History of General Motors' Muscle Cars

General motors began over 100 years ago in September of 1908, founded by William Durant. The production line included vehicles like the Chevy, Cadillac, Opel, and Hummer. Acquisitions and business mergers in 1909 included Oakland Motor Company which helped shape a car company which had a strong line of cars for the public.

The 1920s and 1930s embodied the idea that there was a car for every purse and purpose, and this made General Motors successful. They developed the first concept car, the Buick Y Job. In 1926, General Motors also launched the Pontiac, which was a popular car which filled in the market gaps between the Chevy and Oldsmobile lines.

General Motors was the biggest company in America in the 1950s and in the 1960s, launched the first of the muscle cars, which went over very well for General Motors. To no one's surprise, the muscle cars were a huge success. The baby boomers loved the Chevy Z-28, Pontiac's GTO, which lead to the Firebird, the Oldsmobile Cutlass, and the fiberglass beauty of the Corvette Stingray.

The Pontiac car line was adopted from the much adored Italian Ferrari sports car, which had appeal for the younger generation of car drivers. This made the Pontiac GTO car into the iconic performance machine put into production in 1964. The design attracted a market that sold over 90,000 models by 1966. This car line was discontinued in 1975. When General Motors started putting the Chevy motors in Pontiac cars in 1981, the appeal no longer was there for the public to continue buying this car line.