15 Forgotten American Muscle Cars Every Enthusiast Should Know About

While

every

one is familiar with the Big Three classics, only true Gearheads

know

about these hidden gems from the Golden Age of Detroit Muscle, in today's video we're going to count down the Top 15 Forgotten American Muscle Cars, Hit the subscribe button and let's dive in. at number 15 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88

every

one

know

s that the

muscle

car was invented when Pontiac had the vision to put a powerful engine in a Lon and call it GTO in 1964, except that's not true, the goat 64 started the

muscle

car Trend and also The arms race to build faster, crazier vehicles, but Muscle Cars existed long before the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket was credited as the first Muscle Car in history, long before Pontiac had the idea of ​​putting big engines in smaller

cars

.

Oldsmobile put the big 304 Civ V8 from the '98 full-size sedans into its smaller 78 coupes, creating the Rocket 88. This genius move is said to have ushered in the era of V8 performance

cars

. The old rocket in '88 dominated NASCAR from 1949 to 1952, when the other automakers finally woke up to the idea of ​​the 1955 Chrysler C300 factory muscle originally muscle cars were called supercars primarily because they had extraordinary capabilities. Regular cars lacked one of the first Avengers vehicles to display their heroism was the 1955 Chrysler C300. The two-door hardtop was equipped with a 300 horsepower Hemi. V8 and equipped with two four-cylinder carbs for the express purpose of meeting homologation requirements to succeed in NASCAR In those days, NASCAR was truly a stock car racing circuit in the sense that the cars competing were the same .

Vehicles that anyone could walk into a dealership and buy. He had an old saying: win on Sunday, sell on Monday because everyone wanted to have a Daytona winner. Chrysler brought the 300 back in 2004 as a luxury sedan, but hardly anyone connects that to the first C Series Supercar from 1956, Baker Golden Hawk, before its demise, Baker. was known for making clunky but affordable alternatives to the popular luxury vehicle of the time, then in 1956 they made a radical change and created the Golden Hawk, which is a pretty good name for a superhero supercar, it was the coolest thing they had. never created the company. and easily the fastest with performance that rivaled the Chrysler 300 series letters, the Golden Hawk was substantially cheaper.

The 275-horsepower v8 in the relatively light car gave it an incredible power-to-weight ratio that allowed it to outperform the Ford Thunderbird and Ford Thunderbird. Chevrolet Corvette 0-60 MPH times and the quarter mile 1957 AMC Rambler Rebel In the late 1950s there were huge full-size luxury cars and affordable compacts, but AMC had the bright idea to build something in between. The result was the mid-size Rambler Rebel. which wouldn't have much to do with this list, but the automaker also added a standard 327 hp8, in turn creating the first muscle car that wasn't a land yacht, since one of the defining characteristics of a muscle car is be medium in size.

The Rambler Rebel could claim to be the first real one, but it also had four doors, which is a bit much, but the rebooted Charger is a four-door and no one has a problem calling a widebody SRT Hellcat Reed a muscle car, so maybe. the AMC also rates 1963 Chevrolet Impala Sport coupe z11 no one has

forgotten

the Impala since Chevrolet manufactured, according to Auto Week, around 1 million cars per model year from 1957 and sporadically until 2000, which is approximately equivalent to 30 million Impalas factory as number one. Choice for short passengers and later as an odd sedan, this is a car that people know, but many may not realize that for one glorious year it was a powerful car.

Chevy introduced the SS package for the Impala in 1961, which was primarily an appearance finish, but in 1963 the z11 emerged, which was equipped with a special RAC 427 tuned and designed entirely for drag racing on the NASCAR circuit. Chevy only produced 57 of these incredible cars, plus they had a lot of power. Chevy replaced many of the car's steel parts with aluminum. making it lighter than a standard number 10 Impala, the 1963 Dodge 440, an incredible car like the Dodge 440 has remained obscure mainly because it's hard to figure out what, whether it was a Dart, a Polaris, or something else entirely, is the answer. to all those questions is yes, in 1962 the top trim for the then midsize Dart was the 440, but in 1963 the dart was downgraded to a compact, which used to be the Dart and then became Dodge's midsize car and for 63 and 64 known as simply the 440 before becoming Polaris, although it came optionally with a 440ci engine, the name of the vehicle was not based on the power plant, the 440 could have everything from a 318 to a 426 Max in wedge under the hood, the latter being the The Dodge 440 was one of the fastest muscle cars ever made.

The 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt since factory drag cars were all the rage in the 1960s. Ford didn't want to feel left out, so they took the 427 intended for the Galaxy heavyweight and released it. The much lighter Fair Lane, the 1964 Fairlane Thunderbolt, was exactly what it was destined to be, a dominant drag racer that blew away the competition in the NH superstock class and delivered a championship to Ford. The reason the Thunderbolt was such a monster was because something else that was fashionable at the time underestimated engine power, the Ford 427 was rated at 425 horsepower, but most likely made over 600. horsepower, according to Hemings, only 100 Thunderbolts were built with 49 four-speeds, making it extremely rare. 1964 Mercury Comet cyclone GT mercury is not the first brand that comes to mind when most people think of muscle cars, even though they built some great ones, even cars like the puma that most people know were overshadowed ​​by the most popular Ford Mustang and Torino for One.

Shining Moment, however, in 1964, the Mercury Comet cyclone GT was the fastest vehicle in the entire Ford Lincoln and Mercury family. The Comet Cyclones were built on the same platform as the Ford Fairlane, but were much lighter and therefore faster. In '64, Mercury released some 427s. About 50 cars with the sole purpose of winning, while the Fairlane Thunderbolt competed in superstock Drag Racing, the Comet Cyclones were in the factory experimental class, which is the Anarchy division with no rules, Wild Bill Shrewsberry of Hemi underglass and Batmobile Fame raced and dominated the AFX class. in a 64 Comet Cyclone 1965 Pontiac 2 plus2 while the GTO stole all the Thunder pon quietly made another Kick-Ass muscle car in the mid-60s with the 2 plus2 GTO sounds a lot better than some kindergarten math, but the 2 plus2 was more powerful the 325 horsepower GTO and 389 was eclipsed by the 376 horsepower 421 engine of the 1965 2+ 2 and Pontiac advertised the car as the goat's big brother.

There are many sites that report that the 2 plus 2 could go from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds, but that was a heavily modified version, the 2 plus2 started as a trim option on the Catalina in 1964, but in 1965 it became its model before returning to a trim in 1967, when it was quickly discontinued. Despite being a high-performance, stylish-looking vehicle, the 2 plus2 did not sell well. As Hagerty reported, fewer than 28,000 units were sold in four model years, noting that even in a Pontiac Gathering it's a rarity, oh man, it feels really strong, it feels good. 1966 Plymouth badier Satellite The 1966 Plymouth badier Satellite is another great Mopar that is underrated due to its confusing lineage, everyone remembers the GTX and the Road Runner it eventually became but most forget that both incredible muscle cars started out as bad guys 1965, when the Plymouth Fury became the automaker's top full-size model, the Badder was changed to a midsize, the top trim for the Badder was the Satellite and in 1966 the 426 Street option was added.

Hemi. The car was tough enough for Richard Petty to win the 66th Daytona 500 And1 and then in 1967, Petty crushed the competition with 18 polls, 27 wins and 40 top-10 finishes. road to Nascar Cup champion, not many cars have that kind of street cred and it's a little strange how

forgotten

the Baddest Satellite has become. 1968 AMC Javelin AMC was the fourth automaker in the US making sports and performance cars along with Ford Chrysler and GM. The company disappeared in 1988, but before that some interesting models appeared. One of the most successful models of the late 1960s was the AMC Javelin, which was the company's answer to models like the Camaro Mustang and Challenger.

The Javelin had the weight advantage. It tipped the scales at just 2836 lb or 1286 kg and yes, we are talking about the road variant, the most popular version was the AMC Javelin TransAm, a special homologation of which 100 examples were built, each with a special red tricolor scheme , White and blue. The go package was optional for the Javelin and replaced the base 290 cubic V8 with a 390 unit that was not available even in race cars due to a 305 cubic restriction. 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Yenko Stinger. It may sound strange to some, but the Porsche 911 era is not the first rear-engined sports car to feature an air-cooled flat 6 engine, although it is debatable whether the Corvair

should

be classified as a muscle car. , it was affordable and fast even without a thunderous V8 to power it, the rear-mounted engine combined with a rear swing axle. resulted in poor handling, possibly even worse than in early Porsche 911 models, the car came under scrutiny and was even the subject of Ralph Nater's 1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed;

However, in 1972 his accusations were proven false, despite its tarnished reputation, the second generation Corvair still sold relatively well and even J Leno owns Corvair Corsa, but the car reached its peak when a well-known associate of Chevy, Don Yenko, got 100 examples, the 100 Yenko Stingers featured modified engines with up to 240 horsepower, heavy-duty suspension, fast four-speed manual transmission. the steering rack and limited slip differentials were part of the treatment, apparently the yeno corves were sold through the 1963 Copo Studabaker program Lark Studabaker is not a brand that is directly associated with American muscle cars, but it had great successes among late 1950s and late.

In the 1960s, Studabaker Lark was one of the most underrated artists of the era. Blame its humble boxy appearance, as the traditional three-box design gave no hint of the car's performance under the hood. The Lar relied on a 289 engine that some believed to be the Ford 289 V8 is actually the Stud Baker engine, which was built by copying Cadillac's new Fe design of 1949, with compact wedge-head combustion chambers, large valves and size and port size. Hydraulic valve lifters and overhead valves, there would be three power levels called R1, R2 and R3, two of which. They feature a Paxton Supercharger, this turned the Baker lar stallion into a classic sleeper that could embarrass some of the biggest names in the muscle car segment.

Number Two 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo When it comes to GM muscle cars, fans consider the Chevrolet Chevel to be the ultimate, regardless of its larger, more luxurious counterpart, the Mon Carlo. same powerful V8 engines, including the venerable 450 before the big block that sat at the top of the range, the Monte Carlo was underpinned by the gbody platform, which was essentially a modified version. A body platform with a stretched front section, engine options ranged from a 350 cubic small block to the powerful SS454 big block also found in the Chevel Chevy. The Monte Carlo gained popularity after appearing as the main character's first car in 2006's Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift, where it perfectly represented a number one sleeper car, the 1968 AMC AMX.

The AMC AMX was based on the Javelin that mentioned above, but it was shortened by 12 inches, as a result, the AMX was only two-seater, unlike the Javelin. 2 plus2 design: The AMX was to the Javelin, what the short-wheelbase Audi Quattro was to the regular model, or what the Mustang Boss 302 was to the regular Mustang. AMX stood for American Motors Experimental, the short wheelbase model was as basic as a highway. The current model may have few or no options. The 290 and 390 engine options were carried over from the regular Siiz Javelin, as were the transmission options. The shortened chassis and eliminated weight made the AMXA very agile and fast car capable of racing Corvettes of the Time with the rear gears from 4 to 44, the AMX needed a little more than 4 seconds to reach 60 MPH, making it one of the muscle cars from 0 to 44. 60 faster out of the box.