Muscle Cars from 1964-1975

A muscle car refers to an American made, high-performance vehicle made from 1964 through 1975. Equipment on muscle cars included two doors, a large V-8 engine, rear wheel drive, special trim and built on a mid-size car frame sold at an affordable price and primarily used for street use and drag racing. A more technical definition of a muscle car would be power-to-weight ratio; meaning for each unit of horsepower, you should have 12 pounds or less of the car’s total weight.

The birth of the muscle cars began with the 1964 Pontiac GTO, also known as the "Goat.” The ‘64 GTO was equipped with the bigger 325HP 389 cubic-inch V8 engine, dual exhausts, manual three-speed transmission with a Hurst shifter, hood scoops, a 3.23:1 rear axle ration, heavy duty suspension and racy trim.

In 1969, Dodge produced 503 of the Charger Daytona with a rear wing that stabilized the rear end, thus keeping it on the ground during maximum acceleration. Ford produced the first performance model Mustang, the Mustang Mach 1. Pontiac produced only eight Firebird Trans Am's with the “performance and appearance” package. This model was a convertible and is possibly the most prized car in muscle car history.

In 1970, Plymouth produced the Roadrunner equipped with the Air Grabber, a dash mounted switch revealing shark-teeth graphics when opened.

Due to new regulations in 1972, the big-block V8 engines were gone. The 1973 Pontiac Trans Am SD455 model was one of the last cars having enough performance to compete with the other muscle cars of the era, dubbed The Last of the Fast Ones by “Car and Driver” magazine.