Muscle cars... vroom vroom

[INMYHSV]

Hey guys,

What exactly fits the term 'Muscle car'? Does the car have to be from a certain era, have a minimum engine size, minimum HP, particular shape or even the number of doors etc?

Cheers in advance!

 

[kiwicon]

something that's not a shit box Honda

 

[someguy360]

In my opinion a V8 is necessary for a car to come close to being in the muscle category.

In Australia we used to refer to our Monaro's, falcon GT's, HQ, HX, Torana's etc as Aussie muscle cars, but the American's didn't quite understand this as they believed a true muscle car couldn't have 4 doors. Hence why in the US a 57 Chev 2 door and 4 door can be almost a $30,000 difference in price, because nobody wants a 4 door muscle car over there.

So it really comes down to your opinion and perspective.

I still call V8 Holden's regardless of their age Aussie muscle but I am sure some will disagree with me.

 

[Hertz Donut]

The bastion of Bullshyte, Wikipedia, has a page trying to define the muscle car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car

...but I think it's one of those terms that came about colloquially and people have been trying to define it ever since. The meaning changes from person to person, IMO a "true" muscle car comes from the mid-'60s to early-'70s era and packs a high-po V8. There's been plenty of high performance 6s and V8s since then, but since so many other cars are encroaching on them performance-wise they don't stand out from the pack so much any more.

Some like the Dodge Hellcat, Corvette Z06 and HSV GTS I'd consider "modern muscle" - a car the slightly-above-average Joe can get his hands on and run with (well, close to) the supercars.

 

[Towcar]

Fast in a straight line, usually at least a V8 usually with a reasonable amount of cubic inches.

 

[Wozza]

Muscle cars came about due to nascar racing, in the early days GM ford and mopar used their big block high output V8's only in their high end cars which weighed tons and were huge (they had a power to weight limit they used in new cars) these where also the car they raced...They were running out of power as the weight also increased with each new model.Then some bright spark decided to put the biggest big block in a lighter mid range car that only ever had a small block in it...long story short the muscle car was born...Muscle cars have a look to em but basically a light weight mid/low range chassis with few options and the biggest V8 they had available shoe horned in After the factorys stopped making them due to government and fun police jumping up and down to save little Johnnie from hurting himself the rev heads continued to build them in secret and so we got the sleeper

 

[sleepa]

As above^

Mid 60's to early 70s big power engines in lighter bodies, mostly 2 doors, mostly american and australian, aggressive styling, and fun.
In my opinion that's where it ends from factory.

Modern V8 cars can be modern muscle but I don't think they have that same appeal as the 60's stuff.

 

[kiwicon]

/end thread

 

[ephect]

For me, a true and original muscle car will always have chrome bumpers

 

[INMYHSV]

Muscle cars came about due to nascar racing, in the early days GM ford and mopar used their big block high output V8's only in their high end cars which weighed tons and were huge (they had a power to weight limit they used in new cars) these where also the car they raced...They were running out of power as the weight also increased with each new model.Then some bright spark decided to put the biggest big block in a lighter mid range car that only ever had a small block in it...long story short the muscle car was born...Muscle cars have a look to em but basically a light weight mid/low range chassis with few options and the biggest V8 they had available shoe horned in After the factorys stopped making them due to government and fun police jumping up and down to save little Johnnie from hurting himself the rev heads continued to build them in secret and so we got the sleeper

What defines 'big block' and 'small block' by the way? a 454 is a big block and 308 is a small block right? that's the best of my knowledge about block sizes.

AND... what cars do you find Mopar engines in?