Muscle Car

1964 Pontiac GTOHave you noticed how the term "muscle car" is used for anything that is reminiscent of Detroit Iron with a V8, often by folks that have little actual knowledge or experience about what muscle cars were all about in the day.

It gets even more interesting when "pony cars" are labeled "muscle cars".

In the automotive world to this day the luxury, more expensive cars have a propensity of having bigger engines, more power, more torque...yes some things never change. The less expensive cars usually have smaller engines, and less power. 

In the early 50's the engines of choice for most hot rodding applications were Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Hemi, and the venerable Ford Flathead. In 1955 with the arrival of the "small block" Chevrolet engine things began to change. 

In 1964 the biggest engine available in a Pontiac Tempest/Le Mans was a 326 cu.in V8, the Tempest was a mid size car at the time, and keep in mind that the Mustang was being launched by Ford. John DeLorean at Pontiac gets creative and finds an "administrative way" to put a 389 cu.in V8 in the Tempest / Le Mans. It was not a big deal to replace a 326 by a 389 in the actual car, it was a big deal to get it approved since it was not within the guidelines. 

The car becomes the GTO, and several people made sure the GTO became a market success, and built a mystique.

Not surprising every manufacturer had a mid size model, Tempest, Chevelle, Fairlane, Coronet to name a few, and every manufacturer had a big motor from a bigger model readily available. If Pontiac could do it, anyone else could do the same, put serious horsepower in a mid size car.

In a brief time frame the "muscle car" era erupted, mid size car, big engine, 2 doors be it coupe or convertible.

These mid size cars had acceptable suspension (are we being kind?), mediocre brakes, there was a reason that all manufacturers were not initially interested in putting big engines in the mid size platform. In principle the rest of car could not deal with the engine under the hood.

The "muscle cars" did not turn or stop, the one thing they did is accelerate, the one activity they were good at is drag racing, and all manufacturers made sure their version did well at the drags. The truly wild motored versions were always offered with strange options that made them impractical for street use.

All the muscle car action was under the hood, many were ordinary 2 door coupes with a post, bench seat, rubber mats, huge motor, 4 speed, positraction with 3.73 or 4.11 gears. Imagine driving around with 14 inch wheels and 4.11 rear axle ratio....good thing gas was inexpensive.

The demise of muscle cars? The insurance industry reached a point of almost refusing to insure them, owners would often put themselves in harms way with muscle cars. As well in 1971 compression ratios were lowered dramatically to accommodate unleaded gas, and catalytic converters.

You can imagine, young men, overpowered cars, no handling, no brakes, drive ins, bets, secret drag strips, less cars on the road, no computers, leniency from the constabulary...by modern standards it was scary. The owners of these cars had "big ones" and had the living daylights scared out of them at least ounce. 

A "muscle car" is a mid size model (2 doors) from the mid to late 1960's with a push rod V8, ideally with a close ratio 4 speed.