Pick eleven cars from LS Fest for a list. Sounds easy, but it isn’t. Holley had eleven cars in front of their display that I would’ve sold a sibling into slavery for, and that didn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Show cars, drag cars, autocrossers, drifters, four-wheel-drives…hell, you name it and there was a version of it at LS Fest, from the repowered Ford ramp truck to the latest and greatest. Picking eleven cars out of the three days of fun is at best, a crapshoot. It isn’t a favorite list, but the cars that stood out to me compared with the literally hundreds of cars that were worth a second of your time. In no order what so freaking ever, here we go:

11. Chevrolet Colorado

 

The new Colorado is nearly the size of a twenty-year-old C1500, so jamming in a V8 shouldn’t be an issue whatsoever, and here it wasn’t. It looked like a factory unit and there was plenty of space in the engine bay to work with. Beautifully done, but not overdone.

10. C7 Corvette

We often say that a car sounds pissed off, but this bodykitted C7 Stingray is the textbook definition. It hissed, it growled, it spat and when the turbos came on, it became a rolling artillery simulator. I’m not kidding in the least when I say I hit the ground the first time it backfired. Every shift, another explosion, and at night, add flames.

9. Monte Carlo SS

 

One trend that I’m glad to see is a 1980’s car that gets restored as well as repowered. GM was on the ball in the looks department in the Eighties, and yes, I’m a sucker for the G-body Monte SS. Small touches like the 17″ N90 wheels and custom hood insulation made this Monte Carlo stand out.

8. 3rd Gen Z28 Camaro

Another restomod, the picture doesn’t do this Z28 justice. It might look like a clean daily driver, but in person the paint had depth that I’m pretty sure didn’t exist on the line.

7. Al Corda’s Firebird

 

Every run was the same story: nose high, easy landing, first at the line. You can’t argue with a successful formula, and Corda knows how to do it. Then again, the winner of the 1971 U.S. Nationals should know the formula by now.

6. Drift C6 Corvette

 

The first time I saw it slide past on the track I thought it was a joke someone was playing. Every other drift car, even the really pretty ones, show battle scars from meetings with walls, racers, cones, what have you. This looked like someone slapped stickers on their own daily driver and went for broke, and he pulled no punches at all. We prayed for the safety of his body shell, because if that Vette had smacked a wall, the repair would be a little more difficult that zip-tying stitches in a Nissan’s bumper cap.

5. Squeaky clean sleeper Nova

Normally, I’d be pointing out the small things on this X-body, like the smoothed piece between the grille and radiator, the shaved door handles, and the like. But that would take away from the fun of the supercharger’s plumbing under the hood. Hood shut, it’s a mild custom. Step on the gas, and it will warp your vision. Nicely done.

4. No, it’s not a Hemi.

This wasn’t even the most controversial LS-swapped Mopar at the event. In fact, it was hidden off behind the stands, out of sight. What looks to be a very base-spec Charger had it’s V6 (I’m guessing the self-destructing 2.7L, judging by the spec of the car) yanked and a whole lot of GM power stomped in. Strangely enough, if you ignore the intake, it’s very comparable in size to the 5.7L Chrysler.

3. It’s how they should have been!

V8 and rear wheel drive, and it didn’t look hacked one bit. Even GM didn’t do it this well in concept form. I wasn’t able to find the seller for this Monte Carlo, so I can’t tell you just how it came to be, but having owned one of the FWD V8 Montes, I was seriously curious as to how it drove.

2. Call in the parts car!

 

This poor Trans Am looked like hell and was beat on like a rented mule, coming back for more. The story was that the guy’s race car wouldn’t work for LS Fest, so he went out back and this Pontiac, which was destined to be a parts car, came out to play instead. And play he did…at one point on the autocross circuit I saw him go sliding tail-end-first into the brake box.

1. Oh, so good…

 

Jarrod Lucas’s 1987 Monte Carlo LS is a knockout, and ever since last year’s LS Fest I’ve been in lust over this car. It looks show-worthy, but the real show is when Lucas starts banging gears down the track…yep, it’s a six-speed!