I
guess here would be the perfect place to use the ancient saying
“Pride comes before the fall” I mean look at the facts. I'm
speaking of course about the Muscle Car era we had here in America
for just under a decade. The 1950's were essentially dominated by the
“Family Sedan” the four door touring sedan were room was the
biggest factor. Over the years a few amenities of course were added
as they were developed some as standard options others came along as
features (extra). Although there were a few bonafide sports cars
around in the 50's such as the now infamous 1955 Chrysler C-300 well
known as “America's most powerful car” at the time. Although
known as the family car decade the 1950's (late forties) did give us
something we still treasure to this day, the V-8 engine.
Many claim the very 1st muscle car was in fact the 1949
Oldsmobile Rocket “88”shown here. It was the one of the first if not
the first to feature the V8 engine. Oldsmobile actually changed the
dynamics by stuffing the new V-8 into a smaller body actually built
for 6 Cylinder engines of the time. This laid the seeds for what
would become in just a few years a national pastime, going fast!
Some
would say the origins of Muscle Cars and Hot Rods came from the
illegal bootlegging of alcohol which presented the need to outrun
the Police Cars of the time. Many believe this is when some of the
first modifications were made to increase horsepower thus increasing
speed. While another school of thought is that Drag Racing simply
spilled out into the showrooms eventually out into the streets. As
the early 1960's were a time when the titans of the American
automotive industry often battled for supreme on the Racetrack. With
drag racing, the ¼ mile becoming by far the most popular her
America.
The
early to mid 60's it was discovered that Muscle Cars attract young
customers and the Hot Rod craze take here in America took off! The
general trend towards higher performance in factory-stock cars
reflected the importance of the youth market. A key appeal of muscle
cars was that they offered the American car culture relatively
affordable and powerful street performance in models that could also
be used for drag racing. Major advancements in Automotive technology
also aided greatly to the ever increasing Muscle Car movement. With
such groundbreaking innovations as Mopar's Hemi engine displaced at
an at the time unheard of 426 Cubic inches, a 7.0 Liter.
Slowly
companies started to increase carburation, tinker with exhaust
manifolds and build heavier Transmissions to bear the load. They
started releasing beast straight from the showroom floor and the
Muscle Car slowly took shape. In 1963, General Motors' Chevrolet
division produced 57 full-size Impala coupes equipped with option
package RPOZ-11 They were the only automobiles the division ever
built expressly for drag racing. The package included a specially
modified W series 409 engine, now displacing 427 cubic inches, and
was officially rated at 430 hp. With awesome Actual horsepower
at a whopping 520. The Muscle Car era had officially begun.
Then
in 1966 an at the time young and upcoming division president for
Pontiac named John DeLorean decided to break the rules a little. He put together The Pontiac GTO, which was an option package that included Pontiac's 389 cu in (6.4 L) V8 engine, floor-shifted transmission with Hurst shift linkage, and special trim. GM had a long standing rule of limiting their smaller cars to 330
Cubic inches and the GTO had clearly exceeded that. Unexpectedly sales took off and the GTO became a very popular model in high demand. GM allowed the exceptional for a brief period eventually
removing the limit altogether.
By
now the saying itself “Muscle Car” had been clearly defined and
was now accepted automotive jargon nationwide. This in fact was the
time when many of us as Americans had to make a choice. Back then
consumers where heavily brand oriented meaning if you drove a Ford
you were a Ford Man! So as you poked and prodded and rebuilt engines
in the process you had to chose since each system was slightly
different. If you ran a Dodge then you drove Dodge, you learned how
to fix Dodge and you bought Dodge. The Muscle Car era was now in full
swing. As all of the major U.S. Auto companies competed heavily to
build the next best Muscle Car.
The
late 1970's saw an explosion of Muscle Cars come onto the scene from
every Automotive Company in America. Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Buick,
Mercury, AMC, Oldsmobile, Plymouth, Pontiac all of them! And the more
Horsepower one company stuffed under the hood the Horsepower the
others added more Horsepower as well to compensate.
What happened ? As the technological advancements of the muscle car continued to grow at a breakneck pace during the 1960's. As everything was a bout bigger and faster how get even more Horsepower into the showroom. It was all seemingly going to become an accepted American Tradition. Where car companies would produce Muscle Cars as a part of their regular line up each and every year. As the industry grew throughout the later part of the 60's Muscle Cars became few companies best sellers outselling the other models by a large margin. America was in a Muscle Car lifestyle it was the thing to have. The most inexpensive way of reaching for 200 Miles Per Hour.
Then
just as suddenly as the Muscle Car had burst onto the scene one thing
changed that sealed it's fate just as quickly as it has risen to the
top, public opinion. In the early 1970's Social Attitude abruptly
shifted mainly in part to the OPEC lead Oil Embargo. Now Muscle Cars
where seem as evil gas guzzlers overnight a menace to society. Fuel
which many believe is the real reason for the decline in Muscle Cars.
This was directly related to the passage of the Clean Air Act of
1970, octane ratings were lowered to 91-due in part to the removal of
tetraethyllead
as a valve lubricant. Unleaded gasoline was phased in as a result.
Since the majority of muscle cars came optioned with high-compression
power plants some as high as 11:1 the “new” fuel just would not
have the same effect, not even close. Prior to the Act 100-Octane
Fuel was common. Once the Clean Air Act was passed Octane levels
were capped at 91 were they remain to this day. A few other factors
also contributed to the demise of the Muscle Car things like the now
extremely higher insurance rates required now insure “Muscle Cars”
one of the factors that few people relate the the downfall also was
the nations new attitude on air pollution which effected emissions.
Automotive Companies were now government ordered to focus on
Emissions, Speed was now a thing of the past. A few tried to continue
making the fast car but the majority of the 1970's models look just
like that scrawny little kid at school at sick and weakly and the 80's only seemed to get worse. As we all know the 80's as some of the ugliest cars ever designed. Not until
the 1990's did we take a look back and remember something we had been
missing for close to a decade, speed. Only this time as a nation we
had learned an important lesson, moderation. We did in fact bring
back the Muscle Car experience just a few years ago. Only this time
we know better than go into it with such all out no-limit
recklessness. Today we more than consider many of the important
factors that we blatantly ignored the first time around.
Thanks
for taking the time to park on my Blog hopefully you too will go 200
miles per hour! Peace
