What was the best Muscle Car ever built?

[lib2DaBone]

I had a 1967 GTO... I would have to say... that is the best. It went form the 389 to the 400 cid.. and it had the HURST shifter.. and hood mounted Tach. A screaming machine.





Although.. the Road Runners, Camaros and Mustangs were a challenge.... but I blew them all off...




1969 Camaro



1968 Dodge R/T





(although I liked the Ford Fairlane/Mercury Comet Caliente much better). They were tough little scrappers.

[ohiosmith]

1. I had a 65 Impala SS 396 bored and stroked to 427 w/ hurst shifter,taxi cab clutch and positraction

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. Porsche 917/930 1,000 BHP+ Light the tires up anywhere!

[Throd]

3. 442

[TorchTheWitch]

36. yep, the Olds 442 especially if it had a convertible top

Where I grew up my next door neighbor had a candy apple red one that he cleaned and polished nearly every single day but I can't recall a single time that he ever actually drove it. Craziness.

[bluesbassman]

4. Rather partial to the Mopar E bodies.

I had a '70 Challenger 440 Six Pack. Hurst shift fourspeed, Dana 60 4:10, and manual steering.

[guitar man]

6. Me too

I had a '70 Barracuda with a 440 and a built 727 torqueflite. It was a brute! :evilgrin:

[Enrique]

18. is that you?

or is that a still from "Dazed and Confused?" ;-)

[bluesbassman]

24. LOL. Yeah, that's me.

Summer of '75. I was "dazed and cunfused" long before they even thougt of making that film. :hippie:

[Frank Cannon]

29. Man, that picture is totally boss.

I bet there was an 8-track in the dash of that car with Montrose's first album in it.

[bluesbassman]

31. Thanks, and you better believe there was!

Of course there was a book of matches shoved under the cassette to keep it tracking right too. :rofl:

[MiddleFingerMom]

5. !!!

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[flvegan]

7. Depends on how "best" is defined.

Does it have to be American to be a "muscle car" in this case? Does it have to be from the original musclecar era?

Certainly if we're stuck in the musclecar era, it surely has to be the 1969 Corvette ZL-1. If we're open to anything that oozes "musclecar" then it's the modern day Corvette ZR1. It does everything better than anything from the previous era. And if you wanted to buy one today? Well, you could first FIND a ZR1, INSURE a ZR1 and not spend a million dollars doing it. And on any track, walk all over that ZL-1...and it pains me to say that. Plus you have airbags, anti-lock brakes, a/c and a warranty. You also don't sit at a stoplight shaking like an out of balance clothes dryer on the spin cycle.

[Major Nikon]

9. The Corvette was more of a sports car than a muscle car

They were better suited for the road race enthusiasts and the Danny Disco types.

[flvegan]

12. Care to share your definition of muscle car then?

I mean...I did ask.

As for the "Danny Disco types" with either of those, I'll be waiting for you at the end of the 1320 when you finally pass behind me.

[Major Nikon]

13. You must not hang out with too many of the Corvette club guys

All of 'em I know will go into a great long dissertation about how the corvette began as a sports car and always has been a sportscar and anything with more than 2 seats which might happen to go fast will never be anything more than a muscle car. That's where I get my definition, but you can always go to the place for such things if you want.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car

[flvegan]

15. Interesting.

"Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high performance automobiles.<1> The Merriam-Webster definition is more limiting, "any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving."

A sportscar by that definition can still be a musclecar. Just because the British didn't get it isn't reason to discard it.

[Major Nikon]

16. If you read a bit farther...

"The term generally refers to 2-door rear wheel drive family-style 4+ passenger mid-size cars (and, by some, full-size cars) equipped with large, powerful, V8s, and sold at an affordable price for mainly street use and sometimes both formal and informal drag racing.<3><4><5><6>

As such, they are distinct from two-seat sports cars and expensive 2+2 GTs intended for high-speed touring and road racing."

I grew up in the muscle car era and looked at a muscle car as they everyman's sports car. It was something a teenager might be able to afford. It was something an older guy with a family would buy that his wife could use to take the kids to school during the week and he could haul ass with on the weekend. To me, a corvette just doesn't fit that mold. Someone else might have a different idea.

[Major Nikon]

8. I'm partial to the 1969 Z28, but I like most all of them

[Tikki]

10. Momma's gonna get the kids to school on time..

Ultimate sleeper....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU13zrsIq5c


Tikki

[Kat45]

11. I had a '67 Mustang, V8.

Great car, great acceleration. But it did break down a lot and people kept trying to steal it.

I also think GTOs are really cool looking. Always loved them, though I never had the chance to ride in one.

[TheMightyFavog]

14. 1967 Shelby GT 500 Is the ONLY correct answer to that question...

[Mopar151]

17. Well, they're all kinda raw material.....

And need a lot of tuning and optomization to get within miles of their potential.




http://image.circletrack.com/f/chassistech/ctrp_1010_smokey_yunick_1967_chevy_chevelle/28412528+pheader_460x1000/ctrp_1010_01_o+1967_chevy_chevelle+front_shot.jpg

[Randypiper]

19. Amc Gremlin

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. LOL My Nana had one of those.

[7wo7rees]

20. Any of the below

Camaro


Cuda


Chevelle


NOT Corvette

[HopeHoops]

21. I've got a stock '68 Galaxie Fastback that could take damn near everything.

She looks a lot like the last picture, but I think that one's a '66.

[hifiguy]

22. A late 1960s Goat or a similar vintage Chevelle SS 396

That 396 was one hellacious motor.

[snooper2]

23. 1969 427 COPO Chevelle

Period, end of Subject..

[Joe Fields]

25. You have just named the cream of the crop, although I must add the

1967 Mustang GT KR 500, of which only 3225 models were built. KR stood for "King of the Road."

[Mopar151]

26. The thing of it is - a lot of the more famous/notorious/fast ones are rare

Because there were only a few built (10-500) to satisfy a "production" requirement for racing. And some of those are a stripped shell with a monstrous engine - great pile of parts, lousy all-around car. Others (like Shelby GT's and Hemi Darts) were built like "tuner" cars are now, on special lines from built-to-order cars.
Pretty much any car with a high-performance big-block is a real handful on all but a dry, straight, empty road, and that goes double for anything on bias-ply tires, drum brakes, and $7 shocks. I's easy to spin out while passing a car, becaust they will spin the tires at 60 mph.......

Frankly, I like them better as race cars or hot rods (aka "restomods") - many of their shortcomings can be turned into positives, and build/finish quality is much better. And one of those monsters that will turn and stop, now that's a fun ride......

[Throd]

27. My '68 442 has drum brakes all around. Wheeeeeeeeee!

Also, if you go over 110 mph it gets a bunch of air underneath it, lifting up the body so that the tires have a contact patch of about 1 square centimeter. Wheeeeeeeeee!

I have no idea why myself and the car still exist considering what we did together.

[Taverner]

28. You win. 1967 GTO.

I had a "muscle car" in that I had a Crown Vic, ex cop car, from the 70s.



Imagine that with cop shocks, cop suspension...

[madrchsod]

30. i had a 72 formula 400 with...

functioning hood scoops and side pipes. hit 110 and it started to lift. i knew then why the trans am`s had vents.

[Auggie]

33. No one remembers the AMC Javelin?

[Bake]

34. GTO!! That is one sweet ride!!

The pony cars can back off....

GTO RULES!!

:hi:

Bake

[driver8]

35. '67 GTO is one of my favorite cars of all time!!

My neighbor had one for sale about a year ago...I forgot what he wanted for it but it was out of my league.

I tried to convince my wife that it would be a great commuter car for me.

[Blue_Tires]

37. No love for the Boss 429?

[Mopar151]

39. Fastest of all "stock" musclecars

I know a "Boss-9" owner - if you want to drive the car, you have to replace the stock, OMG heavy fan with an electric - the fan is so big that it overloads the water pump bearings!

[hifiguy]

40. May doG help you if you want to go around a corner

in that thing at high speed. Nearly 2/3 of the weight of the car is on the front axle thanks to that gigantic cast iron engine block. "Understeer" doesn't even begin to even hint at the issue raised; let's call it a highly suboptimal polar moment of inertia. :yoiks:

[rppper]

38. i owned one of these at 18.....

it was a fast fire breathing BEAST!!! it got about 10 mpg in the city....maybe 20 on the highway

[jmowreader]

41. A Vega with a 350 in it

The engine will go right in--the engine bay is large enough to hold it--and Positraction was available as a factory option.