Spend 30 minutes with Ken Lingenfelter inside his private collection
If you like high-horsepower (or rare) cars, it’s worth half an hour of your day to take a break and dive into this detailed tour of Ken Lingenfelter’s personal collection. Although his garage is not normally open to the public, Lingenfelter took the time to walk viewers through the space and talk about some of his favorites among the 100+ cars he owns.
Lingenfelter’s company is best known for tuning GM products, so it comes as no surprise that the man himself is a Corvette fan. One of the first cars he highlights on his tour is a white 2019 Corvette ZR1 that was used as a daily driver all last summer. It’s not modified, but when I personally visited this collection and chatted with Lingenfelter last fall, he told me he typically keeps one stock and drives it in search of any weak spots. You don’t find out that kind of information by driving like grandmother on her way to a hair appointment.
Further back in the building is a whole line of first-generation Corvettes, including a supercharged 1953 model. The engine bay in the fiberglass ’53 is pretty cramped, so the McCulloch centrifugal supercharger had to be mounted on the exhaust side of the Blue Flame inline-six, with a charge pipe running around the front of the engine to feed three carburetors on the intake side. All that for 150 hp! Explains why GM spent money on developing the V-8 rather than pressure-feeding its humble six.
It’s not an all-Chevy show, however. Lingenfelter takes a second to highlight a pair of Oldsmobile Toronados right around the 19-minute mark, marking the start of his trip through the “muscle car room” of the collection. While a big, front-wheel-drive luxury car like the Toronado might seem out of place in the muscle car room at first glance, the reality is that the big Olds also packed 375 horsepower from the 455-cubic-inch V-8. The car on the right is a 1970-only Toronado GT, which dialed the power up to an even 400 hp.
Overall, Lingenfelter’s garage is filled with awesome cars and significant pieces of history. Grab a cold drink and snack before tuning in, because you won’t want to get up once you start. Call out your favorite car from the grouping in the Hagerty Community below—there are no wrong answers.
