The Death Of The Muscle Car As We Know It #blogpost

09 Oct 2016

The muscle car has been a staple of American and Australian culture for decades. They enjoyed a heyday in the 60’s and early 70’s and currently there are some pavement tearing cars for sale at the dealership. However, the muscle car as we know it may soon become extinct. Let me tell you why…

Many people know why classic muscle cars gave up the ghost. An oil embargo and emissions regulations made Americans take a step back and say “Maybe this whole muscle car thing isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” People started to buy more fuel efficient cars and care more about fuel economy; the rest is history.

From the mid 1970’s up and till now, the muscle car lived on in spirit in cars like the Foxbody Mustang, the 4th generation Camaro and the revived Pontiac GTO. In the decade of 2010, things started to change for American V8 powered performance cars; there was the rise of the American track car. It seemed as if all at once, American car manufacturers went crazy for track cars. Cars like the Camaro Z/28 and Mustang GT350 burst onto the scene along with several other American cars built for circuit racing. Some people even think these track stars are muscle cars! You see, muscle cars aren’t about winning the 24 Hours of LeMans. Muscle cars are about being the cheapest way to go as fast as possible in a straight line. That was the original intent of muscle cars and always will be.

The Mustang and Camaro at this point aren’t really muscle/pony cars anymore, they’re sports cars. I’m not the only one to share this sentiment, other people do as well. The 2015 Mustang sacrificed straight line speed for cornering ability, that makes it more like a sports car. The 2016 Camaro has the chassis of the Cadillac ATS-V and can take a BMW M4 to town, also now more sports car than muscle car. What modern cars are muscle cars? The 2014 Mustang, 2014 Camaro and modern Dodge Challenger are in my opinion modern day muscle cars. The R/T Scat Pack Challenger exudes the muscle car spirit so well, how else can you get a factory built 470 horsepower monster for under 41,000 USD?

The degrading interest in drag racing and the increased enthusiasm for track cars has put the the muscle car as we know it on death row.

Comments

Fk emissions

Because we’re America!!!

While this is true, global warming will be unstoppable if emissions aren’t reduced by 80% in 2050. I think that governments need to offer big, non-mandatory incentives to purchase EVs and have your existing car crushed and recycled. This isn’t all bad - non-car guy cars like Corollas and minivans can go and die, and no one will miss them. As long as Japanese heroes, Italian masterpieces and muscle cars still exist, even with a freaking weekly mileage cap - I’ll be happy

The latest American muscle cars have more in common with 60s and 70s Australian muscle cars than American ones then. Built for the track rather than drag racing

A muscle car that’s built for circuit racing isn’t a muscle car, it’s a sports car

It makes me so happy to see a blogpost in the hottest section of CT. I just got a little bit of hope for CT back. Great post man, keep making them!

Thanks

Yes! It’s such a saddening thing when yoy work hard on crap and it gets 5 upvotes then you make a meme and bam, 70 upvotes. I miss the good ol’ CT, from long ago….before the app….memories….

But the foxbody mustang sucked
And that’s coming from someone who’s accused of fanboying muscle, I’ll admit the foxbody was awful

Why is the Foxbody awful?

Saying muscle cars are dead just because pony cars are made to handle nowadays/ that they perform amazingly around a track is extremely argueable

Well, there’s the Dodge Challenger and that thing is BA

Muscle cars and drag racing go hand and hand, and drag racing is losing popularity.

The true blooded muscle cars are almost instinct. replacing them are the hyper cars.

More track cars are being built than drag cars due to popular demand. I don’t remember the last time that the Camaro had a cheap drag pack…

I could write a full essay on how I feel about muscle cars today. Mixed could be a word used to describe my feelings about them. While they are becoming more like sports cars and faster around the track, more Euro and JDM fanboys are beginning to like muscle cars. But they don’t understand the true essence of a muscle car, and they basically ignore classic muscle. At the same time, I am proud and pretty happy that Americas newest muscle cars are giving their foreign competitors a run for their money

Well said

But muscle cars were renowned for their handling back in the day. You saw it in trans am racing. Those were some of the best handling cars of the muscle car era.

Cars like the Ford Gran Torino, Dodge Charger and Chevy Chevelle aren’t really track cars…

Well yes I’m Australia it’s all dieing.. but I still call the HSV GTS a muscle car even though it can go around a track..

RIP, this is a good thing. I want someone to give the M4 a run for it’s money. It will make the M4 better next year. I have mad respect for US built sport cars of recent times. They have finally seen the light. Handling and grip matters, drag races are nice for beer munching sessions, tho.