Welcome to the 1960s, the decade of the original muscle car. These are the 10 muscle machines that really mattered,
1. 1962 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty
the 1962 Pontiac Catalina Super Duty. To be clear, the full size 1962 Pontiac, Catalina and Grand Prix were not meant to be 60s muscle cars, as the term hadn't even been coined as precursors to the muscle car. Full size cars with powerful engines did play a part in racing, with Ford Galaxies, Chevy Impalas, and Chrysler 300 tearing up speedways and drag strips. Everywhere, Pontiac was in the fray too, and dominated Motorsports prior to the AMA's ban on racing in 1963. Pontiac, however, had already set the stage for the muscle car revolution with its spectacular series of Super Duty engines. The 421 cubic inch Super Duty Pontiac engine had a 405 horsepower rating. And those built after March of 1962 had larger valves and a freer flowing intake manifold for even more performance. To make the full size performers even faster, Pontiac puts some Catalina and Grand Prix models on a special weight loss program consisting of aluminum body panels and hood. At that moment, the dye was cast.That would be led by Pontiac.
2. 1963 Plymouth Savoy Max Wedge
1963 Plymouth Savoy Max Wedge While General Motors was still mostly building full size cars, Chrysler had already moved to an intermediate body. Beginning in 1962, the last minute production changed to a smaller car put Chrysler in a pinch. It scaled down designs of Virgil Exner's larger cars. Now on a smaller platform, looked cartoonish and out of step. Nevertheless, Chrysler worked fast to redesign the mid size B body range for 1963, with Plymouth getting the better end of the deal stylistically. With Elwood Engle at the helm of the design department, the engineers in Auburn Hills got to work on the Max Wedge big block engine, with a team led by Tom Hoover the resulting 413. DI Max Wedge Big Block Chrysler was introduced in 1962 as the Super Stock 413 in Plymouth livery and the Ram Charger 413 in Dodge livery. These were the 1st 60s muscle cars. For 1963, the Max Wedge grew to 426 cubic inches with output pegged at 4:25. Horsepower when combined with the industry's first three speed automatic transmission, the lightweight 426 CI Max wedge equipped B bodies were nearly unbeatable on the track. Sales for B body Plymouth Intermediates in 1963 increased 44% / 1962 due to Elwood Angles more streamlined styling. Around 250 Max Wedge Plymouths were built in 1963, making them super rare. Nevertheless, Max Wedge cars were generally off limits to the public. In an ironic twist, the 1962 to 1963 Max Wedge cars from Chrysler were the first intermediates with big engines. The first cars. Satisfy the muscle car recipe.
3. 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt
1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt In 1963, the factories were still relying on full size cars to win in NASCAR and on the drag strip. For Ford, that meant using the big Galaxy 500. These were fast with Ford's new 427 CI big block Fe. But not fast enough. What Ford needed to get into the 60s muscle cars game was something smaller and lighter. And it would come in the form of the 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolts were based on Ford's new mid size Fairlane platform that debuted in 1962. They used Ford's high output 427. DIF E big block, which churned out 425 horsepower at 6000 revolutions per minute. Ford produced just 100 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolts in 1964, the only year of its production with 49 four speeds and 51 automatics being built, though deemed illegal for use in NASCAR. They went on to win the 1964 NHRA Super Stock Championship. NASCAR would pivot in 1965, banning the Chrysler Hemi and handing stock car racing victory to Ford. Besides offering the powerful 427 Fe and a midsize Fairlane, the lightweight intermediate took further measures by replacing the steel hood, doors, fenders. And bumper with lightweight fiberglass units while plexiglass took the place of glass side and rear windows.
4. 1965 Pontiac GTO Tri-Power
5. 1966 Dodge Coronet Street Hemi
6. 1968 AMC AMX
1968 AMC AMX American Motors jumped into the muscle car game relatively late. While American Motors had framed its lineup as the car for the human race, choosing to focus on family transportation, larger competitors were already moving toward the brewing youth market performance battle because American Motors had revolutionized the US auto industry. Just a few years earlier, by spearheading the movement towards smaller cars, it had unwittingly become one of the biggest catalysts for the 60s muscle cars movement, essentially opening a door that AMC refused to walk through. Thus, by 1968, AMC found itself playing catch up by way of remedy AMC came out with. Designer **** teagues game changing Javelin and the even sexier MX. One of the best cars to go after both Ford's Mustang and Chevy's Corvette by creating a compact 2 seat sports car that was priced closer to the Mustang than the Corvette. The top engine for 1968 was the 315 horsepower 390 CI, which. When combined with a 3000 LB curb, weight provided vertiginous acceleration at a bargain basement price. What's important about this is that the AMX allowed American Motors to continue pursuing its high value strategy unabated, the same strategy that had made the Rambler Americans such a success five years prior, only with the twist.
7. 1969 Chevy COPO 427ci Camaro
1969 Chevy Copo Camaro You can't discuss 60s muscle cars without including the Camaro, and when it comes to Camaros nothing beats the 1969 COPO or central office production order. Copos were created for various reasons on different car models, usually to build out non performance vehicles. With special equipment, but a few dealerships realize that they could be used to back door Chevy's top engine into its lightest car, which they could then sell as a factory built super car. In this case, Coco meant a 427 cubic inch big block Chevy V8, a mill that was generally restricted to top of the line Corvettes and full size Chevys. In 1969, there was an internal restriction on engine sizes over 400 cubic inches for cars as small as the Camaro's. Commentators often point to the 1969 COPO Camaro with the 427 CI big block Chevy engine as the pinnacle of Chevy performance in the 1960s. But there were actually 2 COPO 427 Camaros, the COPO 9561 with the solid lifter L72 iron block 420. Seven 1015 units are estimated to have been built, and the rarer COPO 9560 with the aluminum ZL1427. CI big block, of which only 69 were built. COPO Camaros were commonly known to be sold by dealers like Yenko, Fred Gibb and Burger. Fun factoid in 1969 one could even get a Camaro with a V-75 code liquid tire chain option. A thinly disguised remote controlled burnout juice dispenser that sprayed attraction. Eight on the rear tires, of which at least one was added to a COPO Camaro.
8. 1969 Ford Boss 429 Mustang
1969 Ford boss 429 Mustang If we momentarily set aside the argument that pony cars like the Ford Mustang are 60s muscle cars and not pony cars, we need to consider the most potent of the breed, the 1969 boss 429 Mustang. We say most potent because the 1969 boss. 429 Mustang wasn't supposed to be a high profile muscle car for the street but a back door ticket to win in NASCAR. Though homologated for NASCAR by means of the Mustang racers competed with the Ford Hemi in the mid sized Torino. In fact, the Cobra Jet 428 Mustang was usually a quicker car than the Boss 429, but since the boss. Nine was built for NASCAR and detuned for the street. The 429 only needed the right gearing, exhaust and tune up to make rivals disappear in short order. When the Boss 429 Mustang was approved for production in March of 1969, it was destined to be a rarity with only 859 Boss 429 Mustangs being built in 1969. And 499 examples made in 1970. The engines were rated at a sleepy 375 horsepower, but with little effort proved to be worth much more. Note the hydraulic Cam of 1969 was replaced with a mechanical tappet for 1970 because the engine Bay of the Mustang was too narrow to fit the Boss.This evening there hemi engines and special performance equipment.
9. 1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona
1969 Dodge Hemi Daytona By the end of the 1960s, perfect conditions existed for Detroit's horsepower battle to reach a screaming crescendo. Kids born after the close of the Second World War had reached maturity. The space race, with all its technology and tow, was at its zenith. Fuel was still cheap and plentiful. And racing both straight line and on the superspeedways was capturing public attention. This is when Dodge hatched an outrageous plan to take over NASCAR by building 503 specially equipped Dodge Chargers to sell to the public, making it one of the most recognized 60s muscle cars. The public had never seen such a spectacle. 24 a car with a nose cone shaped in the wind tunnel and a rear wing that looked more at home on a supersonic jet fighter than a passenger car. Moreover, the new Dodge Daytona would be available with Chrysler's invincible 426 CI Hemi, that other thorn in NASCAR side, which was still healing. Dodge had called NASCAR's bluff.Top spots in automotive history.
10. 1970 Chevelle SS 454
1970 Chevelle SS454 The General Motors mid-size a body platform, and the Chevy Malibu in particular get much of the credit for growing the 60s muscle cars in the Chevy Malibu's top form, the Chevelle s s. The car would sit atop the popularity pile of muscle cars for decades, cementing its reputation. It's a potent machine. For 1970, the 454 CI Big Block Chevy became available on the Chevelle as part of Equipment Option Group RPO Z15, and this was the magic handshake you needed to special order the 1970 Chevelle SS454. The 454 CI Big Block was available in two flavors. A 360 horsepower LS5 and the solid lifter cowl inducted 11 to one compression 450 horsepower LS6. At the time, this was the most horsepower ever offered in a production car. Just 4475 LS 6 powered SS454 Chevelle. Were produced in 1970, but there was a fly in the ointment. After 1968, the Chevelle Super Sport was demoted from being a separate car model to just a trim line of the Malibu, prior to which a specific VPN identifier could be used to positively identify a real Super Sport model. From 1969 onward, however, the Chevelle. S could only be identified through the sleuthing of dealership paperwork, broadcast sheets, Monroney stickers and other indirect means. It's therefore difficult to establish the genuine provenance of a 1969 and later Chevelle s s, making such examples even rarer and more expensive than production numbers might. Otherwise indicate.
