modernmuscle.net

So What is "Modern" Muscle Anyway?  by Steve Wingate, MM Publisher

Muscle car enthusiasts have argued for years about what is and what isn't a muscle car, and when the last true muscle car was produced.  However, enthusiasts more readily agree on what is NOT a muscle car, so let’s start off by defining a muscle car at its most basic definition. 

Basically, a muscle car can be defined as a “sleeper”—a car that, without the performance or appearance extras, is basic transportation…  something that a realtor or your  grandmother might drive.  Most enthusiasts agree that Dodge, Chevy, and Ford were toying with the idea in the early 60s, but that the introduction of the Pontiac GTO in 1964 was what really mainstreamed the concept.  When John DeLorean and Jim Wangers decided to drop a 389 Tri-Power in an ordinary Pontiac Temptest, it started a performance craze that dominated the industry the next eight years or so.

About the same time, Ford introduced the Mustang.  The Mustang became known as a “pony” car, a car that was designed to be sporty, performance oriented and affordable, whereas muscle cars were built on existing passenger car platforms and given performance extras.  Perhaps this is where the confusion between “pony” cars and muscle cars started. 

Interestingly enough, Plymouth also introduced the Barracuda in 1964.  In fact, the ‘Cuda beat the Mustang to the market by two weeks.   The 'Cuda started out life as an option package for the Valiant with a 225 c.i. slant 6 as the base engine, although 90% of buyers opted for the 273 cid V8.  Yet many enthusiasts consider it to be the first “pony” car.  Of course, the term “pony” car originated from the Mustang, which sounds a hell of a lot better than “fish” car.  However, the Barracuda fits the criteria for a muscle car...  i.e. a pre-existing passenger car with performance and appearance extras.  The end result is that the line between “pony” and “muscle” is blurred even further.

GM comes late to the pony car party when they introduce the F-body cars in 1967.  Although the Camaro and Firebird suffer the same major horsepower losses as their muscle car brethren,  they appear to come through the crunch mostly unscathed.  In a design sense, that is...  most offerings by Mopar and Ford were either too small or too big and cumbersome to carry the right attitude.

However, the F-body was not the only choice for someone wanting a little of that muscle car attitude.  Even though the Chevelle, Monte Carlo, and Cutlass had put on a few pounds, there was still enough of the right design elements to make a decent "modern" muscle car with the addition of some Kragar wheels, white letter tires, and a few performance add-ons.  The Ford Grand Torino and Dodge Magnum also fell into this category.  And let's not forget the redesigned 80s Buick Regal and all of it's GM sisters such as the Monte Carlo, Olds Cutlass and Pontiac Grand Prix.    

Before starting a site that featured "modern" muscle cars, we asked the opinions of many many gearheads their opinion on the muscle/not muscle issue and got a variety of answers.  Such a variety, in fact, that we had to come up with our own criteria just for the sake of simplicity.

Here’s some of the assumptions we have made:

We mark the end of the muscle car era as 1972. 

Horsepower ratings had been dropping since 1970, and the decline sharpened in 1971.  After 1972, the truly classic shapes of the GTO and Chevelle were gone.  Mopar suffered some mighty hits in 1972 as well… the Hemi was dropped, the mighty 440 six pack lost 55 horsepower, and the 440 4 bbl lost a staggering 90 horsepower.  The Boss Mustang went the way of the dodo, and the depressing Mustang II was already on the drawing board.  Smog controls were sucking the life out of performance, and the October 1973 oil embargo was the final nail in the coffin.

We consider Mustangs, Camaros, and Firebirds to be muscle cars.

Muscle car purists will tell you that GM f-bodies and Mustangs were pony cars, not muscle.  Well-- they're right.  We'll give 'em that.  After 1972, these cars were almost the only choice for people wanting performance, and after 1974, they were pretty much the only choice.  Like it or not, any V8-powered f-body or Mustang is an honorary muscle car.  The attitude just fits.

Corvettes are muscle too.

Once again, the attitude fits, and the Vette is just too cool for any car site to ignore.  Yes, Corvettes are sports cars, but hey… it's our site, and we like Vettes, so we're gonna have Vettes on this site.

Hey, some of these cars are fuel injected, and some have carbs.  Shouldn't anything with fuel injection be in a separate category?

Ummm, well, maybe.  But we don't care.  The big question there is just where do you draw the line?  Well, we chose not to draw any line there… too confusing.  Fuel injection was showing up on cars in the 50s… it's not a new thing.  They just perfected it during the 80s and early 90s and it became commonplace.  If anything, this site represents how carmakers learned to tweak and adjust a new set of rules over the years and that they gave us some really awesome cars over the years.

Do you have any V6 cars on Modern Muscle?

Once again, this is an example of where we’ve had to draw the line ourselves.  V6 powered Mustangs, Camaros, and Firebirds are very common, and as a whole are not very interesting to people wanting to see pictures or videos of hot cars on a website.  These are all fine cars, and we mean no offense to the owners of these cars, but we can’t put them up.  HOWEVER—a V6 car with a factory turbo or supercharger such as the Buick GNX or the Dale Earnhardt Edition Monte Carlo will be considered. 

We might even surprise you.

If we see a car that fits our criteria, we'll put it up.  For instance, we've been talking with a guy in the UK who owns a 1973 Jensen Interceptor.  It's not American-made, but it's got a big honkin' 7.2 liter V8.  If it walks like a duck…

The bottom line is that we want you to enjoy our website.  We hope we have a little something for everybody.  Whether you're into Bandit Trans Ams or modern, fuel-injected Mustangs, you should find something here that piques your interest.  We're always looking for ways to improve Modern Muscle, so feel free to drop us a line.