Some badass cars that never made production.....Damn!!..They'd have been awesome....

For some reason-every manufacturer has had some ultra-badass cars that would have been easy to produce and would have sold like hot cakes, yet they were killed before they were born. Here's a bunch we all wish were built. # 1. 1970 LS6 454 Nova SS. Originally the LS6 454 was slated to be optional in the Nova SS and the Camaro SS as well as the Chevelle line. In fact-the intake manifold loses 10-15 hp over the 1969 427 4bbl intake because it's so flat-designed that way to clear the low hoodline of the new Camaro. Since the 396 was already an option in both cars, it would have been a bolt-in swap. However-a Nova weighs about 800 lbs less than a Chevelle and about 400 lbs less than a Camaro-if the buff mags thought the LS6 Chevelle was badass-an LS6 Nova would have been like "Leroy Brown"-"Badder than King Kong and meaner than a Junkyard Dog."  For whatever reason-the brass killed it and the LS6 was only offered in the Chevelle line that year.  # 2. 1971 Boss 429 Mustang. The larger '71 Mustang was designed with the 429 CJ as an option, so it's huge engine bay could have easily accepted a "Boss 429". And unlike the -'69 and '70 models which started life as 428 models and were converted at Kar Kraft-( Ford lost money on every one ) the '71s could have been built on Ford's assembly line. For whatever reason, Ford decided not to offer the Boss 429 at the last minute. # 3. 1971 Plymouth Superbird / Dodge Charger Daytona. Chrysler considered putting the slope-nose and big wing on the new for '71 models, and then changed their mind at the last minute. Too bad. They'd have been cool.  # 4. 1971-73 429 / 460 Mercury Cougar. Since Pontiac offered a 455 in the best-selling Gran Prix and Chevrolet offered a 454 in it's Monte Carlo cousin some Ford engineers thought the Cougar should have a big block as well. The bean counters decided that the G/P and the Monte were competitors of the T-Bird, not the Cougar. Hello? The T-Bird was based on the much heavier Lincoln MKIV platform. In drag race-the 455 and 454 "A" body ( Chevelle / LeMans chassis ) GM offerings would blow the doors off a 429 / 460 T-Bird. My cousin had an early '70's GP with a 455. It had power everything, and it felt like a GTO. She showed her taillights to quite a few evil-looking Camaro and Mustangs.  A 429 Cougar would have been competitive. Alas-a 351C was the biggest engine you could get in a Cougar. # 5. 1974 Pontiac GTO. Initially-Pontiac was going to keep the GTO nameplate on the LeMans platform and offer the SD-455-that had only been available in the Trans-Am / Formula Firebirds in '73. That might have given sales a shot in the arm. When it was decided to move it to the "X" body ( read Nova / Ventura / Omega ) platform, the engineers got the bright idea of returning to it's 1964 roots that made it wildly successful-stuff a "Big Car" V8 into a light compact. They thought about dropping in a 400 and reviving the "Judge" moniker. Since the 350 was already an option in the Ventura and Pontiac engines are externally identical it would have easy. And a Ventura weighs about 500 lbs less than a Firebird. A 400 Ventura / GTO would have been a rocket-even quicker than the vaunted SD-455 Trans-Am. Since the T/A was now the flasgship and cash cow, the brass couldn't allow that. So the down-sized Goat got a 7.6:1 compression 350 that wheezed out 200 hp. And they wondered why they didn't sell?  # 6. 1977 AMC AMX. I know there was an AMX option in '77-78, but let me finish. After 1974-there was no more 'Cuda / Challengers, no more Road Runners, the Charger was a re-badged Chrysler Cordoba ( yuk! ) the Mustang was more Pinto / Capri than Mustang, the Javelin was no more, no more SS Chevelles, and the Z/28 was gone, and the biggest engine you could get in a Corvette was a 350, and you couldn't even get a 4-speed in California!. Gee-wonder why 400 and 455 Pontiac Trans-Ams were selling in record numbers, even before "Smokey and the Bandit" came out?  Musclecar buyers didn't go away after 1974-the manufacturers stopped making cars they wanted to buy!! After T/A sales doubled or tripled every year from '73-76 ( "Smokey and the Bandit" wasn't released until May 1977 )  Everyone realized their collossal goof and began trying to find a Trans-Am fighter. Chevrolet hastily re-introduced the Z/28 Camaro for '77 with very T/A like spoilers and graphics. AMC engineers developed a performance package for the compact Hornet. It had a great handling suspension and since-like Pontiacs-AMC engines are externally identical-a 304 V8 was an option in the Hornet line-they got the bright idea to swap in a 401 out the big car / Jeep line. That would have been a bolt-in swap. Since a Hornet only weighs about 2,900 lbs-and a '77 T/A weighs about 3,800-a 401 Hornet AMX would have smoked a 400 Trans-Am in a drag race or the twisties. They might not have been sexy but-like the '68 Road Runner-they'd have been a stripped-down, badass street fighter. In spite of irrefutable proof that performance buyers were still out there-Pontiac sold 50,000 T/As in 1976 alone, and another 68,000 in '77, and the revived Z/28 was selling-'77 and '78 were record sales years for the Camaro and Corvette-the AMC brass decided that performance didn't matter only cosmetics-so they ok'd the suspension and graphics package but nixed the engine swap. The only engines available in the Hornet AMX were a 258 inch six and a 304 V8 with a 2bbl that wheezed out 120 hp, and there was no manual transmission option. Decisions like this are why AMC went under.  # 7. 1990 Buick Reatta. That's not a Typo. Buick engineers wanted to make the racy Reatta 2-seater rear-wheel drive and drop in the badass Turbo V6 out of the now-defunct Grand National. ( Since the engine was offered in the '89 20th Anniversary T/A, they were still building them. )  Chevrolet brass had an absolute meltdown-as a GN-engined Reatta would have blown the doors off an L98 Corvette in performance and sales both. GM brass nixed it-and the Reatta was made front-drive with a normally aspirated V6 that wheezed out 120 hp. And they wondered why they didn't sell?  What might have been....Mastermind