As to the rest of them they can
Posted on 08/03/2014 8:08:06 AM PDT by MtnClimber
1. Ford Mustang Where does one even start when talking about the Ford Mustang? This car has become the embodiment of America’s love affair with speed and muscle. This iconic Ford instigated the creation of the “pony car” classification of automobiles and prompted competing car manufacturers to crank out America’s other favorite muscle cars. For Ford, the Mustang was (and continues to be) a smash hit.
The first Mustang debuted at the New York World’s Fair in April of 1964. It was originally equipped with a 260-cubic-inch (4.3L) V8 but was quickly upgraded to a 289-cubic-inch (4.7L) V8 in its first year. By 1968, the Mustang was outfitted with a 302-cubic-inch (4.9L) V8. The following year, Ford released several performance packages for the Mustang including the Boss 302, Mach 1, and Boss 429. The speed and power had arrived.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Because they were beautiful, and we could afford to own drive them...
I had a silver 75 Cutlass Supreme which I dearly loved. Smooth as silk.
I grew up with muscle cars....its the engine
And American made
Not car size
The pony cars were just the smaller muscle cars and played off the mustang...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stop it yer killin' me!
I had a brand new '71 XJ6 and it was without a doubt the worst vehicle I've ever owned and that includes a fiat X1/9 and '64 Mercedes 220 SE, a 1988 Renault Medallion (R21), a 1969 Renault R16 and an entire fleet of R5's!
OK the Jag went pretty decent as a cruiser but that was if you remembered to keep the carbs topped up with oil...a once a week ritual. And those inboard rear disc brakes! What FUN! Kinda cheap to replace at the stealer if a thousand for a brake job is cheap.
Don't get me started on the BENDABLE TUBE EXHAUST HEADERS! Stainless steel...yeah RIGHT! Let jag sit for a month and oops!...Need new headers.
did I mention that a month after delivery the windshield wiper regulator gave up? One of many things to go away in the first couple of month. Dealer didn't have the part...couldn't get it. I drove an entire winter with a rope through the windows tied to the wipers!
There was one fair thing about the Jag though. It had twin gas tanks reading of a single gauge with a switch to flip between tanks. Once I took the then future Mrs p6 on a drive on a dirt road in a remote area to see the Legendary Ghost of Country Club Hill.
Gee I guess I forgot to gas the Jag before we left. Awww...too far to walk back in the dark. We'll wait for a while and see if anyone else comes by.
A while later while the future mrs p6 was distracted I secretly flipped the gauge and WHOA CHECK it OUT! All that rocking must have settle some gas in the tank!
Hehehehehehehe.....
By your definition since new handles better why restore P51 or an old Hinckley when a new Lear or Swan will do better respectively
Its nostalgia....and the feel
Frequently lost on the young although some kids like old cars
Its funny they will get excited now about an older Impala that was actually a comparative turd as you say in its day
But if you find a 1969 Roadrunner 383 Hurst a turd or a 67 GTO and so forth probably not much we can do for you
But that’s OK....
Cars are like women....newer is often better but an older one can still give a helluva ride
A real turd car....K cars.....or a modern Fiat
A Gremlin-X in standard Gremlin trim made for an interesting sleeper.
You had me beliving-until you said ‘83 Jag.
I don’t think the Corvette was considered a muscle car, in spite of its horsepower. It is a grand tourer.
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within feet of the river. Have been sitting here watching the border
patrol patrolling in their riverboats all night and all morning..."~Jim Robinson
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Mona Lisa Vito: Because there is no way that these tire marks were made by a 1964 Buick Skylark convertible.
These marks were made by a 1963 Pontiac Tempest.
Using that as the big ‘reveal’ in ‘My Cousin Vinny” kinda ruined the movie for me. The first thing I thought when they showed pic of the getaway scene was “posi rear...that limits things considerably”.
As far as I know any male who went to school in the 50’s-70’s would automatically think the same thing on the very first glimpse of that picture showing the dual rubber. I knew a hell of a lot more than one teenager who ended a car buying story with “and the old geezer had no clue that model came with a posi rear”!
Especially since they listed Buick's twin. At least people bought the 442.
Right. A sports car is not a marketing innovation. The idea of a muscle car was to take a more-or-less ordinary coupe and drop a big engine in it.
By some measures, pony cars might not be muscle cars in the sense that they were originally designed to be four-passenger sports cars.
The SS396, GTX, AMX, and Road Runner not on the Muscle Car list. Girl didn’t do her research. I guess her next article will be on Iconic Automatic revolvers.
Agree with you on All Points. Especially so on the insulting “honorable mention” for the Gran National.
We’re in Reno this week for Hot August Nights. Talk about muscle cars! There are about 10,000 either on display or cruisin’. Yowza!!!!!
When it comes to body style and performance this is the top of the list.
.....1969 R/T ;
Of course these cars were pretty much lo-quality crap as anyone who ever tried to stop one from 80 mph can tell you, or heaven forfend, attempt a sharp curve on a bumpy road at at that speed. But they was truly Murican, as anyone reading an Archie and Veronica Comic book through the gaps in the wavy UAW, barely painted, rusting body panels could also tell you.
But the ones you see on the road today are actually BETTER than originals. They look much better than they ever looked new. Nothing worse than a Detroit paint job from that era and the instant rot underneath. They now all have much better modern brakes (Thank you Brembo from Italy). They all have very good radial tires (Thank you Pirelli and Michelin) they all have vastly improved suspensions (Thank You Koni, Sachs, und Bilstein from Deutschland) and also better springs and bushings made from space-age plastics. Then they are tricked out with Recaro bucket seats (Danke-schoen Deutschland), so that you and the big hair Betsey don't get flipped on the pavement during violent maneuvers. Speaking of which, you'll need a good shop to cure that vague Murican steering.
But the bad news is they still (if they still have their 6-liter V-8s with 11-1 CR) require old-fashioned high test, (100+ Research Octane) (not the crap passed off as high octane at today's Hess), God I would kill for a tankful of old AMOCO lead-free high-test!.... @ $0.35 p/gal! cannot handle the ethanol blends, and at high speeds are capable of delivering perhaps 11 mpg at any thing over 30 mph.
One more thing, my old man and I were partial to the early Chrysler 300 series ... ferocious beasts, indeed. However that was mid-'50s ... by '57-8, they devolved into bloated caricatures of themselves ... while by the late '60's every duck-tailed Tom, Dick (especially him), and Harry began buying very Jersey Shore "muscle cars."
What was left of the Murican Car, died with Jimmy Carter and the self-righteous lesbo Joan Claybrook in '73, not to be revived into a more sensible, but still dull and lo-quality engineering expression in the 1990's.
Obviously, what the Republicans need to do now to win the Latino vote is to introduce federal car financing for low-riders based on those "muscle" and "Pony" cars. ¿Sí, se puede?
https://www.google.com/search?q=Low+Rider+Pictures&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=o2neU9S_I8WqyATh1oHYDA&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=909
Super responsive to fieled input, Jaguar made many changes. My 1976 XJ6 was a wonderful beast indeed. Especially after we installed a 5-row radiator and electric fans, installed huge oil coolers for motor and trans (A GM Hydramatic, BTW, which we hot-rodded with a special torque converter and altered shift points) It had Lucas fuel injection (Do NOT LOL) Capacitor Discharge Ignition, a fuel cooler, GM Climate Control, GM Power windows, weighed 2 tons, had beautiful leather upholstery, an AM-FM 8-track (!), and was quite capable of leaving rubber at 100 mph. It had twin saddle fuel tanks, together holding 25 gallons, got 15 mpg no matter how one drove it, and for the run from LA to Las Vegas, it was simply superb. Beautiful disc brakes all around, inboard at the rear (IRS). Once properly sorted out, this car was very reliable.
Ran 10 years and 225 Thousand miles before being stolen. My story and I'm sticking to it, Mr. Geico.
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