The Return of the American Muscle Car

The Return of the American Muscle Car, for those of you who grew up in the 50's and 60's you knew of no other type of car than the American V8 muscle car.  They were big, they were loud, and they were fast.  For the generation that grew up after the 60's we were on the tail end of a point in history that defined the V8 muscle car.  Some of us had a parent or an uncle or grandfather that had a rip snarling muscle car tucked away in a garage or in a shed somewhere.  Some of us were even lucky enough to purchase a used one years after it reigned supreme. 

I wasn’t one that was lucky enough to own one, but my father did.  It was a 1966 Dodge Charger, and I know when it affected me as the symbol of pride.  I was around it my whole life as my father had purchased it before I was born, back then it was his daily driver.  But I remember one Sunday afternoon when I was about eight years old when it really struck me as an icon of emotion and excitement.  We had just returned from church and while my mom was in the kitchen making us some lunch dad pulled the beast out of the garage for an oil change and a car wash.  I remember it as if it was yesterday, that quiet Sunday afternoon as the engine cranked over and proceeded to rattle the windows in the house as it loped aggressively, dad giving it a gently tap of throttle every couple of seconds making it growl in the most exhilarating way.  Its mean V8 begging to be ran, asking to be let wide open.

Later that day he took me for a drive in it, I could barely see over the dash.  He would open her up when we got to a straight section of road, and I remember the raw power and explosion of acceleration pinning me to the seat.  It was that day that I knew I would never see any other car the same as the muscle car.  Years passed and I tried to find ways to own one myself, but never had the opportunity as it just wasn’t practical.  Many of the old classics were becoming hard to find and very expensive, and the car manufactures just weren't producing anything anymore that had the real muscle that the classics had.

Then in 2005 I read an article in Car and Driver, about the new Chevrolet Camaro concept, and I was in love all over again.  It looked mean, it had similar lines to the '69 Camaro and best of all it had real gut wrenching, tire screaming power.  Over the next several years all the American car manufactures were kicking out tributes to the cars that made them famous.  For a muscle car lover this has been a dream come true, a chance at owning something that most of us thought would be gone forever.

Pontiac brought back the GTO while its lines look nothing like the original '65 or even the '70 Judge, it did pack a powerful 6.0 liter V8 under the hood that demanded your respect.  While not the top car in my list of muscle cars brought back from the dead, the GTO still will get your blood pumping.

Ford introduced radical changes to its never dying Mustang and brought back the original look of the pony car.  Probably the most recognized muscle car of all time this new little pony car looked so much like its original design from 1965 that I even caught myself doing a double take when I first saw one.  And the distinguished mustang growl of Ford's small block V8 that just sends shivers up your back. 

The Chrysler Corporation brought back two icons of the muscle car era, however one fell far short of what the original was while the other makes you want to smile from ear to ear.  The Dodge Charger came back but, really missed the mark of being a true muscle car again.  While it was given two choices of the ever popular Hemi V8, it didn't carry the lines of a performance vehicle or a muscle car, looking more like a box on wheels and less like its original counter part that seemed to look like it was going 90mph sitting still.  Plus it had 4 doors, not really the muscle car theme.  The other was of course the Dodge Challenger and this time Dodge got it right.  Just one look and you are thinking of a time when gas was cheap and the sound of a V8 was all you could hear at a racetrack.

If you’re like me you’re looking at these cars of new and remembering a time when the V8's ruled. You’re thanking the manufacturers for one last tribute to what made the muscle car famous. As car enthusiast or a car collector these are cars that will live on forever in our hearts and will inspire the next generation of car lovers.