I will give you the prespective from New England. I grew up in LYNN, Mass., near the GE which made Jet Engines, as you can guess all the machinists who worked for GE had Muscle cars. First they raced on the LYNN MARSH ROAD, long straight road between Lynn and Revere, then everying by 1966 shifted to the "Carwash" located on the Lynnway and the Nahaunt Causeway at night. I was very much around during the hayday of the true muscle cars and loved every minuite of it, thus today I still am a motorhead wishing for those simpler days to return...ok ok I know I am a throughback.
Cobras were more of a track car until the Ford Shelby Cobras came out first with the GT350, then the GT500KR. There was a mafia dealer named Al Grillo in Lynn who had several on the lot (62 Cobras) and many many of the Mustang Cobras....in the early 70's Al Grillo lost his dealership and was found dead, ironically on the Lynn Marsh Road. Well if it was not for his dealership in the Boston area, I don't think we would have seen any of these cars. Al Grillo was the King of Fords in the mid 60s. Those Fords were more common to see then the small two seat Cobra of 1962, very rarely did you see those. The Ford Mustang GT with a 390 were great cars and you would see many of those, for some reason most were a cooperish color or dark green. Of coarse the Torino, with its Cobra Jet was present, but really not much of a threat in the 1/4 mile, they were considered to big and heavy.... In reality the Mercury was really not a big player in this area, sure it had the Cougar XR7, with a 390, but it really did not sell for the price they wanted in my area of the country.
Mopar and Chevrolet were most popular. In the begining it was all Plymouth Fury and a car call Chrysler 300 with hemi and dual quads...and the occasional Hemi...in the Plymouth Fury, but alot more Hemis were in the large New Yorkers and Imperials. Again the Fury was considered a Police Car, but still Dodge and Plymouth had a great run of Hemis, especially for track cars only, but very few on the street until the late 60s. Chevy had the 409 impala SS, and just started with Chevy II SS (283), then the Nova started up. The Covair Spyder was a quick car, although people who seemed to like British Sports cars seemed to like the Corvair. Then as the mid sixties approached, the 64 GTO start to catch on, but it was the 65-66 that really started to make things turn, around the same time Chevelle and Malibu started to run, and very quietly as if in the background the Buick GS400 was running and beating a lot of cars, but because it was a Buick was not popular. But Buick did make a big mark in 1970 with the GSX, again very expensive but VERY VERY fast, remember Buick had a special engine that produced an enormous amount of torque, those Buick Heads were straight up... Then Mopar or better known as the Dodge Boys (Y'all come back know...hear) started its big push, with all its Chrysler products, the Road Runners, Dart GTS (not common), Barracuda 340's, Dart Swingers (VERY popular) up to the top end Hemi Cornets and Chargers....Charger came out as a fastback with mild engine set up a 383....until it totally changed in 68. This time is when the Hemi made its mark on the street. However not to be ignored by the big three, ...RAMBLER now AMC, had the AMX with the GO PACK, which I thought was the most underated car of all, it was the only other car that could claim to be a sports car (two seats) other then the Corvette produced in American, AMC went on to produce the Rambler Scrabbler, which took the drag racing community by surprise,,,that thing screamed and nobody talks about it today. It was red white and blue...meanwhile GM continued to put larger engines in smaller cars as whell as big cars...by 1967 the Impala could be purchased with a 427 tripower engine pushing well over 390 HP, far superior then the heavy torques 409. The Corvette was the car considered to be the king and in many corners far superior to the Mustang Cobra or even the Hemi Cuda....Corvettes, Chevelles, Malibus, and Camaros were winning, along with there cousins the GTO, OLDS 442, Grand Prix 455, Impala 427, BUICK GS455, Buick Riveaira 430 with dual quards it screamed, and the Firebird. Then Mopar with its line including the Demon, Super Bee, Super Bird, Road Runner, Dodge Dart, Dodge Swinger, Cornet, GTX, Challenger T/A, Cuda, and the list continues.
Muscle cars were the family sedan or hardtop with a hudge engine, Pony cars were built specifically for sport, speed and daily driving (Mustang, Camaro and Firebird) and the Corvette remained in a class by itself, expect for the AMX...it was the only true AMERICAN Sports car (not counting the Avanti, Excaliber, or AMX)....
I personally owned a Buick GS400 1968 Stage I (yes a Stage I three were produced in 68), a 1969 Yenko Camaro SS 427, and a 62 Corvette fuel injected never got that on the road bad accident damage, but I sold it to buy the Buick. I did race at NE Dragway, and did see all the major race cars and drivers.
I do remember this, cars then had no air, no power steering, no fancy radio systems, no electric windows or power locks...everybody tried to get the stripped down version (less weight), with the biggest engine. Firestone Wide Oval Red Line tires were the shoes with Cheetha Slicks, many used shackles to raise the car forward, lifting the back, traction of hop bars were used, headers could be installed in an afternoon, aluminum manifolds were the choice if you had money, and almost everybody had an STP sticker that graced the rear window. Sunoco 260 gas was the rage (highest octane I think it was 111 for the street), racing stripes were used by some, but most stuck to factory stripes or paint. The 396 then 454 Chevy engine was the most popular while Mopar most popular was the 383 and the 440 Magnum Wedge. Very few Hemis roamed the street, but they were there, and the car most faired was the 427 Corvette or Camaro. Nobody new much about COPO's or other factory type race cars, most were interested in just buying a basic car and building it up in the backyard.
It seemed the insurance companies and pollution laws killed the muscle car in 1972, then it was dead in 1973. To me the last good year was 1970, and some of 71....after that it wend way down hill fast and has never been the same, its something your read about.
Well thats my take
Kinda missed those days, but if you are really objective about it, isn't that what the people with the Hondas, Eclipes and Accura's are doing today...just what we did
Unless you lived it you will never never experience what we did from reading about it or hearing the stories.
One of my fastest (and quickest) rides was in a 66 L79 Chevy II 327-365HP 4sp.3.55 WHAT A FUN & FAST LITTLE RIDE!!!!! NEVER should of sold THAT ONE!!!!!!
:cry
