Muscle car


A muscle car is an American-made two-door sports coupe with a powerful engine, marketed for its performance.
In 1949, General Motors introduced its 88 with the company's OHV Rocket V8 engine, which was previously available only in its luxury Oldsmobile 98. This formula of putting a maker's largest, most powerful engine in a smaller, lighter, more affordable vehicle evolved into the "muscle car" category. Chrysler and Ford quickly followed suit with the Chrysler Saratoga and the Lincoln Capri.
The term "muscle car", which appeared in the mid-1960s, was originally applied to "performance"-oriented street cars produced to fill a newly recognized niche; it entered the general vocabulary through car magazines and automobile marketing and advertising. By the early 1970s, muscle cars included special editions of mass-production cars designed for street and track drag racing. The concept of high performance at lower prices was exemplified by the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner and companion Dodge Super Bee, whose powerful engines drove relatively basic-trimmed intermediate-sized cars that were meant to undercut more expensive, more stylish, and better-appointed models from General Motors and Ford that had come to define the market, such as the Pontiac GTO, 396 Chevrolet Chevelle, 400 Buick Gran Sport, 400 Oldsmobile 442, as well as the 427 Mercury Comet Cyclone and 390 Mercury Cyclone.
By some definitions – including those used by Car and Driver, CNBC, Road & Track, and Motor Trend – pony cars such as the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Plymouth Barracuda, Pontiac Firebird, AMC Javelin, and their luxury companions in that large, influential, and lucrative 1960s–70s niche, the Mercury Cougar and Dodge Challenger, could also qualify as "muscle cars" if outfitted with suitable high-performance equipment.

Terminology

Definition

The definition of a muscle car is subjective and endlessly debated, resulting in the term having few universally agreed characteristics:
  • A large high-performance V8 engine, often in the most powerful configuration offered for a particular model
  • Rear-wheel drive
  • Being manufactured in the United States in the 1960s or early 1970s
  • A relatively lightweight two-door body (though opinions vary as to whether high-performance full-size cars, compacts, and pony cars qualify as muscle cars, and why a two-seat AMC AMX could be, but a two-seat Chevrolet Corvette was not. While some feel that only mid-size cars can be considered muscle cars, this view is not held by the top, industry-defining, enthusiast publications, including Car and Driver, Road & Track, and Motor Trend.
High-powered pony cars are sometimes considered muscle cars, as by the above-mentioned publications, with some exceptional personal luxury cars also regarded by some as qualifying on their merits. In the opposite direction, by the late 1960s a wave of inexpensive, straight-line speed oriented stripped down intermediate sedans offered at prices under as expanded the original definition from a "muscle car" as one offering both performance and some measure of style, accessories, and cachet, and doubled it back toward the drag strip focus of such exceptional early proto-muscle cars as the limited production, factory experimental 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt.
Sports cars - including those which meet all the above most basic criterion, such as the 1969 ZL-1 Corvette, with an all-aluminum V8 listed at but reported to produce, that slung the car through the traps in 10.89 seconds - are considered muscle cars by some, and not by others. Drag strip-oriented fans see muscle cars as an extension of the hot rodding philosophy of taking a small car and putting a large-displacement engine in it to maximize straight-line speed. However, widespread public acceptance and use of the term, including that exemplified by the Car and Driver, CNBC, Road & Track, and Motor Trend [|top muscle car lists] below, affirm a much broader interpretation as the norm.

"Supercar"

Muscle cars were initially referred to as "supercars" in the United States, such as the 1957 Rambler Rebel, which was described as a "potent mill turned the lightweight Rambler into a veritable supercar." From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, "dragstrip bred" mid-size cars equipped with large V8 engines and rear-wheel drive were also referred to as supercars, more often than muscle cars.
In 1966, the supercar became an "industry trend". This was when the four domestic automakers "needed to cash in on the supercar market" with eye-catching, heart-stopping cars. An example of the use of the supercar description for early muscle car models includes the May 1965 Car Life road test of the Pontiac GTO, followed in 1968 with a Car and Driver review of the 1969 American Motors SC/Rambler describing it as ready to compete in "the Supercar street racer gang" market segment, with the initials "SC" signifying SuperCar, and a 1969 Car Life review that included how "Hurst puts American Motors into the Supercar club with the 390 Rogue".
The supercar market segment in the U.S. at the time included special versions of regular production models that were positioned in several sizes and market segments, as well as limited edition, documented dealer-converted vehicles. However, over time the term came to be applied to much, much more expensive and exotic cars, which claimed the name supercar.

History

1950s: Origins

Opinions on the origin of the muscle car vary, but the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 is cited as the first full-sized muscle car. The Rocket 88 was the first time a powerful V8 engine was available in a smaller and lighter body style. The Rocket 88 produced at 3600 rpm and at 1800 rpm and won eight out of ten races in the 1950 NASCAR season. The Rocket 88's Oldsmobile 303 V8 engine, along with the Cadillac 331 engine, also introduced in 1949, are stated to have "launched the modern era of the high-performance V-8."
In 1955, the large-sized Chrysler C-300 - the first in a long, 15-year series of large, expensive, performance-first Chryslers - was introduced that produced from its V8 engine, and it was advertised as "America's Most Powerful Car". Capable of accelerating from 0 to in 9.8 seconds and reaching, the 1955 Chrysler 300 is also recognized as one of the best-handling cars of its era.
The compact-sized 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk was powered by a Packard V8, the second most powerful engine to the Chrysler 300.
The Rambler Rebel, introduced by American Motors Corporation in 1957, is the first mid-sized car to be available with a big-block V8 engine. The Rebel followed most of the muscle car formula including "make 'em go fast as well as cheaply." It is therefore considered by some to be the first muscle car. With a V8 engine producing, its 0–60 mph acceleration of 7.5 seconds made it the fastest stock American sedan at the time. Only the fuel-injected Chevrolet Corvette beat it by half a second.

Early 1960s: Drag racing influences

The popularity and performance of muscle cars grew in the early 1960s. This was when Mopar and Ford battled for supremacy in drag racing. The 1961 Chevrolet Impala offered an SS package for $53.80, which consisted of a V8 engine producing along with upgraded brakes, tires, and suspension. The 1962 Dodge Dart 413 had a V8 which produced and could cover the quarter-mile in under 13 seconds.
In 1963, two hundred Ford Galaxie "R-code" cars were factory-built specifically for drag racing, resulting in a full-size car that could cover the quarter-mile in a little over 12 seconds. Upgrades included fiberglass panels, aluminum bumpers, traction bars, and a Ford FE-based racing engine conservatively rated at. The road-legal version of the Galaxie 427 used the "Q-code" engine which produced. The following year, Ford installed the proven 427 "top-oiler" engine in the smaller and lighter Fairlane body, creating the Ford Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolt included several weight-saving measures and a stock Thunderbolt could cover the quarter-mile in 11.76 seconds. The Thunderbolt was technically road-legal, however, it was considered unsuitable even "for driving to and from the strip, let alone on the street in everyday use". A total of 111 Thunderbolts were built.
The General Motors competitor to the Thunderbolt was the Z-11 option package for the full-size Chevrolet Impala coupe, of which 57 examples were produced in 1963 only. The Z-11 Impala was powered by a version of the W-series big-block engine, which was officially rated at. With a compression ratio of 13.5:1, the engine required high-octane fuel. The RPOZ-11 package also included weight reduction measures such as an aluminum hood and fenders, the removal of sound-deadening material as well as the deletion of the heater and radio.
In 1964, a drag racing version of the Dodge 330 was created, called the "330 Lightweight". It was powered by a version of the Hemi racing engine which was official rated at, but rumored to have an actual power output higher than this. Weight reduction measures included an aluminium hood as well as lightweight front bumpers, fenders and doors, polycarbonate side windows, and no sound deadening. Like other lightweights of the era, it came with a factory disclaimer: "Designed for supervised acceleration trials. Not recommended for general everyday driving because of the compromises in the all-round characteristics which must be made for this type of vehicle."
Also using the 426 Hemi racing engine was the limited production 1965 Plymouth Satellite 426 Hemi. In 1966, the racing version of the 426 Hemi was replaced by a detuned "Street Hemi" version, also with a size of 426 cu in and an official power rating of ). The 1966 Plymouth Satellite 426 Hemi could run a 13.8-second quarter-mile at and had a base price of $3,850.