What was the Last Muscle Car?

Just thinkin'. What was the last muscle car?

As far as that goes, what was the first?

Pontiac had 'em both. The generally accepted first "muscle car" was the 1964 GTO.

And the last? 1974 Trans Am 455 "Super Duty".

Of course everyone will have their own opinions, but that pretty much sums it up...

Well, while I like the older muscle cars, I have to admit they are still cranking out cars that fit the description. Anyone who has ridden in a Z06 Vette, or one of the new 505 hp Vettes, or a recent Mach 1 Mustang, or Hemi Challenger, or any of a multitude of new cars, would have to say these cars far exceed what our beloved GTO's, Chevelles, 442's, Hemis, etc put out back then. Computers and fuel injection have taken motors into a whole new world.

So, I have to say that they still haven't made the "last" muscle car. There are even some new Caddys that will clean your clock badly.

Don

I've always thought of the Vette as a sports car rather than muscle. Kinda the same with a Caddy, hard for me to see it as a muscle car.... I guess we have entered into another era of the muscle car come back.

I agree with BED a sfar as my definition of a "Muscle" car and the "Muscle" car era. Today's cars have muscle but I consider them to be high performance, sports cars, or super cars

It is hard for me to think of any before 64, or after 74. That Devil is a smart guy.

Ummmmm...

1st... '62 409 Impala

Last... '65 Chevelle!!! [ddd[ddd[ddd

Muscle cars

64 GTO 69 Chevelle,after that Gov, took over with their smog control crap and limits on factory horsepower. as for the new crap,sorry but a muscle car is called that because it needs no help from computers and NOS to have power. stock,factory engines with lots of horsepower.All the new Challengers,Mustangs,and Camaros are look alikes to try and sell but still a computer controled car.Oh and I almost forgot the joke Pontiac new Gto.[P

To me a muscle car is a car built to go fast and handling is sort of an afterthought. I am not really sure what I would consider the last muscle car.

To me early 70s on back are the real Factory out the door Muscle Cars
After that change came to gasoline, no lead hit the streets thanks to Government EPA.
Engineering Technology took over and the new era of Performance Muscle car took over to what it is today

Tripper said:

Ummmmm...

1st... '62 409 Impala

Last... '65 Chevelle!!! [ddd[ddd[ddd

Click to expand...

The 62 409 was definately a muscle car along with the Mopars of that year, but for some unknown reason they weren't classified as muscle. I remember reading that the 64 GTO was the 1st to be built with that intention as it was a stripped down Tempest/Lemans with a larger motor. The last ones to me were the 72 Chevelles, but I'll give credit to the 74 455's.
Tripper, I think your version may be slightly biased!..CR

I believe it is generally accepted that the term mucsle car was born when Pontiac deliberately broke the factory rules for the first time in 1964 and put a big block engine into what was concidered a mid size car at the time. As for the last one..... well many people don't remember that AMC had a very strong performance image at the time. They were definately one of the last hold outs in 1974 with the AMX 401 package. 330 hp with out the ram air option. I had many factory mucsle cars pass through my hands back in the day. Chevelles, Mustangs, even the odd Mopar with big and small blocks, but that 401 AMX I had always stood out to me. [cl

Yep, the Devil is right, it was the pairing of big engine, smaller car and Pontiac really did catch both ends. And yet GM managed to marginalize the brand and kill it off.
There were other cars that had big engines and power like 409 Chevys and 427 Fords, 413 Mopars etc., but all that extra tonnage of the full size cars really didn't fit them into the musclecar category. The 64 Ford Thunderbolt Farilanes could be considered musclecars, though they weren't really available to the general public.
Like Don said, there are a lot of new cars that will run rings around the muscle cars of yore, but they just don't have the soul and that raw, nasty untamed beast feel of the real thing.

Sam_Fear said:

Just thinkin'. What was the last muscle car?

Click to expand...

2010 Viper ACR

Blue Eyed Devil said:

Pontiac had 'em both. The generally accepted first "muscle car" was the 1964 GTO.

And the last? 1974 Trans Am 455 "Super Duty".

Of course everyone will have their own opinions, but that pretty much sums it up...

Click to expand...

I'm with you on this.

had two friends that had trans ams, both 76 models one had a 455 ho, the other had a 455sd. both ran great but the sd was meaner, don't know if they where factory are not. the 64 gto was first marked but i belive there where others first, as for as last who knows, because there where still z-28's ss's, got's and gt's in late 70's and in thew 80's even 442's. so i guess it is in your likes as to when the last came along. don't forget the can am from pontiac in the early to mid 70's, or the 79-80 ta bandit specials.

last of the true power

1970 chevelle LS6 454....sweet car

Muscle car: to me, that describes a big block, four speed, positrac, maybe multiple carbs, a heater if you were lucky, rubber on the floor,(no carpet), and a pure adreniline rush when you fired it up and actually felt the horsepower in your hands and thru your seat. I know some of the new cars have more power and are faster than the old ones but, power steering, a/c, forty two speaker surround sound, leather and carpet, power windows, a screaming security system,and paddle shifters, don't go with a true "muscle car".

what about the 62 valiants? 426 wedge cars? those were to me the first small car huge engine, stripped down cars. what about the gts darts and cuda's? 67 68 69 big block abody cars? as for last muscle cars.... what about the buick grand nationals?

I think we are talking about big body vs mid size

As far as I know... nearly everyone was putting big engines into B body type cars.... I say B body as in GM but I think most were labeled that way.... may be wrong... heck, Pontiac was putting tri power on their 57's and Chevy was putting in fuel injection motors....in their big cars.....
To me they are all muscle cars..... big, mid size and compact.... if the
factory put in a high power motor, they were muscle cars.... now, in the purest form.... like barrett Jackson, I'm sure they would disagree.... any vehicle much past 1971 -73 were the beginning of the end of the high horsepower motors due to the gas going to unleaded fuels, converters and all that... so I guess in my opinion a "muscle" car is anything that has a big motor, big horsepower regardless of size..... JMHO