Duking it out – and Other Classics
Muscle cars are, by virtue of their definition, classic. Muscle cars are high performance vehicles. They were made between 1964 and 1973 in the United States and South Africa and between 1968 and 1976 in Australia. The reason classic muscle cars became a thing of the past was simple. The end of the muscle cars era was the start of the gasoline shortage, and ultimately the end of people’s love for vehicle power and their start of love for gasoline savings.
Muscle cars are generally mid-sized vehicles with rear wheel drive. They have large V8 engines with a lot of power and they are meant to provide the most in torque on the road or in competition with other drag racers. Muscle cars are not sports cars. The primary differences between the two are size and purpose. Sports cars are small, have seats for only two people, and are used for high speed tours and perhaps road races.
Whether a car belongs in the realm of classic muscle cars also depends on its ratio of power to weight as well. Classic muscle cars have at least twelve pounds of weight for each horsepower. This determination isn’t an exact science however. Classic muscle cars vary widely in curb weight because of options. The other complication is that prior to 1972 the automotive engineering society then responsible for determining horsepower ratings for cars prior to 1972 were not accurate. They often deliberately understated or overstated the horsepower for various reasons.
Chrysler’s 300 Series introduced in 1955 are considered the precursor of the classic muscle cars. They don’t qualify as standard classic muscle cars by today’s definition because they were luxury models. Two of the best examples of classic muscle cars are the Plymouth GTO and the Dodge Charger. The latter is best known as the vehicle of choice in one of the most-loved classic muscle cars TV shows – The Dukes of Hazzard. The Dukes, as all will remember, drove their classic, “The General,” one of the most-lauded of the muscle cars.
