What are and what makes them different ? What makes a muscle car different than your every day family car? Muscle car is not just a car but it is a legend. A legend that will live forever. The muscle car all started in 1961 and lasted till 1972. It all started in the fifties with a group of people that were called hot roders. They where striving for the need for speed, the three big car makers thought they should get in to racing and they did . In 1961 they started producing factory race cars with high horsepower and lots of light weight items to increase speed . These cars were raced by people that worked all week long and raced on the week end . The cars changed from cars intended to be raced on the tract to cars intended to be raced on the street. The cars were not just for fun, they were a selling point for the make of cars they were. Buyers in the market for a new car in 1970 saw two street heroes racing and one was driving a 1970 Chevelle and the other was driving a 1970 Mustang and the Chevelle won would you go and buy a Mustang or a Chevelle. These cars are from a different breed with the bold paint schemes ,hood scoops and that neck snapping acceleration(Grey 42).
Chevrolet has played the biggest part in muscle car development in my eyes. They started in the early sixties with a car they called a bubbletop, 409 Bel Air . It had a 409 ci engine that had 409 hp and was a strong runner in the quarter mile . But the car that will always be known as the king of is the 1970 Chevelle LS6, with 450 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque on tap the car could easily run in the low 13-second quarter mile times on street tires. "Quite possibly, this car is the best muscle car of all time"(Kiewicz 21). The Camaro was first built in 1967 It was built to race in the trans am and to beat the Ford Mustang. "These cars possess what's likely the most popular musclecar body style of all time"(Kiewicz 21). In the first-generation the engines options ranged from a 235ci six cylinder to a ZL1 witch is an all aluminum block and heads 427ci that was pushing well over 450 hp. Chevy Nova SS was another strong competitor in the in 1966, this boxy little car had a potent 350 hp 327 ci swiped from the Corvette. This combination was not only deadly, but was great fun. The Corvette is another hot car with engines ranging from a 235ci six in 1953 up to a 454 in the 70's . But the best Corvette, in my mind, is a super-rare 1967 L88 which is a full race version with 430 advertised hp (actually the power was well over 500 hp ) fitted in to a low option car (Benty 21). The car that is often over looked is the Buick. Buick has produced some of the fastest cars in the muscle car era, some argue that the 1970 GSX is everything that the LS6 is, and more ! With more options and a potent 455 ci V-8 that made 360 hp and a whopping 510 lbs-ft of torque that pushed the car to a quarter mile time of 13 seconds at 105 mph . Some say that the paint scheme was better than the LS6's to. Buick didn't stop making muscle in the 70's in 1987, they had the fastest accelerating car in the 80's it was called the GNX . With its intercooled 231 ci V-6 the GNX was faster than any Mustang or Comaro in its time. The GNX was available in black a number on the dash which indicated the number off the assembly line(Beck 50).
Oldsmobiles and Pontiac all so had some great cars in the 60's and 70's . Olds muscle was called the Cutlass and had a special option called the 442. The 442 in the early years stood for 4 barrel 4 speed and dual exhaust . The Hurst/ Olds W-46 was a rare option and in 1968 there was only 515 produced . and it would run the quarter mile in 13 seconds . Pontiac also had two major runners in the muscle car race . One was the GTO and the other was the Firebird . The GTO was first introduced in 1964 and the last of the GTO's were produced in 1972 . The most significant GTO was called The Judge, the car had a bright orange paint job . "After the 400ci limit was lifted in 1970, the GTO was fitted with a big 455 V-8 also used in the Bonneville . The ram air edition produced 370 hp and 445 lb-ft of torque which was more than enough to worry street racers into whispering' "Here comes the Judge" (Anand 27). The other car produced by Pontiac was the Firebird, was another ponycar that was designed to race in the Trans Am races . Pontiac's ponycar had a 400 ci engine and a suspension that craved the winding country roads . The car was a great all around performing car (Benty 30).
Mopars are the performance cars of Dodge and Plymouth . Some of these cars are the Cuda, Charger, Satellite and Challenger . The Road Runner was another of Plymouth's cars, It was a car that was built for the working class. The car was an affordable car that had plenty of power to satisfy the needs of any street racer . The engines ranged from the 318V-8 to the all mighty 426 V-8 hemi that was known to produce 425 hp. Another of the hot ...