Why were muscle cars named as such?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AlexGTV
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I would say it's because they have the same ethos as bodybuilding in that bodybuilding is about attaining an image rather than athletic performance and a muscle car is about taking a fairly normal car, making it look mean, giving it a big loud shouty engine and not really about actual performance like a sports car.
 
AlexGTV
So their chassis, engince mismatch make them more flash than substance like a bodybuilder.
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Not really.

Muscle cars were named such because all they cared about was muscle. It wasn't an image thing, it was a straight-line speed thing. They just progressively got more bark to go with the bite.
 
Rotary Junkie
Not really.

Muscle cars were named such because all they cared about was muscle. It wasn't an image thing, it was a straight-line speed thing. They just progressively got more bark to go with the bite.
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AMC Javelin, perfect example(drove one last weekend, handled like a Porsche Boxster).
 
no, i think they handled more like a dragster. couldn't turn for crap. :P at least the 7 liter and up jobbies.

also: you needed muscles just to turn the steering wheel on those heavy manual steering jobbies :P
 
Feral Pigeon
AMC Javelin, perfect example(drove one last weekend, handled like a Porsche Boxster).
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This, I suspect, is untrue.

As far as the "muscle car" term goes, I think it's essentially a catchy tag to imply "more brawn than brains". They're hammers to the scalpel of European sports cars. That's not to imply it's a bad thing. Sometimes a hammer is just what you need.
 
Muscle cars = bigger engine, better. That was the quest. Big and torquey-- cars with muscle.
 
That's what sold cars back then. Big engines, big bodies, rudimentary suspensions, and a straight line.

Though muscle cars of then cannot compete with the European or Japanese sports car in the turns, hearing raw V8s is something special in itself.

Whenever I see an old Datsun Z, I'd say "Cool".

Whenever I see an old Charger, I's say "Wow".

And it takes a lot for a person to say wow when they see a car.
 
Feral Pigeon
AMC Javelin, perfect example(drove one last weekend, handled like a Porsche Boxster).
Click to expand...

WHY do you keep making these stupid and clearly false statements? Seriously, knock it off, or expect to start seeing infractions come your way.

Or else, start proving it.
 
sumbrownkid
Whenever I see an old Datsun Z, I'd say "Cool".

Whenever I see an old Charger, I's say "Wow".

And it takes a lot for a person to say wow when they see a car.
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I know what you mean. I saw a Mercury Cougar on the road and everybody's neck broke.
 
The whole first half of this thread is full of people who are just thinking too much, and several who apparently enjoy trying to make 'subtle' insults, if by subtle it is meant 'blindingly obvious almost to the point of trolling'

Muscle cars - shove the biggest, most powerful engine you can into a mid sized car and have fun. That's it. There are no subtle plays on words, no hidden meanings, just...power. The stripes, loud colors, and the rest all came later.

Technically you've also got Pony Cars that are almost always lumped in with the Muscle Cars, but there's no point getting into that.
 
skynyrd
Muscle cars - shove the biggest, most powerful engine you can into a mid sized car and have fun. That's it. There are no subtle plays on words, no hidden meanings, just...power. The stripes, loud colors, and the rest all came later.
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Pretty much.

skynyrd
Technically you've also got Pony Cars that are almost always lumped in with the Muscle Cars, but there's no point getting into that.
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Some of the pony cars actually fit in with musclecars; while they were indeed a far different breed, the instant they started going big-block they in their own way became musclecars.

Who's going to say a big-block Camaro, Hemi Challenger/Cuda, or Boss 429, SCJ 428, etc Mustang was not a musclecar? They were ponycars at heart but threw out the original formula in favor for mad power.
 
skynyrd
The whole first half of this thread is full of people who are just thinking too much, and several who apparently enjoy trying to make 'subtle' insults, if by subtle it is meant 'blindingly obvious almost to the point of trolling'
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sometimes, you gotta use your big stick.


the definition of "muscle car" has been changed. the Hyundai Genesis has just been called a muscle car in MT. It Was compared with the revived camaro and charger and the '10 version of the mustang (mustang won, of course). i believe "muscle" now covers any coupe of significant size in engine and bod. the article called the Genesis closer to the pony car concept than any of the revivals :P

I'll never see one of those things, 'cause the old ones are collectors pieces and the new ones are too expensive
 
muscle car was a phase, I don't think it can really be applied to modern cars, not without sounding like a poor choice of words and gimmicky tag to attach.
numbers of power and size were the name of the game at the time, people had money in a better period and were after easy excitement, and what better way than a big raw shouty muscle car. finally an alternative to splashing out on performance parts when at last it was coming out the factory like a stabbed rat. sure it's easy to giggle from the cheap seats from the clutched straws about cornering with a straight face but there wasn't much interest for joe public when traveling huge open straight roads all the time.
they are a variant example from the progress of the automobile, and a different excitement to some others.
 
AlexGTV
Was it because they were bulky and rectangular like a muscle?
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They were affordable 2 door sedans with big powerful engines. Off the showroom, they'd give you whiplash if you nailed the throttle. Since these were relatively simple cars, engines and other components could be swapped between makes and performance parts fitted. It was even possible to get 'free' horsepower in the sales lot before you went home (timing).

Their bread and butter was stoplight racing and 1/4 mile drag strips. A 4sec 0-60 with a few mods here & there was not uncommon in the day. Keep in mind, most of these cars were tipping the scales at 4,000lbs. Takes a lot of 'muscle' to move something like that don't you think?

In essence, they are the antithesis to the relatively complex yet wimpy European/English sports car.
 
What people tend to forget is that the Muscle Car trend (and the Pony Car, for that matter) came as a direct response by the factory to people modifying and racing their cars in the first place. Depending on who you talk to, different companies did it first. Chrysler had the '55 300-B (and then the subsequent 300-series cars), Mercury and the Marauder in 1963. Of course, it was the Pontiac Tempest GTO in 1964 that really kicked things off, and well... The rest was history.

Essentially, GM, Ford and Chrysler cashed in on what was popular at the time. Hot-rodding Mom's Rocket 88 Olds, racing around in Dad's '58 Fuelie Chevy. The kids had disposable income, the car companies had things to sell them.

So, we have these things to thank:
1. Hot Rodding
2. NASCAR
3. Trans-AM
4. John DeLorean
5. Young people
 
stumpy: a "phase"? really? not over here it isn't, or would their have been rabid screaming demand to REVIVE the nameplates? in the ninties, even Mustang was going to go out the window (they were gonna replace it with a FWD Mazda derivative), and that got stopped cold by mustangers.

and when cars turned into appliances in the US, they went to muscle trucks instead!
 
"Muscle car" was a term for factory hot rods.

American car companies took notice of young people modifying Dad's old '46 Ford or '55 Chevy.

In the late 50's/ early 60's if you wanted a high performance car you had to go with a full size. (Fairlane, Catalina, Impala, Chrysler 300, etc.) and those were beyond what young people could afford.

So Pontiac's idea was to take that big 389 out of the Catalina and shoehorn it into the little Tempest. (Breaking GM rules in the process)
 
Sniffs
stumpy: a "phase"? really? not over here it isn't, or would their have been rabid screaming demand to REVIVE the nameplates? in the ninties, even Mustang was going to go out the window (they were gonna replace it with a FWD Mazda derivative), and that got stopped cold by mustangers.

and when cars turned into appliances in the US, they went to muscle trucks instead!
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I think I know what Stumpy is getting at. You have to realise that folk from other countries, not as steeped in US car culture as an American, may have a different view. To us, or to me anyway, a muscle car was the Charger from Dukes of Hazzard. Or the other Charger, and the Mustang, from Bullet. We didn't see muscle cars, or any American cars really, on the street.

In my mind, a muscle car is a 60's or 70's Corvette/Cougar/Mustang/Challenger/Charger/GTO/Superbird etc. Nothing from the 80's onwards is a muscle car. They got more refined. They started meddling with suspension. A new Challenger is not a muscle car. Neither is a Viper. Neither is a Corvette ZR1. Those cars have gone away from the essence of what I see a muscle car as.
 
that's why i said "over here". if someone doesn't have their location stated, I assume they're not an american unless I recognise any americanisims or dialect words.

I see your using the Purist's definition. to me, those are "worth bucketloads of money" cars, not muscle cars, they're also "trailer queens" and "don't touch this or I shoot you" as well. this is why I accept the more modern definition.
 
Also, usually the Corvette is said to not be a Muscle Car and to be a Sportscar instead, mostly based on its suspension, and it fits the usual strict 2 seater sportscar definition.
 
Definitely agreed with the Viper, since it wasn't even around at the time to get lumped together like the Corvette was.
 
Corvette is a sports car too. It gets called a muscle car mostly by the import loving crowd and people who don't know cars, who think any v8 rwd American car is a muscle car.

The whole concept of the C1 Corvette was concieved because of the American soldiers returning home from Europe after WWII and raving about the small European sports cars they got to drive while they were over there. MG's, Jag's, Alphas, and so on.

It was, is and will be a sports car unless GM screws it up.
 
Is the muscle car definition only applicable to two door American cars or is it open to personal definition? I would, for example, consider a Merc E63 AMG or an MG ZT V8 to be muscle cars due to their very powerful engines but those are four door saloons, so I doubt many other people would.
 
Eric.
Also, usually the Corvette is said to not be a Muscle Car and to be a Sportscar instead, mostly based on its suspension, and it fits the usual strict 2 seater sportscar definition.
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The c4 and newer Corvettes are sportscars. The C1 - C3 Corvettes are tractors with v8s (or a mix of a sportscar and a muscle car. Same thing:dunce:)

I don`t know if the older Corvettes were known for their handling. And as a owner of an old Corvette I really should know this:ouch:. I know the last C3s weren`t: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/archive/1980_chevrolet_corvette-road_test
 

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