GM Muscle Cars

General Motors has long been considered by muscle car enthusiasts as the original creator of the muscle car. When GM's Pontiac division first created the GTO, the muscle car era was born. Basically combining a Tempest body and a Bonneville V8 engine, GM started the muscle car craze by fusing a small car with a powerful engine. General Motors is also known for its large stable of muscle cars under the Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile labels.

Under the Chevrolet name, GM produced the Camaro, Malibu Chevelle, and Nova, which were some of the most popular automobiles during the time. The Camaro was also considered a pony car, and was directly made for the 1967 model year to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro, Nova, and Chevelle also were offered as high performance Yenko models, which were customized by racecar driver Don Yenko. These models are highly desired muscle cars and are considered to be the epitome of the Chevy muscle car.

General Motor's other lines of cars, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick, only offered a few muscle car models each. Pontiac, as stated before, produced the GTO coupe and convertible models that were built until 1970. Pontiac also had the very popular Firebird model, which was basically the same as the Chevy brand Camaro with a few minor design changes. Oldsmobile offered the Hurst/Olds 442, and the Buick line offered the GS and GSX models. Both cars were also very similar in design, just as the Camaro and Firebird were. The Oldsmobile 442's number was an acronym for the cars options, a 4 Barrel carburetor, a 4 speed transmission, and a dual exhaust. The GS in Buick's line stood for Gran Sport.

With cars like the GTO, Camaro, Chevelle, and GS, its no wonder General Motors is renowned for producing some of the most influential muscle cars ever built.