American muscle cars were known for their massive V8's, powerful engine roar, and for destroying their competition on the drag strip. These cars were very popular during the 60's and 70's, especially in america. Many people have their opinions and likes/dislikes about certain cars, but everyone can agree that the 60's and 70's were owned by the muscle car. These V8 monsters were the best performing cars in the world, and their foreign competition, including the European exotics, couldn't match the performance of the american muscle. Not only were they powerful, but they were loud - you could hear them coming from miles away. Muscle cars were built with passion to outperform its competitors, and it was successful at doing so. They were known as King of the Road, and it was this that made muscles such a popular american icon.
But as the muscle car era neared the 80's and 90's, something changed. There was something different about how american manufacturers were making their vehicles. Their cars didn't perform or look half as good as their earlier models, and they became more.....sloppy. Not only did they go down in performance and looks, american companies became greedy and started selling muscle cars in mass production, not giving a care if the car looked or performed well. The countless victories and success of the muscle car seemed to have made america cocky and greedy, and they were building cars only to make money. Take the Dodge Charger, for example. In the 60's-70's, these cars were one of the biggest, baddest muscle cars you could buy. Their incredible performance made them popular, and as american companies took notice of the rapid increase in sales, they became greedy. As the years passed, they became more sloppy, making careless mistakes. Dodge was producing chargers in mass production, not thinking about how they were ruining the car. Soon the charger went from an awesome performance monster to a crappy way for dodge to make money. This caused a rapid decrease in sales, and in 1978, it was discontinued. America's overconfidence and want for money was killing the muscle car, and this continued through the 90's and into the 21st century. Nowadays, muscle cars are crap. They don't perform or look half as good as they did 40 years ago. Current models like the GTO and Charger are examples of some of the worst muscle cars ever built. It wasn't that america could no longer build cars like they did in the past - they could still do it. But as time passed, technology advanced, and as foreign companies were keeping up with this advanced tech, americans stuck to their original muscle car "recipe". It's all because american companies lost their passion for building the high-performance muscle car, and it was replaced with the passion for money.
Muscle car enthusiasts, however, refuse to believe this. Their pride and love for the american icon is glued to their hearts. They collect and treasure muscles from years past, and continue to rebuild them and increase their performance. If only it was these people who would run american manufacturers such as Dodge, Ford, Pontiac..... . Sadly, they don't, and the people that do run these companies just want the money. America still tries to make performance cars, however - the corvette and viper, especially the corvette, have been able to compete with the new King of the Road - the Europeans. Euros these days are built with the passion to perform that america once had. Many are hand built to perfection using high-quality materials and performance parts. Now, Europe makes some of the fastest cars in the world, and lap records to almost every major track are set by euros. The corvette, although not a muscle car, is as fast as many euros and costs about half the price. This american sports car is the one of very few decent american cars that is made today. Muscle cars from the 60's and 70's remain as the most decent muscle cars ever built, and there are still some around today. But with global warming and demand for more fuel efficient vehicles, these american icons, with their loud V8's and massive power, will soon be gone forever.
But as the muscle car era neared the 80's and 90's, something changed. There was something different about how american manufacturers were making their vehicles. Their cars didn't perform or look half as good as their earlier models, and they became more.....sloppy. Not only did they go down in performance and looks, american companies became greedy and started selling muscle cars in mass production, not giving a care if the car looked or performed well. The countless victories and success of the muscle car seemed to have made america cocky and greedy, and they were building cars only to make money. Take the Dodge Charger, for example. In the 60's-70's, these cars were one of the biggest, baddest muscle cars you could buy. Their incredible performance made them popular, and as american companies took notice of the rapid increase in sales, they became greedy. As the years passed, they became more sloppy, making careless mistakes. Dodge was producing chargers in mass production, not thinking about how they were ruining the car. Soon the charger went from an awesome performance monster to a crappy way for dodge to make money. This caused a rapid decrease in sales, and in 1978, it was discontinued. America's overconfidence and want for money was killing the muscle car, and this continued through the 90's and into the 21st century. Nowadays, muscle cars are crap. They don't perform or look half as good as they did 40 years ago. Current models like the GTO and Charger are examples of some of the worst muscle cars ever built. It wasn't that america could no longer build cars like they did in the past - they could still do it. But as time passed, technology advanced, and as foreign companies were keeping up with this advanced tech, americans stuck to their original muscle car "recipe". It's all because american companies lost their passion for building the high-performance muscle car, and it was replaced with the passion for money.
Muscle car enthusiasts, however, refuse to believe this. Their pride and love for the american icon is glued to their hearts. They collect and treasure muscles from years past, and continue to rebuild them and increase their performance. If only it was these people who would run american manufacturers such as Dodge, Ford, Pontiac..... . Sadly, they don't, and the people that do run these companies just want the money. America still tries to make performance cars, however - the corvette and viper, especially the corvette, have been able to compete with the new King of the Road - the Europeans. Euros these days are built with the passion to perform that america once had. Many are hand built to perfection using high-quality materials and performance parts. Now, Europe makes some of the fastest cars in the world, and lap records to almost every major track are set by euros. The corvette, although not a muscle car, is as fast as many euros and costs about half the price. This american sports car is the one of very few decent american cars that is made today. Muscle cars from the 60's and 70's remain as the most decent muscle cars ever built, and there are still some around today. But with global warming and demand for more fuel efficient vehicles, these american icons, with their loud V8's and massive power, will soon be gone forever.
by Robben van Persie May 3, 2008
Cars that were built in America by American companies from the late 50's until 1972 during the oil crisis where they all sucked, they in the 80's they began to pick up again with the fox body mustang, mercury capri, iroc camaro, monte carlo ss, and buick grand national. They are popularly mistaken as having. Common misconceptions of muscle cars are as follows, poor handling, poor fuel effeciency, poor suspension, and chassis. But take a step back 30 years and compare them to other cars of the time. You may notice that they are some of the fastest best handling cars of there time. And yes they are heavy, but so were most cars of the time, no matter who manufactured them. Today muscle cars basically destroy any other cars on the track, take Le manns for example where the corvette wins basically every race. Again they are becoming popular for racing, with turns, as pointed out in the past few issues of hot rod magazine which featured a camaro and a chevelle, both from the 60's, which destroy european cars on the track.
poor handling is often attributed to muslce cars which is usually true since most muscle cars are set up by their owners for the drag strip, where of course, they also dominate. Seriously, do you expect a car with 20 inch wide tires in the back and 3 inch wide tires in the front, and a big block v8 engines in between the front wheels to beat anyone in a turn?
I drive a volkswagen, and I am deeply into european cars, but seriously if you don't know anything about american muscle cars, keep your mouth shut. If you weren't so biased and you knew what you were talking about maybe you would seem a tad more intellegent
poor handling is often attributed to muslce cars which is usually true since most muscle cars are set up by their owners for the drag strip, where of course, they also dominate. Seriously, do you expect a car with 20 inch wide tires in the back and 3 inch wide tires in the front, and a big block v8 engines in between the front wheels to beat anyone in a turn?
I drive a volkswagen, and I am deeply into european cars, but seriously if you don't know anything about american muscle cars, keep your mouth shut. If you weren't so biased and you knew what you were talking about maybe you would seem a tad more intellegent
camaro, chevelle, vega, charger, fire bird, gt, gran torina, skylark, cutlass, 442, mustang, gto, corvette, roadrunner, baracuda, grand national, monte carlo, nova
by key dawg December 10, 2004
THE definition of what cars were and always will be in that era...and what cars should be today.
All hail the 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
All hail the 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
Dude, did you see that '69 Charger R/T with that big-ass 426 Hemi? That shit puts out 425 horsepower
by James Lowe September 6, 2004
Very well built cars made from the 60's to 70's which have steadily decreased in quality since their prime 35+ years ago. To most who own an american made car with a v8, owning a piece of american history gives them the authority to bash on any other foreign manufacturer including anything made in Europe or Japan, and mostly anything with less than 8 cylinders. So what's the difference between your standard meat head who drives a TA and your so-called "ricer". the difference is the dude pulling mid 9's at the 1320 in his single cam, N/A, 4cyl., honda insight (if you don't believe it, search yotube "bisimoto insight") is the same dude who will appreciate the culture and engineering involved in your 1972 442. He will also have the knowledge to have an intelligent conversation with you about your compression ratio and the torque numbers you produced on the dyno. On the other hand, your standard american muscle head will call you a "ricer" simply for having an "H" on your hood while completely ignoring the fact that you spent countless hours and paychecks making sure your motor could keep up with his 442, and not spending your money on useless things like a 3' wing, over the top ricer body kit, 18" chrome wheels, and under glow. It's called mutual respect, and eventually, some will have to face the fact that the CRX sitting next to them at the light just might be able to blow their doors off or at least keep up with their v8. Just sayin... :)
"No matter how much I will ever be into japanese and european tuning, I will always have respect for american muscle"
"I've never loved anything other than american muscle, thats why i bought a body kit for my sons cavalier" <---heard that one before haha fail...
"I've never loved anything other than american muscle, thats why i bought a body kit for my sons cavalier" <---heard that one before haha fail...
by crvb20z August 16, 2010
a great way to make gas companies rich. Congradulations, you can beat a civic. Everyone is proud of you........But wait, he paid like, 15,000? You paid WHAT?!?!?american car companies should stick to making trucks, because if youre going to burn a hole in the o-zone layer that quickly, at least do something useful, like, carry things.
Even if i owned part of a gasoline company, i still wouldnt buy an american muscle car. my inventory would be gone in a week.
if you own a piece of american muscle, words like "reliable" "efficient" and "good-looking" should be discarded from your vocab. however, words like "mullet" "over-priced" and "god-dang fast" can stay.
if you own a piece of american muscle, words like "reliable" "efficient" and "good-looking" should be discarded from your vocab. however, words like "mullet" "over-priced" and "god-dang fast" can stay.
by niicckk February 24, 2008
See muscle car
A bunch of lame, american cars that are grossly over-rated in the US. The only selling features are that they have such terrible fuel inefficientcy that 35 minutes of racing will drain the entire tank- and that's on a good day.
They are revered among idiots who only have the balls to race against idiots in civics in the US. The typical muscle car has such poor suspension that your spine will need surgery if you take it off a flat road for ten minutes. They are noisy, but not a nice, purring noise. More like the noise you get when you fart underwater.
For the most part, they are really ugly. The typical muscle car fan/designer thinks that being big will divert the atention to the featureless junk that is the chassis. The chassis will typically crumple like the French army in any accident, despite the car being heavier than the arguements against buying it. The muscle car is typical of the stereotyped american car, in that it is large, badly designed, poorly put toghether (with glue), drinks the engine dry in minutes ,over-priced, an engine that is so ridiculous it should be destroyed, heavy and being an all-out joke of a machine.
The typical owner will claim it is good, because it can chase off a few ricers. But of course, a car costing half is usually shit outta luck anyway.
But then put any muscle car against british beef, german efficiency, Italian Speed-machines or any other european cars in THE SAME PRICE RANGE and any muscle car will be torn a new asshole.
A bunch of lame, american cars that are grossly over-rated in the US. The only selling features are that they have such terrible fuel inefficientcy that 35 minutes of racing will drain the entire tank- and that's on a good day.
They are revered among idiots who only have the balls to race against idiots in civics in the US. The typical muscle car has such poor suspension that your spine will need surgery if you take it off a flat road for ten minutes. They are noisy, but not a nice, purring noise. More like the noise you get when you fart underwater.
For the most part, they are really ugly. The typical muscle car fan/designer thinks that being big will divert the atention to the featureless junk that is the chassis. The chassis will typically crumple like the French army in any accident, despite the car being heavier than the arguements against buying it. The muscle car is typical of the stereotyped american car, in that it is large, badly designed, poorly put toghether (with glue), drinks the engine dry in minutes ,over-priced, an engine that is so ridiculous it should be destroyed, heavy and being an all-out joke of a machine.
The typical owner will claim it is good, because it can chase off a few ricers. But of course, a car costing half is usually shit outta luck anyway.
But then put any muscle car against british beef, german efficiency, Italian Speed-machines or any other european cars in THE SAME PRICE RANGE and any muscle car will be torn a new asshole.
by Gumba Gumba March 19, 2004
They are the most ugliest and poorly engieered cars in
the world which goes fast in a straight line alone.
the world which goes fast in a straight line alone.
These american muscle have huge V8 engines with around 7000cc
and make around 400hp.The brand new Mitsubishi Evo9 has
only 2000cc in engine capacity and still make over 400hp.
And remember that it is a stock car and its got only four cylinders.Most american muscle can burn the hell out of any stock japanese or european cars on a drag strip becuase they are not meant to do that.Here only straight line acceleration comes to the fore.They say american muscle is the fastest there.Perhaps for this they should check out the Bugatti Veyron which does 0-60 in sub 2.5 seconds and goes to a top speed of 255mph or even the more practicalBMW M5or even an Evo9.
When it comes to race tracks the americans know only about the Drag strips which is where a car goes fast in a straight line.But then there are things like corners on the road.All the pace the muscle cars have gathered on the straights will be lost there.They can even skid out of the road.Thus even a puny peugeot will come up with better lap timings.I think they should race these american muscle on genuine race tracks like the fearsome Nurburgring.There
even a stock BMW M3 can eat an american muscle.Since all the roads in the world are not straight, american muscle are the most impractical vehicles.Show them a 90 degree turn and they will end up in the junkyard.Even a stock Lotus Elise which makes only 125hp can out handle any american muscle and that means faster around a curvy race track.
Muscle cars are cars with the worst chassis and suspension setup around.
and make around 400hp.The brand new Mitsubishi Evo9 has
only 2000cc in engine capacity and still make over 400hp.
And remember that it is a stock car and its got only four cylinders.Most american muscle can burn the hell out of any stock japanese or european cars on a drag strip becuase they are not meant to do that.Here only straight line acceleration comes to the fore.They say american muscle is the fastest there.Perhaps for this they should check out the Bugatti Veyron which does 0-60 in sub 2.5 seconds and goes to a top speed of 255mph or even the more practicalBMW M5or even an Evo9.
When it comes to race tracks the americans know only about the Drag strips which is where a car goes fast in a straight line.But then there are things like corners on the road.All the pace the muscle cars have gathered on the straights will be lost there.They can even skid out of the road.Thus even a puny peugeot will come up with better lap timings.I think they should race these american muscle on genuine race tracks like the fearsome Nurburgring.There
even a stock BMW M3 can eat an american muscle.Since all the roads in the world are not straight, american muscle are the most impractical vehicles.Show them a 90 degree turn and they will end up in the junkyard.Even a stock Lotus Elise which makes only 125hp can out handle any american muscle and that means faster around a curvy race track.
Muscle cars are cars with the worst chassis and suspension setup around.
by Harry Chris August 14, 2006