Muscle car
A muscle car is a high-performance automobile that gained prominence in the United States during the 1960s and is often linked to street racing and hot-rod culture. Characterized by powerful engines, lightweight bodies, and sleek designs, muscle cars are typically American-made sports coupes. The roots of muscle cars can be traced back to the hot-rodding scene in Southern California in the late 1930s, where enthusiasts modified cars for speed and performance. While the 1957 Rambler Rebel is often cited as one of the first muscle cars, the Oldsmobile Rocket 88, released earlier, also played a significant role in shaping the genre with its high-compression V8 engine.
The muscle car era thrived until the oil crises of the 1970s, which made fuel-efficient cars more desirable and led to increased regulations that diminished performance capabilities. This decline resulted in the discontinuation of many muscle car models, though some were later reintroduced as luxury vehicles. Despite the downturn, muscle cars continue to influence American car culture and design, with modern revivals exemplified by models like the Pontiac GTO and Dodge Challenger.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Muscle car
The term "muscle car" refers to a type of high-performance automobile that is especially associated with the 1960s and largely died out with the oil crises of the 1970s. Traditionally an American-made sports coupe, the muscle car also enjoyed lesser-known periods of popularity in Australia and Brazil. It is often associated with street racing and mid-twentieth-century hot-rod culture. The muscle car continues to have an impact on American car culture and design, inspiring the 1987 Buick Grand National GNX, the 2004 relaunch of the Pontiac GTO, and the 2008 relaunch of the Dodge Challenger.
Overview
The antecedent of the muscle car was the hot rod. Hot-rodding as a pastime emerged in Southern California in the late 1930s, when drivers began modifying their cars for greater speed in order to race them on dry lake beds, and became more widespread after World War II. Drag-racing culture originally revolved around such cars, which were celebrated in such magazines as Hot Rod (founded in 1948) and Car Craft (founded in 1953). Although the term "hot rod" refers specifically to modified cars, by the 1950s it had become popularly synonymous enough with "fast car" that the first muscle cars, though unmodified and street legal, were commonly called hot rods both before and after the term "muscle car" was coined.
Exactly when muscle cars began to be produced is a subject of dispute. It is clear that they were a significant trend by the early 1960s, when multiple American manufacturers were competing to make the fastest, sleekest, and most popular muscle car. Some car historians consider the first muscle car to be the 1957 Rambler Rebel, the fastest American-made stock sedan of its model year, one of the first midsize cars (considered compact at the time) and the first factory-made high-performance midsize model. However, the Oldsmobile Rocket 88, which predated it by eight years, was the first American car to feature a high-compression overhead valve V8 engine in a smaller-bodied car. It quickly became a mainstay of the newly formed National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) circuit and set a new performance standard for V8 cars, ushering in the muscle-car era at least on a technical level.
What defined the muscle car was the combination of high performance, light body, sleek lines, and rear-wheel drive. Car experts sometimes debate about whether a muscle car must be a two-door car, whether compact or full-size cars count, and whether muscle cars and "supercars" (the term used from the late 1960s to the early 1970s) are two different styles of car, but ultimately the phenomenon amounted to the American automobile industry augmenting its own models in the same way in which hot-rodders had been modifying cars since the 1930s. The primary additional benefit was that manufacturers, unlike hobbyists, could streamline their models for even greater speed gains.
The oil crises of the 1970s led to temporary gasoline rationing and increased fuel costs, which made recreational racing impractical and fuel-efficient cars more attractive. In addition, under the authority of the Clean Air Act of 1970, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began phasing out the use of lead as an additive to boost gasoline octane ratings, which in turn resulted in reduced engine performance. All of these factors led to the decline in the muscle car in the early 1970s. Most extant models were discontinued, while some were reborn as expensive luxury cars.
Bibliography
Design Museum. Fifty Cars That Changed the World. London: Conran Octopus, 2009. Print.
Glancey, Jonathan. The Car: A History of the Automobile. 2003. London: Carlton, 2013. Print.
Glatch, Tom. The Complete Book of American Muscle Supercars: Yenko, Shelby, Baldwin Motion, Grand Spaulding, and More. Minneapolis: Motorbooks, 2016. Print.
Heptinstall, Simon. Cars: A Complete History. San Diego: Thunder Bay, 2014. Print.
Holmstrom, Darwin. American Muscle Cars: A Full-Throttle History. Minneapolis: Motorbooks, 2016. Print.
Mueller, Mike. The Complete Book of Dodge and Plymouth Muscle. Rev. ed. Minneapolis: Motorbooks, 2013. Print.
Newell, Richard G., and Kristian Rogers. "Leaded Gasoline in the United States: The Breakthrough of Permit Trading." Choosing Environmental Policy: Comparing Instruments and Outcomes in the United States and Europe. Ed. Winston Harrington, Richard D. Morgenstern, and Thomas Sterner. Washington: RFF, 2004. 175–91. Print.
Parissien, Steven. The Life of the Automobile: The Complete History of the Motor Car. 2013. New York: Dunne, 2014. Print.
Wangers, Jim, et al. The All-American Muscle Car: The Birth, Death and Resurrection of Detroit’s Greatest Performance Cars. Ed. Darwin Holstrom. Minneapolis: Motorbooks, 2013. Print.