Due to the growing prevalence of stock car racing, muscle cars came into power during the 1960s, which has become known as the Golden Age of Muscle. Lasting from 1960 to 1972, muscle cars enjoyed over a decade of power, and, regrettably, a four decade hibernation. In the past six years, muscle cars have reemerged in the form of the Charger, Challenger, Mustang, and Camaro. The new cars’ styling pays tribute to their Golden Age predecessors. This is the new muscle car age, with competition and corporate pride higher than ever.
Some say that automotive racing began when the second car was built. For over a hundred years, competition has driven innovation in the car industry, thus the industry maxim “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” NASCAR and drag racing contributed greatly to muscle cars’ success. Muscle cars were born from these competitions as factory made race cars. Because of this, the muscle car quickly moved from a low quantity specialty item to the image of the American automotive scene. Each brand had to have one and each one needed better performance and personality than the next. The Golden Age began in the 1960s with the introduction of more performance models such as the Chevy SS Impala and the Ford Galaxy Starliner (Auto Editors).
In 1960, the American car landscape itself had expanded as Detroit began offering “compacts” alongside their full-size models. Many drivers, however, were looking for something in between these full size and compact model; this interest gave way to a new class, the intermediate. With many innovations between 1960 and 1964, like the 406 cubic inch V8 from Ford, the 389 from General Motors, and the wedge V8s from Chrysler, the golden age of muscle cars began in 1964. The Pontiac Tempest G...
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...New York: Routledge,1994.
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In conclusion, from the early 1950's and 1960's there has been two cars that have taken the American people by storm, the Chevrolet Camaro and the Ford Mustang. Both rivals have tried from day one to out do and out perform each other to bet the first to develop an affordable sports car that handles and performs like a $90,000 dollar muscle car. Each in its own right have established itself on the car market place with such creations by Ford for its 590-HP Super Stallion and Chevrolet for its 600-HP Big Block Camaro. The Camaro and Mustang have been looked at as the "First true American sports cars." They are arguably the two most rivaled sports cars of yesteryear and today. "The Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang are quintessential American pony cars and as such, continue to fight the good fight over which is best" (
Entering the 1950s, no corporation even came close to General Motors in its size, or it's profits. GM was twice as big as the second biggest company in the world, Standard Oil of New Jersey (father of today's Exxon Mobil), and had a vast diversity of businesses ranging from home appliances to providing insurance and building Buicks, Cadillacs, Chevys, GMCs, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs and trains. It was so big that it made more than half the cars sold in the United States and the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division was threatening to break it up(to prevent Monopolies, Like how Standard oil was broken up). In the 21st century, it's almost hard to imagine how powerful GM was in the 50s and 60s. Sports cars from Europe were getting popular, because of servicemen coming back from WWII, and wanted sports cars, but American Automakers didn't make sports cars, so they would either buy foreign, or go without. A man named McLean would still try to make a low priced sports car. But it didn't work. The idea of a car coming from GM that could compete with Jaguar, MG or Triumph was pretty much considered stupid and insane. C1:Generation: Bad but valuable. Just 300 Corvettes were made in 1953. Each of these first-year Corvettes was a white roadster with red interior. The Corvette was made of fiberglass for light weight, but the first cars were made with a really weak, (and kind of pathetic for a “sports car”) 150 horsepower 6-cylinder engine and an automatic transmission. The result was more of a look at me, I’m rich car than a race car. The first generation of the Corvette was introduced late in 1953. It was originally designed as a show car for GM's traveling car show, Motorama, the Corvette was a Show Car for the 1953 Motorama display...
The Chevrolet Chevelle SSs' earliest engine in 1964 didn't perform as well as the later models. It had a 327 V8 engine which wasn't even close to as powerful as the later models. After a slow start, the 1965 Chevelle became a real muscle car. The car now had a lot more power since it had a 396 V8 engine, also known as the Z-16 package. Along with a better engine the Chevelle also had front and back anti-roll bars, faster power-assisted steering, and better braking. The 1965 Chevelle SS was great, but the 1970 Chevelle was the better than anything Chevrolet had made previously. The 1970 Chevelle had a LS6 454 engine, this was the best engine that Chevr...
the beginning of the twentieth century. Moreover, it explains the differences between hybrid cars and standard cars. Also, it mentioned some
In this article we'll talk about the first GTO and then move onto the last two years of this first generation classic muscle car. We'll explore the differences between
Pontiac’s entry into the hot pony car segment followed the Chevrolet Camaro by four months and the Ford Mustang by nearly three years. Chrysler already had its Plymouth Barracuda and American Motors was preparing its Javelin. Clearly, a winning model was needed if Pontiac was to gain a stake in the emerging
The muscle car bodies had bold curves that scream power. The sports cars body has sleek smooth curves which make them look nice. The muscle car's body consists of a long nose sloping steeply up into the cab of the car, then finally gradually sloping down to the trunk. The sports car's body typically consist of a shorter nose with a long cab and a short trunk. This shows that muscle cars look how their part.
A vision fueled by passion and perseverance would unknowingly ignite the birth of a legendary artifact and make a significant impact on American culture and automotive history. In 1965, Carroll Shelby and his company, Shelby American, took on the challenge of transforming the Ford Mustang into a high-performance racing machine, and soon after, the first ever Shelby Mustang hit the streets. Nearly half a century has passed since then, and the Shelby Mustang is still referred to as one of the finest muscle cars of all-time (Lloyd). It continues to be a historic American symbol of excellence and a very significant piece of culture in America and in the history of my family.
Many by now know, the EV that redefined the genre was released to rave reviews. Consumer Reports said that it performed better than any other auto on their test track. Because of all the weight from the low mounted motors it was
One of the major differences between the two is the type of engines they have. Most muscle cars have a V-8 or even a V-10 with a large displacement. These engines produce a large amount of horse power and create a lot of torque at the higher RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) range, but to fit these large engines, they need large cars to put them in. On the other hand, imports have a much smaller, inline 4 engine, and because it has a smaller engine, it can fit into a smaller car.
The idea of this super car was to be simple yet complexed, small yet lite, very lite, astronomically light. The car was there first of its kind using space age technology, the whole body of the car was composed of carbon fiber, the wheels Magnesium alloy, and the underpinnings titanium. Tis is only but a scratch,Wilson stated each McLaren was made up of 5000 the lightest of the materials on the planet including the three I listed. Nowadays we take this space age technology for granted, for it is now an indoctrinated tradition. Almost every modern super car is now composed of carbon fiber, but back in the early 90s materials like this where so extraordinary you mine as well as made your car out of lumps of Jupiter. When the team designed the F1, everything was accounted for. From the smallest alloy bolt screwed into the car’s wheelbase, to the cars giant 12 cylinder Engine under the bonnet. Murray and McLaren did not cut any corners nor, leave any rocks unturned. Murray said that they were so self conscious about weight, the McLaren F1’s steering shaft and the steering colu...
The late nineteenth century and early twentieth century brought to the United States economic successes, reforms, and, equally as important, automobiles. Published in the New York Times in the year 1900, Motor Show is Opened delves into the atmosphere of a motor show at Madison Square Garden hosted by the Automobile Club of America. The article describes everything from the color of the banners to the type of engines on display. In analyzing the article, the author paints a picture of a novel exhibition in an attempt to give the reader an idea of what the future of automobile development has in store for us.
Since the 1890s, the time when the automotive industry began, the industry has developed rapidly. The industry started its development in the US, which contributed over 90% of the global vehicle production before the Great Depression (Popular
Ferrari, when most people think of this word they think of two things: speed and sport. Ferrari is one of the most distinguished cars in history. It has won more races than almost any other cars racing. It is also just delicate a machine as it is the fast and furious sports car. Ferrari has come a great distance since its begins in the stock races onto the modern road. It has been compared with such great cars as the Bugatti and Alfa Romeo. In my report I will tell you the beginning and the future of this famous sports car.
1995, the year the great Michael Jordan came back to the NBA, was also the emergence of another superstar in its own class. A complete redesign of the rear-wheel drive engine for General Motors’ sports car