Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Muscle cars - why did the fad die so soon?

Muscle cars refer to the small and intermediate American automobile model lines in the late 1960's to the early 1970's, that had large V8 engines. These models were designed around a midrange motor, but some manufacturers allowed the option of some rather large engines, including the Chevrolet 454 ci. It's no coincidence that the muscle car era coincided with the WWII baby boomers becoming legal driving age. After WWII, hot rods were born when guys wanted to have more horsepower and go faster. Hot rods are rebuilt or modified cars to create more horsepower. The problem was, it was expensive and you had to do a lot of the work yourself if you didn't have the cash, so it was a small market.

Pontiac started everything with the GTO option on the 1964 Pontiac Tempest. The GTO option included GTO badging, trim, and the larger 389 engine. Planning on selling 5,000, Pontiac got bombarded by selling 32,450 models, and the race was on when Ford released the Mustang in 1965, selling more than 1.5 million in less than two years. Other muscle cars include the Buick GS Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Chevelle SS, Chevrolet Nova SS, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Dodge Daytona, Dodge Superbee, Ford Mustang, Mercury Cougar, Oldsmobile 442, Plymouth 'Cuda, Pontiac Firebird, and Pontiac GTO. Some of these models are technically "pony" cars, but they can fit in the muscle car definition. Pony cars are smaller sized models, and muscle cars are midrange models.

Safety lobbying groups caught on early that squeezing such a large engine in a car designed around an engine much smaller was a bad mixture, not to mention that they were being marketed to younger drivers. The lobbying groups also opened the eyes to insurance companies, and quickly there were severe surcharges on muscle cars. This helped a new niche grow, the "stripped down" muscle car. The Plymouth Road Runner and Dodge Super Bee were good examples of this, where a lot of the options are stripped out and the lavish interiors are plain. Not only did this help keep the cost down, but it kept the weight down as well, which kept increasing each year on most models.

In 1971, auto manufacturers had to detune engines to run on unleaded fuel under new EPA guidelines, which brought the horsepower down substantially. The OPEC Oil Embargo in 1973 basically was the last hit that ended the muscle car era. With gas shortages, there was no way anyone could sell a car that got such poor gas mileage, and the options weren't even there if someone really wanted to get a large engine.

For more muscle car information, visit these links:
Muscle Car Information
Muscle cars for sale
Muscle car forums
Muscle car history
AMC Muscle Car History