Muscle Cars

Muscle cars have been around for years, in fact they were first seen in the late 1960's. So what exactly are they? Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high performance automobiles.

Typically when referring to a muscle car you would be referring to the 1960's and 1970's two-door, V8 model cars from America, Australia and in some cases South Africa. However, because muscle cars are making a come-back the term has now taken a broader range to basically mean a high performance mid-sized automobile.

Let's start at the roots of muscle cars and work our way to the muscle cars of today.

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s American, Australian, and some South African model vehicles were deemed muscle cars because of their speed and torque. These were the days of street and drag racing, and a generation of powerful cars came about. For this time the terminology "muscle car" is used to describe the 2-door, rear wheel drive, mid-sized cars that had a large, powerful V8 engine and special trim that maximized torque. Today the term is much broader and many would argue holds little real meaning as it encompasses both 2 and 4 door vehicles, V6 and V8 engines, front and two-wheel drive, and many other variations.

In their day muscle cars were fast, and used for street or drag racing competitions, but were considered different from sports cars, which were lighter, smaller, and generally only 2-seated. Sports cars were intended for speed, and touring, or road racing, and usually cost a lot more than the more affordable muscle cars. While both were high performance, youth could typically buy a muscle car, while sports cars were reserved for the older, richer generations.

While the muscle cars were being produced they were not really called "muscle cars," in fact, they were referred to as supercars. The name was not really coined until after they were done being produced. It is generally accepted that the popular, widespread usage of the term took hold by the early to mid-1980s.

Basically the model and date of origin is what determines if something is a "muscle car" or not. After the muscle car era, larger sports type cars became very popular, such as the Mustang, and a few bigger sports models. However, today, there is a revival of the popular muscle cars, and thus many of the old muscle cars are back in production in their new and improved forms. However, with new technology, hybrids, electric cars, Smart cars, etc. in many cases the production did not last as long as the manufacturers had hoped.

This revival in popularity of the muscle car can be seen in the price you would have to pay to buy a vintage, or classic muscle car. The rarest vintage 1965-1972 muscle cars can cost as much as $500,000, and possibly even more if there is low availability, or if the condition is superb.

With the rising cost of fuel prices, some of the same criticisms against gas guzzling SUVs have been brought against muscle cars as well, however, for car lovers, it makes no difference. However, because fuel is skyrocketing, manufacturers of today's muscle cars are taking into consideration some easy changes that will make their muscle cars more fuel efficient, such as lighter weight carriages, and utilizing innovations such as variable displacement, etc. Hence the reason the term "muscle car" has become so debatable to date.

Because these high performance passenger cars have shown a rise in popularity, many car manufacturers started to produce muscle cars again. The following are some examples of this:

In the U.S., the full-size, 4-door Chevrolet Impala SS had a short but popular production run from 1994-1996. It was built as a high-performance limited-edition version of the Caprice, and was equipped with a Corvette-derived 5.7 L V8 LT1 engine. I also had some other specific performance features and body styling that put them in the class of muscle cars even though they had 4-doors.

In 2003, the Impala SS nameplate was once again used, for a high performance version of the standard Impala. It had a larger engine, or had an engine with a supercharger. They really do not completely meet the earlier specifications set for a muscle car, because some only have V6s, are front wheel drives, and have 4-doors, but none the less, they carry the name and are a higher performance model of a car.

The Camaro and Pontiac Firebird are often thought of as muscle cars, but General Motors discontinued the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird after 2002. However, they did bring back the GTO in 2004 as a rebadged Holden Monaro imported from Australia.

The new GTO embodied classic muscle cars, but only lasted three years, making 2006 the last model year for the current GTO. However, GM has not lost hope for their muscle cars, and is introducing more muscle cars in the future with an Impala SS inspired Pontiac G8, also known as the Holden Commodore, a 2009 Chevrolet Camaro, and 2010 Chevrolet Impala. Whether or not these muscle cars last is yet to be seen.

The Marauder made a comeback in 2003, when Mercury used the name for a modified Mercury Grand Marquis. In 2005, a "retro-inspired" version of the pony car Ford Mustang went on sale, and was modeled after many of the features of the mid to late 1960's Mustangs.

In 2007, Ford and Shelby re-released a new and modern version of the G.T. 500, with Super Snake and King of the Road editions. There was even special edition car released based on the classic BOSS Mustangs of 1970. It was named the "PJ" after a famous Trans-Am series driver from the 1960s and 1970s, Parnelli Jones.

In 2004, Chrysler introduced their LX platform, which is a platform for a line of rear-wheel drive, V8-powered cars (using the new Hemi engine), including a four-door version of the Dodge Charger, another classic muscle car. Dodge has also revived two other classic muscle car model names with the Charger: Daytona and Super Bee, and in 2007 joined them as the Dodge Charger Super Bee. In addition, Dodge has been developing a new performance vehicle named the Challenger.

Chevrolet has recently unveiled their Camaro concept car, and plan to release the new Camaros in 2009.

The US is not the only place developing and reintroducing some of the older muscle cars, in Australia the Holden name is developing and producing many different versions of V8, high performance muscle cars.

As you can see, many of the major car manufacturers are bringing back the names, if not similar models of the classic muscle cars, and while they are not the most popular cars on the road, they are making an impressive comeback. Of course, they just do not compare the magic and majesty of the muscle cars of old, and definitely do not command the same price tag. Today, there are a number of valuable muscle cars including the following:
The Plymouth Superbird 426 Hemi: This muscle car retails for $171k +
The Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR: This muscle car retails for $145k +
The Dodge Charger 500 w/ 426 Hemi: This muscle car retails for $138k +
The Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454: This muscle car retails for $115k +

Muscle cars hold a certain appeal, and have a way of capturing some of the grandeur of the late 1960's and early 70s. The newer models are even higher performance, and many offer some valuable improvements. So, while you may not be looking at the Pontiac GTO, or the Plymouth roadrunner, there is something to be said about these affordable high performance cars.

Muscle cars have a special place in history, and as a result, youth who owned some of them years ago, and used them for drag racing, and to show their hard work off will likely have a soft spot for them today, however, the fact is that besides the soft spot in people's hearts, the high performance muscle cars are not any match for the newer more fuel efficient vehicles that offer high performance with better fuel efficiency, and in some cases a smaller price tag. In their day muscle cars were the affordable option, and performed like a sports car without the high price tag.  Today they are priced the same as many other cars, and offer fewer incentives for purchase. So whether or not we will truly see a new generation of muscle cars is left to be seen, but no matter what, manufacturers are recognizing the desire for high performance vehicles at an affordable price tag, so if nothing else, the reason behind muscle cars in the first place may be revived in the new cars today.