Soup Up a Car and We'll Guess Your Favorite Muscle Car

By: Zoe Samuel
Estimated Completion Time
4 min
Soup Up a Car and We'll Guess Your Favorite Muscle Car
Image: felixR/E+/Getty Images

About This Quiz

Muscle cars may have existed in some form since the dawn of driving, but arguments about what makes a muscle car persist to this day. It is generally agreed that a muscle car's primary defining characteristics are the ones needed to make short work of a quarter mile; high torque, high horsepower, and little else. Of course, some of these qualities are shared by other types of cars. Sports cars are expected to accelerate quickly and go fast, as are super cars and the new designation "hyper cars" which includes the 200+mph club.

The qualities other types of cars are required to have, ones muscle cars aren't, include performance brakes, accurate steering with feedback and of course, an exclusive price point. Muscle cars have always been seen as the province of "the working man" who can't afford an expensive car meant only for the track. Thus, muscle cars have always been built to a price point. If a car is going to be a daily driver with most of its value in its engine, then the other aspects of the car are going to be a bit more "budget". It isn't going to be a luxury car, and its steering will be built for commuting over bad roads, not inch-perfect turns at the track. Today, this is different, with cheaper and better tech, but also some muscle cars with prices soaring past $80K. If you spend a few minutes rebuilding a daily driver for us, we'll guess your favorite muscle car.

Let's step back and have a look at the frame. How would you modify it?
Replace as much as I can with lighter materials, safety be damned
Don't touch it
Increase rigidity around the passenger compartment
Reinforce it

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Those wheel wells are looking a little dull. What would you do to spruce them up?
Put chrome on everything
Add a slight flare
Add a huge flare
Nothing

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With what material would you reupholster the interior?
Alcantara
Vinyl
Perforated luxury leather
Cheap leather

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What variety of gear shift knob (or the like) would you want for this daily driver?
Sapphire crystal
An 8-ball
Flappy paddles
An ergonomic grip made from the handle of a Ka-Bar knife

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How many gears would you insist on having in the revamped gearbox?
8
3
9
5

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What kind of paint scheme would you want for your car's exterior?
A racing livery
Solid color
Matte paint
Metallic sheen

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How would you like the new clutch on this Frankenstein's monster of a commuter car?
Double clutch
Short throw
I want an automatic transmission.
Heavy

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What would you do to your car's brakes?
Cheap but massive
Nothing
Carbon-ceramic brake replacement
Brembos

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How would you deal with the parking brake?
Gotta have one, and give it a handle I can use for turns.
Keep it stock.
Don't have a manual one.
Keep it handy but out of the way so I can move.

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How many RPM should your car's new tachometer be able to indicate?
9000
4000
8000
5000

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What new gauge would you add to the car's instrument cluster?
A boost gauge
Nothing
A supercharger gauge
An auxiliary fuel gauge

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What color combo would you use for the interior of the car?
Red and black
Tan and yellow
Black and white
Cream and beige

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What unique feature would your car's infotainment system sport?
Cool graphics
That it wouldn't have an infotainment system
Surround view
Satellite radio

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What would you strip down about the car's interior?
Lose the rear seats
Get rid of the airbags
Nothing
Padding in the seats, and the whole dash

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What size of rims would you use to replace the car's stock wheels?
22 inch
18 inch
21 inch
17 inch

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What style of tire would you want for your newly souped-up car?
Summer
Racing slick
Winter
All season

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What kind of aero mod would you make to the car's rear?
A huge, two-level wing
A spoiler that has no business on a car this size
A slight lip
Nothing

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How would you modify the car's standard safety features, assuming it's a car made in the last 15 years or so?
Add a racing harness and remove the driver airbag
Get rid of all safety features except for seatbelts
Modernize them, and replace the airbag
Add side airbags

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What color or colors would you want for the car's exterior paint job?
Blue and white
All black
Black and white
Red and yellow

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What would you do to your car's V6 engine block?
Replace it with a 4 cylinder hot V
Replace it with a V8
Replace it with a hot V
Bore it out to make the chambers bigger

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How would you modify your car's exhaust?
I would add a straightened-out sports exhaust.
I'd install a smaller, louder muffler.
I'd swap out the catalytic converter.
I'd swap the whole system for a fully tuned sport system with mesh converter.

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To what would you set the air to fuel ratio in your engine management system?
15:1
8:1
12:1
9:1

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Assuming you're adding a turbocharger, what PSI would you want for it?
20
17
22
30

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What kind of supercharger would you install?
None needed, thanks.
A positive-displacement supercharger, so it'll have consistent, predictable pressure
A variable ratio centrifugal, so the supercharger's RPM can run differently from the engine's RPM
A pressure wave supercharger, using the pressure from the exhaust to up the power when I want to up the power

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What heat range value would you want for the new spark plugs in your car's engine?
6
8
9
10

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Which of these engine mods would you go for if you could only choose one?
A lighter flywheel
Replace the engine head for better fuel flow
Electric water pumps
A full engine swap

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What would you do to modify the fuel lines?
Nothing
I'd add expensive additives.
I'd just fill them with high octane fuel.
I'd add a Brown's Gas injector.

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What material would you spend your hard-earned money on to replace as much of the car's structure and bodywork as possible?
Aluminum
Pig iron
Carbon fiber
Titanium

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What quality would you look for in a maker of performance parts?
Elite racing pedigree
Widespread use
Germanic heritage
An iconic founder

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What Tuning Stage kit would you apply in addition to your other modifications?
Stage 1 for a little kick in the backside
None needed. I like to keep my car cherry.
Stage 2, for a little extra power, but nothing I can't handle.
Stage 3, but if there's a Stage 99 I'll take it.

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You Got:

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