| Everyone out there loves a muscle car. From the | | | | create a "budget muscle car", which carried names |
| roar of that huge engine to the flames on the hood, | | | | like the "Road Runner". |
| it is hard to resist looking when you hear one | | | | Though they were wildly popular, the muscle car |
| rumbling down the road. But, most people don't really | | | | didn't quite sell as many as their manufacturers would |
| know the history behind the "muscle car", like who | | | | have liked, but their rise in popularity has not been |
| created the first one and when were they | | | | matched since. No other type of car in history has |
| introduced on the market? | | | | been able to create such an air of personality as the |
| Almost every historian and car buff credits Pontiac | | | | muscle car has. But, toward the mid 1970's, these |
| with the first "muscle car" on the market, which was | | | | smaller, budget muscle cars once again got a boost. |
| a variation on the Tempest, the 1964 GTO. This first | | | | The competition in the auto industry was heating up |
| muscle car offered a huge V-8 engine that boasted | | | | once more, and the muscle cars produced during this |
| 389 cubic inches and a floor-shift manual transmission | | | | time boasted some of the biggest engines ever |
| instead of on the column. With a newer, sleek look | | | | thought of, like the 450 big block. Although this |
| and trim inside and out that was to die for, who | | | | created yet another spike in sales and popularity, |
| could resist the car that was born that year. These | | | | concerns about the safety of these cars gave way |
| cars sold like hotcakes, even though Pontiac was in | | | | to more protests and problems. With some of the |
| direct violation of a General Motors policy on the size | | | | other industries, like the insurance agencies, |
| of the engines that are placed in their vehicles. It | | | | protesting the larger muscle cars and refusing to |
| didn't matter, the muscle car was born, and | | | | insure them, the sales of these powerful icons |
| everyone rushed to get in on the action. | | | | plummeted. Then, another crushing blow to the |
| These muscle cars had great performance that was | | | | muscle car, the oil problems that plagued the world in |
| fit for the street or the races, and allowed them to | | | | the late 70's and early 80's ended the muscle car |
| completely dominate every race that they were | | | | altogether, and auto manufacturers removed them |
| placed in. It wasn't long before other auto companies | | | | completely from the market. |
| wanted a piece of the action, and more styles of | | | | But, even today, the muscle car is still sought after |
| muscle cars were born. While some of these other | | | | by car buffs, collectors, motor-heads, and rebels in |
| muscle cars bragged about bigger engines and more | | | | general. They are sought out, fixed up, and rumbling |
| options, the youth market in America didn't care. The | | | | down the road in every town across the United |
| muscle car was all the rage because they embodied | | | | States, and even all over the world. No matter how |
| rebellion, style, and "coolness". But, with every era | | | | old or young you are, the muscle car still holds |
| comes an end, and in the later 1960's there was an | | | | unquestionable bragging rights as well as an instant |
| uprising about the prices and weights of these muscle | | | | pass to "coolness". |
| cars, which prompted the auto manufacturers to | | | | |