I know I’m treading on dangerous territory with this list since muscle car fans are a vocal, passionate and educated bunch. In other words, they know their cars and their opinions are unwavering.
Today I’m covering 11 of my favorite muscle cars and if you pay attention to muscle cars at all, you know there are more than 11 great muscle cars.
Some of you will declare that the whole muscle car movement began with the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 or Hudson Hornet, and you would be right. But, compared to the madness that began with the ’66 Pontiac GTO, the aforementioned are anachronistic relics.
Today, muscle cars can fetch wild amounts of money at auction. In many cases, these cars, which were usually built for speed lovers on a budget, cost more than some of today’s most exotic European vehicles. I find this amusing as many muscle cars were little more than stripped down, mid-level cars with huge engines shoehorned inside.
What’s extremely cool is the current availability of blindingly fast, reliable, comfortable, safe, muscle cars today. I know, I know – many of these new cars may not have the charm, history or breeding of the 60s and 70s machines. I’ve driven or owned quite a few “real” and/or “old school” muscle cars. They clearly have their charms and mystique.
My argument for including new versions of old classics on this list is that these new muscle cars can be driven every day, get acceptable mileage and realistically can last for hundreds of thousands of miles.
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Share Your Favorite Muscle Car
I realize this list is woefully incomplete and I hope you, the reader, will add your choice for your favorite muscle cars and why you like them. Vehix will create a second (and third) article about great muscle cars based on your feedback. So please share your history and passion for muscle cars. Leave a comment below or email articles@vehix.com.
This list of 11 great muscle cars is in alphabetical order.
1970 AMC AMX (390 V8)
I give AMC a lot of grief. I detest the Matador, despise all the Eagles, mock the Gremlin and lament the mere existence of the Pacer. But, this AMX was a completely different animal. First of all, it was light, weighing about 3,000 lbs as a two-seater. It handled better than many heavier, larger muscle cars of the time. My choice, the 1970 model, had the powerful, 325 horsepower 390 C.I.D. (cubic-inch displacement) V8. These cars won races, broke records, were relatively inexpensive and, sadly were retired after a brief run. This was the best example of AMC’s good cars.
