Most people imagine Vin Diesel racingĀ fast cars on hot Los Angeles streets when they think about muscle cars, but Queens has a long history of street racing on par with SoCal. There have been several big police crackdowns in neighborhoods like Maspeth, where cars regularly race down Maurice Ave. But street racing is just the illegal side of Queens’ fierce car culture. People like Mike Musto in Astoria are passionate about the cars themselves.

Mike is a longtime pro-touring carĀ aficionadoĀ from Astoria, and recently returned to his hometown to host a 2-part series called The Cars of Queens for his show BIG MUSCLEĀ on The DRIVE network, a YouTube channel. “For me,” he says, “this is where the whole muscle car thing started. Back amongst the cracked concrete, barbed wire, graffiti, and padlocked garages were some of the baddest muscle cars you were ever likely to see. This is home. This is where these cars were built. This is where they were on the street on a daily basis.”

Whether you’re all about autos or not, these “bad-ass” videos are worth viewing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzxcPhQPrew

 

“Just because you live in an urban environment,” explains Mike, “doesn’t mean you can’t build, use, and enjoy your dream car.”

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHyZgP84IJU

 

Video source: The DRIVE Network


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