Scary Powerful: These 5 cars had so much grunt, they broke themselves

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So much torque, the chassis twisted coming off the line.

Dominic Toretto

Any gearhead worth their weight in traction bars knows that line is from the very first movie in the now expansive Fast & Furious franchise.

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Scary Powerful: These 5 cars had so much grunt, they broke themselves Back to video

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Uttered in reference to the inky black Dodge Charger lurking in Toretto’s family garage, the film might have been showing a highly modified machine on screen, there have been more than a couple of real-world factory hot rods whose engine output might have similarly far exceeded the limits of its own construction.

Some of these examples are part of automotive lore. Others have their roots in drag racing from five decades ago. And one showed its mettle more recently on a popular Canadian car-review YouTube channel. Now, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle as we go for a gloriously ridiculous overpowered thrill ride.

Shelby Super Snake Widebody Convertible

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The lads at Throttle House are no stranger to track tests, putting vehicles of all shapes and stripes through their paces in fine style. This time around, the task before them was to discover which was faster in a straight line: a Dodge Demon or Shelby Super Snake. With both cars packing over 800 horsepower from a supercharged V8 engine, this test did not suffer from a lack of acceleration.

What did seem to be lacking, however, was proper structural bracing on the Shelby’s droptop body structure. After a few runs, the Snake twisted its unibody with sufficient vigour that its plastic skirting trim cracked on both sides of the car. Throttle House noted in the video they had heard about this issue, and confirmed there was no damage prior to testing. Well, there is now.

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1969 Chryslers with Kelsey-Hayes Wheels

This one comes from the mind of editor own Nicholas Maronese, a man whose back catalog of muscle-car knowledge is as profound as it is terrifying. Offered in a 15-inch diameter (the wheels, not Nick), these road-styled wheels bore a W23 code and were an extra-cost option on ’69 Charger R/T cars when equipped with the mighty 426 Hemi.

It didn’t take long for the Chrysler Corporation to realize the engine’s power far outstripped the ability of these wheels to, y’know, stay on the car . A recall campaign was quickly issued in September ’68, seeking to address the fact that lug nuts were working their way loose from the W23 cast aluminum centres.

Records (and memories) of the era state that customers ended up with 14-inch magnesium ‘500’ wheels as factory replacements, while cars which were as-yet undelivered has the wheels swapped out before landing in private hands. Internet lore, however, points to Chrysler simply installing whatever they had on hand for replacement, which doesn’t sound too farfetched considering the American car industry in the late ‘60s.

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Fox-Body Mustangs and F-Body Camaros with T-Top Roofs

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The early ‘80s weren’t the best of times for American-made pony cars, many of which showed up on the scene with far less that 200 horsepower and a build quality that would have made British Leyland weep. Those of us who get misty-eyed for these machines conveniently forget these facts when pining for one, while viewing the past through decidedly rose-coloured glasses. However, as the decade progressed, Detroit hauled itself out of the doldrums and started imbuing its affordable performance cars with actual, um, performance.

With fuel injection and better breathing, Ford’s Mustang was packing an estimated 300 lb-ft of torque by 1987 and, in that model year (or very early ’88, depending on to whom you speak), the open-air T-top roof option quietly vanished from its order sheet.

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Blue Oval execs of the day insisted the change was due to lack of demand — but gearheads know the difference. Torque twist, which was not an issue when the body style first debuted, had now become sufficient to eventually warp the T-top openings and cause water leaks. It’s rumoured the same was true for the Camaro and Firebird of the day as well, though that car would continue offering T-tops in some form or another until its (first) cancellation in 2002.

GM Big-Block Cars and Engine Mounts

We’re including this frankly terrifying chapter of GM’s history because there’s a case to be made that the problem – engine mounts which would rip themselves asunder – was acerbated by the rapidly increasing factory horsepower outputs which were part and parcel of the Detroit scene in the 1960s.

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At issue was the propensity of critical structure components to fail and create a tragic chain of events. In most instances, a car’s left-side engine mount would break, causing the entire engine rise up and twist under its own torque load. This would pull open the accelerator linkage and, in some cases, haul hoses off the power brake booster.

Drivers would suddenly find themselves at the helm of a machine with a wide-open throttle and a rock-hard brake pedal. Far from being funny, the issue lead to several deaths. GM was recalcitrant in issuing a recall, until forced to do so in the early ‘70s. Even then, it didn’t actually fix the mounts; instead, a bracket and cable assembly was installed to restrict engine movement if a mount actually did break in the future. Why? It is alleged this fix cost about $1 per car instead of the roughly $50 per car it would have taken to install new mounts.

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Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Overheating

There’s little argument the C7 Corvette was the ultimate expression of that model’s front-engine capability. In fact, it’s fair to say ‘Vette engineers pushed its performance so far as that configuration would allow, leading to the mid-engine C8 we enjoy today. But adding power doesn’t always work seamlessly, as owners of the hyperactive last-gen Z06 will attest. The model went on to become the subject of class-action lawsuits about the matter.

GM itself admitted the 650-horsepower car “may have a condition where the vehicle may overheat and enter a reduced power mode when driven on a track at sustained high speeds in high ambient temperatures.” This is troublesome for a sports car whose mission statement includes that precise environment, sometime in heavy doses. A recall was issued to correct the overheating problem in affected vehicles, with dealers instructed to install an updated radiator package along with new shift point calibration software for cars equipped with an automatic transmission. Two years into the model run, Chevy did make some changes to the Z06’s intake vents and cooling systems as well.