Thursday, July 06, 2006

So What Is A Muscle Car?

So What Is A Muscle Car?

Definition

The term muscle car generally describes a mid-size car with a large, powerful engine (typically, although not universally, a V8 engine) and special trim, intended for maximum acceleration on the street or in drag racing competition. It is distinguished from sports cars, which were customarily considered smaller, two-seat cars, or GTs, two-seat or 2+2 cars intended for high-speed touring and possibly road racing. High-performance full-size or compact cars are arguably excluded from this category, as are the breed of compact sports coupes inspired by the Ford Mustang and typically known as pony cars, although few would dispute a big-block pony car's credentials as a muscle car.

An alternate definition is based on power-to-weight ratio, defining a muscle car as an automobile with (for example) fewer than 12 pounds per rated horsepower. Such definitions are inexact, thanks to a wide variation in curb weight depending on options and to the questionable nature of the SAE gross horsepower ratings in use before 1972, which were often deliberately overstated or underrated for various reasons.

Origins

Although auto makers such as Chrysler had occasionally experimented with placing a high performance V-8 in a lighter mid-size platform, and full-size cars such as the Ford Galaxie and Chevrolet Impala offered high-performance models, Pontiac is usually credited for starting the muscle car trend with its 1964 Pontiac GTO, based on the rather more pedestrian Pontiac Tempest. The GTO was an option package including Pontiac's 389 cu. in. (6.3L) V8 engine, floor-shifted transmission with Hurst shift linkage, and special trim. The project, spearheaded by Pontiac division president John De Lorean, was technically a violation of General Motors policy limiting its smaller cars to 330 cu. in. (5.4L) displacement, but it proved far more popular than expected, and inspired a host of imitations, both at GM and its competitors.

It marked a general trend towards factory performance, which reflected the importance of the youth market. A key appeal of the muscle cars was that they offered the burgeoning American car culture an array of relatively affordable vehicles with strong street performance that could also be used for racing. The affordability aspect was quickly compromised by increases in size, optional equipment, and plushness, forcing the addition of more and more powerful engines just to keep pace with performance. A backlash against this cost and weight growth led in 1967 and 1968 to a secondary trend of "budget muscle" in the form of the Plymouth Road Runner, Dodge Super Bee, and other stripped, lower-cost variants.

Although the sales of true muscle cars were relatively modest by total Detroit standards, they had considerable value in publicity and bragging rights, serving to bring young buyers into showrooms. The fierce competition led to an escalation in horsepower that peaked in 1970, with some models offering as much as 450 gross horsepower (and others likely producing as much actual power, whatever their rating).

Politics of the Muscle Car

The muscle cars' performance soon became a liability during this period. The automotive safety lobby, which had been spearheaded by Ralph Nader, decried the irresponsibility of offering such powerful cars for public sale, particularly targeted to young buyers. The high power of the muscle cars also underlined the marginal handling and braking capacity of many contemporary American cars, as well as the severe limitations of their tires. In response, the automobile insurance industry began levying punitive surcharges on all high-powered models, soon pushing many muscle cars out of the price range of their intended buyers. Simultaneously, efforts to combat air pollution led to a shift in Detroit's attention from power to emissions control -- a problem that grew more complicated in 1973 when the OPEC oil embargo led to gasoline rationing.

With all these forces against it, the market for muscle cars rapidly evaporated. Power began to drop in 1971 as engine compression ratios were reduced, high-performance engines like Chrysler's 426 Hemi were discontinued, and all but a handful of performance models were discontinued or transformed into soft personal luxury cars. One of the last hold-outs, which Car and Driver dubbed "The Last of the Fast Ones," was Pontiac's Trans Am SD455 model of 1973-1974, which had performance to rival most any other muscle car of the era. The Trans Am remained in production through 2002, but after 1974 its performance, like those of its predecessors and rivals, entered the doldrums.

While performance cars began to make a return in the 1980s, spiraling costs and complexity seem to have made the low-cost traditional muscle car a thing of the past. Surviving models are now prized collectibles, some carrying prices to rival exotic European sports cars.

Outside the US

Australia developed its own muscle car tradition around the same period, though many were modified four-door sedans rather than two-door coupes. The most famous were the Holden Monaro, the Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III of 1971, the Valiant Charger, and the two highest performance Holden Toranas, the SLR 5000 and the XU-1.

Holden Special Vehicles currently produces high-performance versions of various rear-drive Holden Commodore sedans and Monaro coupes, fitted with highly modified American V8 engines, and are perhaps one of the closest contemporary equivalents to the classic American muscle car — fast, exciting, but relatively crude automobiles (though with far more attention to handling and brakes than the originals). Ford Australia has an equivalent operation, Ford Performance Vehicles, turning out similarly uprated special versions of the Falcon.

In the UK, the muscle car itself never gained a significant market, but it certainly influenced British manufacturers, with models such as the Ford Capri and Vauxhall Firenza directly inspired by American designs. Later, both Ford and Vauxhall continued the tradition of producing high performance variants of its family cars, though often these had more subtle styling than the traditional muscle car, though with some notable exceptions. The more European influenced hot hatch has largely occupied this segment of the market since the early 1980s.

In Germany Opel, which belongs to GM and is the non-british version of Vauxhall produced the Opel Manta. A muscle car that quickly became a pop-cult item and made its appearance in several German movies and TV shows.

Modern muscle cars

In the US, General Motors discontinued its Camaro and Trans Am models in 2002 (along with the short-lived 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS), leaving the Ford Mustang as the last surviving semi-muscle car built in the states, Chrysler having discontinued its musclecars after 1974.

In 2004 the Pontiac GTO returned to the market as a rebadged Holden Monaro, imported from Australia. In the spring of 2004 Chrysler introduced their LX platform, which serves as the base for a new line of rear-wheel drive, V8-powered cars (using the new HemiĐ’®-engine), including a four-door version of the Dodge Charger. While purists would not consider a four-door sedan or station wagon a muscle car, the performance of the new models is the equal of many of the vintage muscle cars of legend. Recently there have been rumors of Dodge releasing a two door model based on the Charger, possibly wearing the Challenger name badge.

for 2003, Mercury revived it's old Marauder nameplate, as a modified Ford Crown Victoria or Mercury Grand Marquis. Sales were poor just like it's 1970s predecessor, and it only lasted 2 years.


American muscle cars

Road & Track identified the following models as "musclecars" in 1965:

  • 1964-1965 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans GTO
  • 1965-1975 Buick Riviera Gran Sport
  • 1965-1969 Buick Skylark Gran Sport
  • 1965-1970 Dodge Coronet/Plymouth Belvedere 426-S
  • 1965 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS
  • 1965-1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442

Other later muscle cars include the following:

  • 1970-1974 Buick GSX
  • 1967-2002 Chevrolet Camaro
  • 1965-1972 Chevrolet Chevelle SS
  • 1970-1972 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS454
  • 1963-1974 Chevrolet Nova SS
  • 1966-1974 Dodge Charger
  • 1968-1976 Dodge Dart GTS and Demon
  • 1969-1970 Dodge Daytona
  • 1968-1971 Dodge Super Bee
  • 1966-1969 Ford Fairlane GT, GTA, and Cobra
  • 1964-1973 Ford Mustang
  • 1968-1974 Ford Torino (GT & Cobra)
  • 1967-1973 Mercury Cougar
  • 1968-1971 Oldsmobile 442
  • 1964-1974 Plymouth Barracuda
  • 1970-1976 Plymouth Duster
  • 1967-1971 Plymouth GTX
  • 1968-1974 Plymouth Road Runner
  • 1970 Plymouth Superbird
  • 1966-1971 Pontiac GTO
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