What makes a "Muscle Car"?

[ford man xf]

Was speaking to my old man about Muscle Cars, and what it takes for a Muscle Car to be a Muscle Car and him being an old V8 fan thinks it has to be a V8, yet I see plenty of Valiant Chargers with the good old six in them that produce good power and are a classic, they are deemed a Muscle Car. Same with some of the Torana's.

So why can't the F6 Typhoons be classed as a muscle car? Does it all come down to the exhaust note?

No one would class my mates Nissan Skyline R33 as a muscle car either, yet they produce some decent power and are reasonably quick.

[Falcon_Phill]

Well never your mates skyline, its not muscle, its mods and Japanese engineering that make them go quick!

Id say old V8's up until the mid 80's maybe, or any classic old cars that sound tough and have the looks to go with. Thats just me though.

[WindsorXR]

I would class a muscle car as been majority of 60's and 70's American or Aussie made cars with a V8. with the exception to a small few of 6 cylinder cars.
Plus or minus a few cars in these groups.

Thats my opinion anyway.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Have a look here http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...inition+muscle

[ford man xf]

Thanks for the link!

[andrewr]

For me a muscle car has to get its power through cubes.. Not revs and certasinly not turbo.

Some 6 cyls would slip in but mostly it has to be v8.

[ILLaViTaR]

I'd say it has to be 60s-70s.

An F6 typhoon looks nowhere near as tough as them.

And a skyline well.... I doubt a little wimpy car like that would ever look tough.

Muscle to me means something that looks tough, heavy and has a deep exhaust.

To me Skylines have a girly exhaust sound (god I hate those stupid bucket exhausts), rice lights and are small and weak compared to a big tough muscle car.

Remember it has to be tough, those old cars had metal everything. Now cars are designed to crumple in a crash and have plastic bumpers.

That hardly sounds muscle to me.

Of course the opinion varies from person to person.

[exrtnz]

Heaps of Hp and great handling, and a aggressive appearance. And must be a V8 of course.

[exrtnz]

If you are going to put a Skyline in there, you might as well put the Fiat and Citroens there as well.
Muscle Cars = V8 ,High Hp ,awesome sound.

[greenfoam]

For me anything that makes tons of torque from lots of cubes with a big heavy clutch and almost armour plate used as the metal of choice to build the bumpers from = muscle car. Anything from XR to XC in Falcons and HK-HQ in Holdens and all American cars of that time and earlier. Those Australian cars I mentionied are not very far removed from American models anyway, once you look past the outer sheet metal a HK and HQ for example are almost dead ringers for a Camaro

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by exrtnz

Heaps of Hp and great handling, and a aggressive appearance. And must be a V8 of course.

I'd have almost said the opposite. Heaps of grunt and awful handling.

Muscle to me is 60's-70's big HP car. Doesn't have to have a V8 as I'd class an E49 Charger as a muscle car.

Skyline or an F6 as muscle? No chance.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by WhatsMyUserName

I would class a muscle car as been majority of 60's and 70's American or Aussie made cars with a V8. with the exception to a small few of 6 cylinder cars.
Plus or minus a few cars in these groups.

Thats my opinion anyway.

US muscle cars are fairly easy to define; 60/70s US mass production performance variant, with mid sized body, big block (usually 400 or more cubes), carby, four on the floor, front and back seater, bling optional.

In Oz it was really just the 60/70s carby Bathurst Oz production variant = "Win on on a Sunday, sell on a Monday".

[JD86]

muscle to me is 60s and 70s cars, not necessarily a v8, but most are, tough appearance, heaps of metal so they are heavy

no new cars are muscle cars in my eyes, not yet anyway

[ratter]

: Dejavu

[Donny]

60's and 70's cars with tunns of grunt, poor handelling, bugger all brakes. Mountains of steel, vinyl trim. Mostly without mod cons. Coke Bottle styling, poor visibility.

All the newer range of cars like the B series GT's, the F6's etc are modern performance cars. The closest terminology would be Modern Muscle.
Plastic vs metal aside, they go well, stop well, handel, are usually packed with mod cons etc.
The newer cars will never be like the older muscle as they lack that massive road prescence of the 60's and 70's muscle car era.

V8 is prefrence, but hot 6's are there too. The 265 Hemi from the Chrysler camp, in R/T guise would hose off standard GT's and HO's and easily blew away the Holdons of the time.

[Tha Jack]

This thread is just going to go downhill. Everyone has different ideas about what a muscle car is as it was pointed out in the other thread. Let's not start this arguement again.

[caprispecial]

Nobody has mentioned it yet but for me a muscle car has to include a ford that won Bathurst three times in a row and probably would have been four if it wasnt excluded. Yes it was the ford cortina gt. No big ford muscle has been able to replicate that feat.

[Interceptor]

basically a car that was built with the sole intention of being fast, not built to cosset the driver in leather bound climate controlled luxury and all the other pointless crap that invariably slows you down

think of it in modern(ish) day terms as being like this

ED XR8 Sprint = built to go fast, with barely enough mod cons to make it a kinda sensible proposition as a daily driver
EB GT= ok, so its got the go fast parts, but also has the full leather trim, premium audio, a shitpile of sound deadening, bigass bodykit, etc

[ford man xf]

I guess its the harshness of the car as well, modern day cars when you are driving in them and sitting at the lights, it's as if the car is not even started, you nearly fall asleep, in the older cars the bumpy ride, lumpy idle make it feel alive, it's probably the harshness that makes it a muscle car?

[DJM83]

: not another thread on this, it will end up like the other one

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by exrtnz

Heaps of Hp and great handling, and a aggressive appearance. And must be a V8 of course.

Shame,that knocks out all the GT's and most other V8's from the 60's and 70's



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[MITCHAY]

It has to be old, have a big f off engine, the aerodynamics of a brick, crap brakes and handling. I guess that makes them more crazy (and fun) to drive although I can't say I'm likely to ever spend money on one

[CAT600]

Ok, Here's a curveball:

2007 Shelby GT500?

Big hp V8 with a blower, $hitty live axle ride comfort/handling but looks retro-tough-as-nails.

Does it fit into the 60-70's Muscle car theme?

[ZA-289]

For me it has to be big, old, V8, look tough and generally handle like a bucket of crap!

[Wally]

Originally Posted by CAT600

Ok, Here's a curveball:

2007 Shelby GT500?

Big hp V8 with a blower, $hitty live axle ride comfort/handling but looks retro-tough-as-nails.

Does it fit into the 60-70's Muscle car theme?

Not if its a sports car or pony car.

Does it really matter? I never heard the term until the eighties, so I would guess it was made up by some motor mag writer reminiscing about the good old days.

[Sourbastard]

This is what makes a muscle car.



People in white shirts... possibly mormons.

[montyv8]

hasn't this been discussed in great detail in many other threads already?


no, i don't mean mormons assembling mustangs..

[Sourbastard]

Originally Posted by montyv8

no, i don't mean mormons assembling mustangs..

True. They could be jehovas witnesses.

Jesus - Powered by Ford

[1LOUDXFUTE]

would you guys classify a RX3 as a muscle car.. ive heard them called japanese muscle before, ive never thought of them that way before

[Bent8]

Originally Posted by sourbastard

This is what makes a muscle car.



People in white shirts... possibly mormons.

Whoever they are, they know that only a BOSS 429 will do the job.......or is that a 428 CobraJet?...