 |
Ask ten gearheads to define ‘muscle car’ and you’ll get ten different answers — and at least one argument about whether a Mustang counts. The real definition comes down to a specific formula Detroit stumbled into in the mid-1960s: a mid-size body paired with the biggest engine a manufacturer had to offer. From the Pontiac GTO’s accidental invention of the category to a modern restomod chasing genuine ZL1 power, read on to see what actually separates a muscle car from every other fast classic.
The Ford Falcon XB coupe that became Mad Max’s V8 Interceptor was built from improvised parts, including a worn-out drag car supercharger with its compressor vanes removed just to make it spinnable. Decades later, a mechanic who worked on the build showed up in the comments to explain exactly how close the whole thing came to falling apart during filming — and Australia is still campaigning to bring the car home. Watch to see why this scrappy, homemade build became one of the most beloved movie cars ever built.
Buick spent most of the 1980s making comfortable sedans and then, in its final year, built a turbocharged six-cylinder that ran a 13.2-second quarter and beat V8s that cost far more. The 1987 Grand National and the 547 GNX units that followed it were the last of the line, assembled in part by an outside performance house, and factory rated at a number almost nobody believed. Read on for what separated a WE4 from a GNX, and what a $35 option got you.