7 best American muscle cars of all time

bankrate.com ^ | By Russ Heaps

[virgil283]

"How did muscle-car madness start?...Some enthusiasts trace the history of muscle cars to the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. But the heyday of this genre ran from 1965 to 1970 before collapsing under the weight of higher gas prices, more stringent exhaust emissions regulations and soaring insurance costs.

What is a muscle car? There isn't a settled definition, but most experts agree it's a smaller, two-door car powered by a high-displacement engine typically found in a larger, full-size sedan. Here's our list in model-year order.....1967 Pontiac GTO...1968 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi...1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429...1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1...1970 Buick GSX Stage 1...1970 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda...1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454...."

[virgil283]

"How did muscle-car madness start?......The author doesn't anwser his own question, does he?.

I say it was 1964 when Pontiac put a hot V8 with 3-2s, a 4 speed and a 411 gear in a plain jane LeMans and called a

.....G.T.O.

Straight from the dealer would run under 15 seconds in 1/4 mile...

http://www.oldride.com/library/1964_pontiac_gto.html

[mountainlion]

Gas
Tires
Oil

[ConservativeStatement]

My first car was a 1971 LeMans (used). The GTO is a special auto.

[DemforBush]

Once knew a guy who had owned a Chevelle SS 454. Good lord, that thing was a monster.

IIRC, AMC had a muscle car at one point, too. Don’t know how it rated against the ones on the list. It was kinda before my era, and my memories of AMC center around my older brother’s Gremlin, and the Hornet my dad drove for a while.

[Carriage Hill]

The GTO was a+ John DeLorean contribution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_DeLorean#Pontiac

He also intro’d the Firebird, at GM.

[Doogle]

[headstamp 2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Avanti

Studebaker Avanti. Ahead of it’s time. Too bad the company itself was on the ropes.

[Starstruck]

If you mastered power shifting you were king of the road.

[bigfootbob]

Where’s the 1966 Chevy Chevelle Super Sport 396? Much more of a muscle car than the GTO.

[Olog-hai]

Looking at that page about the 1964 GTO, the price of the coupe in 2013 dollars works out to $21,442, which is still cheaper than modern-day pony cars like the 2013 Mustang V6 ($21,566 and 305 hp) or Camaro LS V6 ($23,345, 323 hp).

[Libloather]

[virgil283]

Ditto that...My friend in high school bought a new Chevy II : 1967 hardtop, canary yellow with a 327c.i./350H.P. When he accelerated from a full stop I could hardly keep from being thrown in to the back seat...Sheech

[NonValueAdded]

What about the 442?

[rickmichaels]

[bigfootbob]

That was a close second to my favorite, the ‘66 version. Your pic is a ‘70 model is it not? A 454 powerplant internal flywheel version? A pretty awesome motor in its own right.

[smoothsailing]

No Muscle Car List is complete without the 1969 Grand Prix SJ 428.

[Mastador1]

They don’t count the Avanti as a muscle car, engine displacement was too small, and yet there were versions that were faster than the “muscle cars” go figure.

[nascarnation]

66 Nova with the 350/350 was pretty robust too.

[Mastador1]

1963 Studebaker Avanti, “Bonneville Record Breaker”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG8pdR6VAXw

[bigfootbob]

Hahahaha, that Gran Torino Sport was a lead sled. It couldn’t get out of its own way. Had terrible over steer issues. It sure was popular thanks to Starsky & Hutch.