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

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.