While some classic muscle cars sold well in their day, their numbers were blown away by more mainstream models. And more recent high-power vehicles not only outperform most of yesteryear's muscle cars, today's models are safer, handle better, use less fuel and are more eco-friendly. But classic muscle cars (1950s to early 1970s) still fascinate, and it's not just those people reliving their youth. Performance fans from all generations appreciate muscle cars because they look fabulous and have cool names like Javelin, Talladega and Barracuda or, simply, 'Cuda.
The Start
Before the 1950s, fast, powerful cars were expensive and not mass-produced. So the first muscle car was probably the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, the first American model with a high-compression, overhead-valve V-8 engine. (The muscle car term was coined for the 1964 Pontiac Tempest GTO, which kick-started the golden age of muscle.) Cadillac had a similar engine, but the 88 created the muscle car footprint: the most performance possible in (generally) smaller cars with relatively affordable sticker prices. It helped that the 88 dominated the new sport of stock car racing.
Car brands raced hard on tracks and for power ratings, so V-8s popped up everywhere. The era's best known are Chrysler's Hemi (1951), which powered its 300 models, and Chevy's small-block V-8 (1955), which, with modifications, is still made today. Mostly, however, 1950s' motorheads souped up cars with "speed parts." When American carmakers banned factory-sponsored racing and performance-oriented ads in 1957, the horsepower war went "underground."
The Peak
That war quickly re-emerged with cars like the Chevy Impala SS and Plymouth's S Stock Wedges (which set NASCAR records). But it was Pontiac's 1964 GTO - a Tempest with a 389-cubic inch powerplant, hood scoops, bucket seats and a designation (gran turismo olomogato) Ferrari had used - that sent muscle cars soaring.
Soon every carmaker - including economy brand AMC (Javelin, AMX, Rebel Machine) and upper-end makes like Buick and Mercury - had to have muscle cars. They provided some flair and a touch of rebellion for the milder cousins most people bought.
The '64 Olds Cutlass 4-4-2, '64 Chevelle SS 396 and `65 Buick Skylark Gran Sport quickly entered the muscle-car lists. Even Mustang, the wildly successful "pony car" inventor in '65, soon offered more powerful versions (Boss, Mach 1, Shelby) to performance fans, who increasingly gravitated to small and intermediate cars.
