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an automotive vehicle from the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, or 70’s characterized by big displacement v-8s, big tires, chrome wheels, dual exhuast, racing stripes or flames, blowers, and speed.
“in a 15 year bloom, before tightening emission regulations and rocketing gas prices stamped extinct on an entire breed of cars in the ’70s, america’s automobile industry produced the most memorable cars built anywhere, anytime: “the american muscle car.” while today’s modern squeaky clean cars may approach the performance numbers put up 35 years ago, they will never duplicate the rush generated by 400-plus cubic inches fighting for tracion through period bias-ply tires. pity today’s car enthusiasts who think variable valve timing is the hot setup.”
-bruce armstrong
an american performance car from the early 60’s to the early 70’s. they were generally an upgraded varient of a less powerful family car. companies such as chevy, ford, pontiac, oldsmobile, buick, dodge, and plymouth joined the game. they all followed the same basic rules. 1.there is no replacement for displacement 2. there is no subsatute for cubic inches 3.horsepower sells motors, but torque wins races. the basic idea was to get the biggest engine and stick it in the smallest car avaliable at the time. the muscle car era was killed by inflating gas prices, emissions, and the cracking down of insurance companys.
buick gsx, olds 442, chevy nova, plymouth cuda, dodge charger etc.
late model 2-door (usually) american car with a muscular appearance and more displacement, hp, and torque than 3-5 rice motors (aka hamsters). minimal cost/speed ratio; no jdm bling required for coolness. destroys rice cars on impact. large and comfortable, especially for those who aren’t 5’5″ and 120 lbs.

occasionally seen sporting a slight lift in rear suspension. internals are easy to access for maintenance/upgrade, unlike certain other vehicles (coff coff). contrary to popular belief, will run until the apocalypse if the oil is changed every 3000 miles

fast stock.
there’s no replacement for displacement.

muscle car driver: “hey, how bout this: we race with 6 people in each car”
ricer: “-gulp-”
muscle car driver: “that’s what i thought”

how many muscle era imports do you see driving around? case-in-point
a mid-sized american performance car with a ground-pounding, 400-plus cubic inch, 400 plus horspower big-block with enough torque to sustain the earths rotation on the crankshaft. usually seen stomping techno-wonder imports and over-priced super cars. can be fixed or modified by the average joe that doesnt have mommy\daddy to buy things for them for getting a good mark in school.loud, proud, rude and crude, these are real mens cars.
dodge charger rt, chevellle ss 454, hemi ‘cuda, camaro ss, olds 442, 427 corvette etc.muscle car

so what if you have more horspower per liter, i have more horspower period.
a weak motor does not make up for a light car
my lug nuts require more torque than your engine makes
american built car usually made from 1964 to 1974. these cars were typically low-cost, midsized family cars with larger engines taken from full size performance cars from 1960-1963. these cars are fast, durable, and easy to repair/modify. typically seen winning drag races. some cars that don’t meet all these criteria can be considered muscle cars (such as the 1963 ford galaxie… expensive, full-size car, made before the “muscle car” era, but has a muscle engine and a long history of racing success)
ford fairlane, ford torino, ford mustang (only when equipped with 390+ cubic inch engines), mercury cyclone, chevy ii nova, chevy chevelle, pontiac gto, dodge dart, dodge charger, dodge challenger
requirements:
1. first and foremost, it must be made in america! f-ck yeah!
2. rear drive only!
3. must have a v8 95% of the time, with some domestic turbo 6s counted (grand national, anniversary firebird turbo, etc.)
4. must have 2 doors 95% of the time, except in cases of old hotrod wagons or, barely, the new charger hemi.

things automatically barring a car from being a muscle car:
1. being made in asia or europe, or by a foreign country in the us.
2. being front- or 4-wheel drive.
3. having an engine with less than 6 or more than 8 cylinders, and must have forced induction if a 6.
4. having more than 4 doors.
muscle car timeline:
1949 – olds introduces the rocket 88, featuring cool styling, and a kettering-designed ohv v8 producing 135hp from 303ci and a 7.5:1cr.
1955 – chrysler introduces the hemi-powered c300 luxury car. it’s advanced 300hp powerplant gives it a top speed of 130mph, making it, at the time, the fastest production car in the world.
1957 – the hideous but fast amc rambler rebel was made this year, featuring a 327ci engine.

1964 – not since the 50s had their been a performance car this popular. approved for production by john delorean, the gto was truely incredible for its time, with the optional 348hp tri-carb engine (and proper gearing) launching it to 60mph in 6 seconds; that’s on 6″-wide tires! unfortuneatly, no disc brakes were available. 🙁
1964-65 – in just a year or so, several prominent muscle cars were introduced by gm and ford.
1968 – chryco brings out the infamous road runner and superbee models, favoring low options and big engines for incredible performance. indeed, a 69 hemi rr was capable of 0-60 sprints in the low 5-second range, all while driving on bias-ply tires (read: sh-tty) measuring about 7″-wide.
1971 – facing raising gas prices and increasing insurance payments, manufacturers were forced to reduce compression on their engines, dropping power in large amounts.
1974 – import econ-boxes take over as the oil embargo swells and the last of the muscle cars die off, mere sh-lls of their former glory.

examples of muscle cars:
– amc javelin and amx
– buick gs models
– chevy ss models
– dodge r/t models
– ford gt and xr models
– plymouth cudas, dusters, rr/gtxs, and more
– pontiac gto and firebird models

the average muscle car was capable of:
5.5 to 6.5s 0-60 sprints
12 to 14s 0-100 sprints
120-140mph top speeds
.80g skidpad #s (not bad for 18:1 steering and 7″ tires)
58-63mph slalom speeds (see above parenthesis)
70-0 braking distances in the range of 120-135ft. (thats even good today!)

and 12-13mpg.
1)a term usually -ssigned to mid-sizd, american cars produced in the mid 60’s to mid 70’s with oversized engines and light ch-ssis.

2) any rear-whel drive car made to go fast.
1) this hemi roadrunner is a cl-ssic example of a muscle car.

2) my big block chevette can really f-ck up some import cr-p!!

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