-they may be a little scarce and pricier than a base model-but since they weren't premium models to begin with their not going to bring the King's ransom that a Judge or an LS6 Chevelle or a Six-Pack Road Runner does. # 1. 1968-70 Olds "W31" F85. "Dr Olds" didn't even use a 442-they took a strippy post coupe Cutlass with a 350 V8 and hopped it up with Larger valves in the heads, freer-breathing exhaust manifolds, a cam with 308 degrees duration, and .474 lift, a low-drag flex fan, an aluminum high-rise intake manifold and a special Q-jet carb fed by Ram Air. They were rated at 325 hp which is low by 50 in my opinion. The standard 350 4bbl was rated at 310 hp. You really believe all that trick stuff is only worth 15 hp?  It was only available with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears. The term "Rocket V8" certainly appled here. If you can't find one-the upside is you could put a hot cam and an Edelbrock intake and some stiff gears in a base-model Cutlass and get the same results, although the car won't be as collectible.  # 2. 1968-69 Dodge Dart Sport. The high-winding 340 V8 in these cars was rated a ridiculously low 275 hp-I'd say they were underrated by 50 hp at least. In the lightweight Dart chassis they just screamed.  # 3 1968-69 Pontiac Firebird 350 HO / LeMans 350 HO. If you don't know, Pontiac wanted a "Budget" GTO to compete with the low-cost, high-performance, Plymouth Road Runner. The engineers proposed a lightweight Tempest coupe with a hopped up 350 V8. They nicknamed it the "ET" for "Elapsed Time."  The prototype outran a 383 Road Runner in testing, but John Delerorean said the GTO would never have an engine under 400 cubes. The "ET" eventually morphed into the Judge. However, the engineers liked the motor so much they made it optional in the Firebird and LeMans lines. It was rated at 325 hp-only 25 less than the 400, and came with a 4-speed or a Turbo 400. There are more of them in Firebirds than LeMans or Tempests for some reason. Dynamite if you can find one. If not-again-just put headers, an "O68" cam and an Edelbrock intake on a base model.  # 4. 1970-73 Plymouth Duster 340 / Dodge Demon / Dart Sport. The new for 1970 body was way sexier than the old Dart body,and loud paint and graphics shouted your attitude to everyone, but they were still light-around 3,000 lbs and they still had the screamin' 340 V8. Political correctness was around even back then-Dodge dropped the "Demon" moniker after 1972 because of pressure from religious groups whining about the little devil with a pitchfork emblems. # 5. 1970-71 Pontiac Tempest T-37.  Dubbed the "Poor man's GTO" by the buff magazines these strippy Tempests came with a 350 V8, a 3 speed stick and bench seats. Ironically, for an "insurance beater"- the 400 and 455 V8s were optional, as were a 4-speed stick or an automatic. The same package in 1972 was dubbed "LeMans GT. "  # 6. 1971-72 "Heavy Chevy"  This was a base-model Malibu with an SS-style domed hood, slotted Rally wheels, and special graphics. Any engine up to the 402 big-block was available, but most have 350 power. Nearly 7,000 were made in 1971 and a few more were built in '72, but other than the SS hood, their not really anything special over a base model 2 door Malibu. All of these cars fall under the buy-it-if-you-like it and can swallow the asking price category.  I say this because although they are cool, you could get the same performance from a hopped-up base model for probably less money.  Mastermind