12 Muscle Car Myths Beginners Always Believe (And the Truth)

Welcome to Muscle Car Fan. If you are new to muscle cars, chances are somebody has already told you a few things that are not quite true. That the GTO started it all. That they […]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XO-6HAqxkM

Welcome to Muscle Car Fan. If you are new to muscle cars, chances are somebody has already told you a few things that are not quite true. That the GTO started it all. That they all had V8 engines. That they were all brutally fast. In this video you will meet twelve muscle cars, and each one busts a myth that beginners believe. No car degree required. Let us start with the biggest myth of all, the one about where this whole story began.

#12: 1949 Oldsmobile 88 Rocket

Myth number one: the muscle car era began with the Pontiac GTO in the 1960s. The truth is that the recipe is much older. In 1949, Oldsmobile dropped its new Rocket V8, a 303 cubic inch engine rated at 135 horsepower, into a relatively small, light body, and the Oldsmobile 88 was born.

#11: 1964 Pontiac GTO

Myth number two: the Pontiac GTO was a brand new car. It was not. The 1964 GTO started life as an option package, costing a few hundred dollars, on the ordinary Pontiac LeMans.

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#10: 1969 Plymouth GTX

Myth number three: muscle cars were bare bones machines with vinyl seats and no comfort. Some were. The 1969 Plymouth GTX, however, was marketed as a gentleman’s muscle car.

#9: 1968 Pontiac Firebird Sprint

Myth number four: every muscle car had a V8. Not quite. When Pontiac sold the 1968 Firebird, the lineup included a real surprise, a high output inline six with an overhead camshaft, something almost unheard of from Detroit in those days.

#8: 1968 AMC AMX

Myth number five: only the Big Three, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, built real muscle cars. Then there was American Motors, the smallest of the American automakers, best known for economy cars. In 1968 it released the AMX, a two seat sports car based on the Javelin but with a shorter wheelbase.

#7: 1968 Dodge Dart GTS

Myth number six: muscle cars were always big, heavy cars. Plenty were, but the secret formula was really power compared to weight, and some of the most feared cars were compact. Take the 1968 Dodge Dart GTS.

#6: 1969 Ford Torino Talladega

Myth number seven: muscle cars were only about engines. The 1969 Ford Torino Talladega says otherwise. Ford needed a faster shape on the high speed NASCAR tracks, and the rules said a car had to be sold to the public before it could race.

#5: 1967 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

Myth number eight: muscle cars could go fast in a straight line and nothing else. The first Camaro Z/28 set out to prove that wrong. Introduced in December 1966 for the 1967 model year, it was the idea of a Chevrolet man named Vince Piggins, who wanted to sell a virtually race ready car to anybody who walked into a showroom.

#4: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396

Myth number nine: the numbers on the badge tell you the engine size. Take the 1970 Chevelle SS 396. For years, the 396 cubic inch big block had earned its name.

#3: 1972 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Myth number ten: muscle cars lost their power overnight. The real story was messier, and it involved math. For years, Detroit quoted horsepower as SAE gross, measured on a test stand with the engine stripped of many accessories.

#2: 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Myth number eleven: the muscle car was dead by the middle of the decade. Performance fell, but the spirit survived in unusual places. In 1977, the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Special Edition, finished in black with gold trim, became a movie star in Smokey and the Bandit, and sales of the Firebird climbed sharply afterward.

#1: 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

Myth number twelve: the muscle car is a museum piece. The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat disagrees, loudly. Its supercharged 6.2 liter Hemi V8 was rated at 707 horsepower, far more than any factory car of the original era.

That is twelve muscle car myths, busted. The big lesson is that the legend is usually simpler than the truth, and the badge, the brochure, and the horsepower number rarely told the whole story. Which myth did you believe? Tell me in the comments, and follow Muscle Car Fan for more muscle car stories every day.