A History Of GM Muscle Cars

The history of General Motors muscle cars took place between 1960 and 1970. Further research pinpoints it closer to a 10-year period between approximately 1967 and 1974. Muscle car, for those unfamiliar with the term, is generally considered to mean automobiles that were originally installed with built-in big, high performance engines and considerably "boxy" yet sporty bodies. They share an appearance that by present-day standards would be considered somewhat intimidating to the smaller, more economic vehicles of today.

Some Chevy aficionados claim that muscle car origins hearken back to 1958 with the powerful Chevy Impala. They point out the 348 Super Turbo and trio of double-barreled carburetors that gave this family car 315 horsepower. While other cars were being manufactured with large engines, such as the Pontiac Bonneville Sports Coupe, the general opinion is that the first true and popular muscle car was the 1964 Chevelle.

Although Chevrolet had been sinking the famous 409 engine into cars since the start of the decade, many muscle car mavens feel it was the previously-mentioned Chevelle that revved the engines of the car-buying public and inspired General Motors to make more mighty motor cars. In fact, a few years later in 1964, the different divisions of GM brought out such classic and memorable vehicles as the Oldsmobile 442, the Buick Grand Sport and the immortalized-in-song Pontiac GTO. In fact, there are those in the car community who claim the GTO was the original muscle car.

GM kept putting out winners with the 1967 Chevy Camaro and the Camaro Z28. Fans of these autos say that government emissions and insurance regulations brought an end to the age of the muscle car and the last one sold was the Pontiac Trans Am SD455 in 1974.