stuart@ssc-vax.UUCP (Stuart Lewis) (06/08/84)
Once again I somewhat agree with Jeff Buchanans new article. But (you knew this
was coming!) muscle cars came in *all* sizes, not just mid-sized. Representing
the small end of the spectrum we have, of course, the Cobra (maybe the one and
only example I can think of).
Now on the large size there are a lot of cars that had plenty of muscle. The
very first muscle car (in my opinion) was definatly NOT the '64 GTO. The first
muscle car was the '57 fuelie Chevrolets'. These were benchmark automabiles :
the first with horsepower ratings equal to the cubic inches. Of course 283
horses doesn't seem like much by todays ('60's ?) standards of power, but these
cars were THE hottest things going back then. The GTO did NOT launch the horse-power wars. The fuelie BelAirs, supercharged T-Birds, and the Hemi Chryslers
and DeSotos did.
The GTO *was* the first (what we would consider today) mid-sized muscle car,
but the first true power car came out 3 years earlier when Chevrolet introduced
the 1961 Impala S.S 348/409's. And the horsepower race was on. Ford came out
with its hot 390' & 406's; Pontiac had its Super Duty 421; Chrysler had its
413's. These were the REAL muscle cars, not the (by comparison) under cubed
389 GTO's. THE muscle on the street was called Galaxie, Catalina, Bonnevile,
Impala, Fury.
As far as lacking luxery, what about the '70 S.S. 454 Monte Carlos? Power
everything! Cruise at 110 all day down the interstate with the air condition-
ing on! I think muscle died in '72 with the last S.S.454 Chevelles and 'Vetts.
But by todays standards of power and performance, the Z-28's, S.V.O. Mustangs,
and the Corvettes come as close to any muscle that we're likely to have for a
very long time.
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/Stuart Lewis /
/ ssc-vax!stuart/
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