I get a kick out of reading some of these articles and see what people think muscle cars are. Some of them are "Clueless." A muscle car is not something someone built. It is not a two or four or even six cylinder engine. Yes there are two, four, and six cylinder hot rods but not muscle cars.

Muscle cars were made by American manufacturers in the late l950s through the 1960s and into the early 1970s. The first years for the muscle type cars was 1957 with the fuel injected Bel Air Chevy. In 1958 came the 348 three deuces Impala, the Pontiac Bonneville with the three deuces, and the 1958 Plymouth Fury with the Golden Commando engine which had two fours. (Christine) Things got bigger and better each year and every young boy wanted 409 Chevy or a 427 Ford or a 413 wedge Mopar. All of these had two four barrel carbs and either a four speed or an automatic. The 413 with a torqueflite was one bad ass machine.

In the late 50s and early 60s I was into drag racing with the muscle cars. I had a 1962 Impala SS with the 409 with two fours and a four speed tranny. It was hard on rear ends and tires but what a kick to drive. One of my best buddies at the time had a 1962 Plymouth with the 413. We really had some good runs against each other. Incidentally, his daughter is or was a few years ago at the top of the AA fuel dragsters competition.

Later in the 60s came the 426 hemi, the 454, the 429 Cobra Jet, and the 440 GTX which I had a 1967. Muscle cars sort of started fading out in the early to mid 70s but now are sort of making a come back with the SRT8 Dodge Charger, The New Super Bee, the new Challenger, and the new Camaro. There are some pretty bad Mustangs on the road too. The Corvette is now considered more of a sports car than a muscle car but the new ZR6 has plenty of muscle.

In the era of muscle cars, about the only thing that didn't come from the factory was different rear ends, slicks and maybe a set of exhaust headers. That was the good old days and I miss them. Now, some of those old muscle cars are worth many times what they cost new. Not too long ago I saw a Hemi AAR Cuda Convertible that had been rotisserie restored on EBay and they wanted $550,000 for it.

Ah for the good old days.

Learn more about this author, Bill Whitney.
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