History of the Muscle Car
The muscle car era started shortly after World War II, and is mostly contributed to surge of soldiers who came home and wanted powerful cars. Classic muscle cars first came from custom car shops and garages around America, Michigan being one of the most well-known states for classic rides. Starting in 1965 companies like Ford, Chevy, and Mopar caught onto this trend and began mass producing muscle cars.
Most of the classic muscle cars were built around a heavy chassis, and a powerful V8 engine. The companies most successful at selling classic muscle cars offered a low-price vehicle, a moderate interior and options, and a powerhouse under the hood. From the beginning, some of the most popular muscle cars were the Ford Mustang, Ford Torino, Mopar Super Bee, Mopar GTX, Mopar Road Runner, Mopar Coronet, Chevy Chevelle, Chevy Camaro, Chevy Monte Carlo, and the Chevy Bel Air.
As all the muscle car manufacturers continued making their rides smaller, lighter, and with bigger engines, they took on the name "pony cars", which eventually created problems in America as the cars were now considered dangerous. In addition to the classic muscle cars being deemed unsafe, the United States was regulating emissions, and the use of leaded gasoline. The final event that caused most of the decline in sales of classic muscle cars was the OPEC oil embargo of 1973, which decreased the amount of oil imported by the United States by up to 30%. The public could no longer buy cars that were gas-hogs, and by 1974 the selling of what we know as a classic muscle car was extinct.
Chevrolet was a big player in the muscle car market between the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The SS (Super Sport) models competed against the other high performing muscle cars such as the Ford Mustang, and Plymouth Road Runner, boasting powerful engines and mean styling. The Chevrolet Camaro has remained one of the most popular muscle cars to this day, and has given Chevrolet a strong position in the classic car lineup. (Click for More)
Mopar muscle cars consisted of Dodge, Chrysler, and Plymouth models released between 1968 and 1973. Many of these classics were direct competition with each other, and they made up a large part of the classic muscle cars that are seen today. Mopar muscle cars were built off the idea that a car could be inexpensive and still pack a punch under the hood. (Click for More)
Ford produced some of the most well-known and recognizable classic muscle cars ever. The most popular years were for the Ford muscle cars were the late 1960's and early 1970's, in this time frame the Ford Mustang, Torino, Galaxie, and Fairlane were big selling cars, and would be the essence of Ford's classic muscle car lineup.
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