JustAnotherDude

Heh, I don't see anything "compact" about a Mustang. It's as big as any regular sedan.

wsmatau

Tom is exactly right. The definitions of "Muscle" and "Pony" cars are very different. The Mustang created a new segment of compact sporty two door, 4-passenger cars (i.e. Mustang, Camaro, firebird, etc.)....hence the name PONY. Muscle cars were larger family type cars repackaged with a sportier feel and had oversized engines stuffed under the hoods (i.e Charger, Challenger, GTO, 'Cuda, Chevelle, Torino, etc.). Don't get caught up in the labels. Technically none of the aforementioned cars are "Sports" cars either (a pure sports car can only have two seats). People misuse these lables regularly to the point where (40 years later) today they are all pretty synonymous.

TomServo92

Park it next to a Crown Vic and see if it's the same size.

The classification is actually based on interior volume. For instance, the Mustang is basically the same length as the 500 but has nowhere near the same interior volume.

Sonic05

Park it next to a Crown Vic and see if it's the same size.
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A Crown Vic is full-size, not mid-size. Oddly enough though, my mid-size Taurus is the same lenght and has more leg room than my fathers Grand Marquee. Go figure. The Mustang IS a small car though.

Small car + V8 = Muscle car in my book

TomServo92

A Crown Vic is full-size, not mid-size. Oddly enough though, my mid-size Taurus is the same lenght and has more leg room than my fathers Grand Marquee. Go figure. The Mustang IS a small car though.

Small car + V8 = Muscle car in my book
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You'll see that I edited my post. It was meant as humor.

jwede

That's why I classify it as muscle car and not a pony car.
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Sorry, I meant to say NOT much bigger. darn proof reading anyway....

ManEHawke

Now that car's make more horsepower with smaller V8's they are Muscle car's now since they have big engines in realation to other cars in the road.
Back then Mustangs started the pony car, but all these definitions started coming out after these car's died, during the time they didnt set any definitions on stone.

05GT-O.C.D.

My feeling is that it now deserves a new term. I'm calling it a Modern Day Muscle Car. I think that fits perfect!

ponygt

OK, now class...,what have we learned...? Lets go over it one more time. A mustang is a pony car. Its also a muscle car if equiped with a high performance engine.

ManEHawke

I have learned that it's something that's usually overanalysed, and on a different day with a different group there will be new conclusions.

os121

A confusing subject, to be sure. Here is an excerpt from AutoWorld Magazine, titled "Birth of the Pony Car:":

When it was unveiled on April 17, 1964, America responded to this new, sporty four-passenger car like no other. By the time the 1965 model year had run its course, more than 680,000 Mustang cars had been sold - a record new car introduction at the time.

It spawned a new genre of vehicles called, appropriately, Pony Cars. It was a label that applied to the Mercury Cougar, Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Plymouth Barracuda, America Motors Javelin and Dodge Challenger - all models launched to latch onto the meteoric sales success of the Mustang.

ponygt

Analyzed, cussed, and discussed until it no longer makes sense. Not all explanations are opinions, some things are what they are. As Forrest Gump would say, "Thats all I have to say about that."

Sonic05

"What kind of car do you drive?"

"I drive a MDMC!"

"Huh?"

78Mach1

What is a pinto? a pony car or a donkey car?

Thunder Road

An unglorified Mustang II??

MustangDan

You have to put it in perspective at the time and you have to know the class of players and their historic definition. It was a world of mostly 6 passenger cars with a few compact cars around, and very few Sports Cars. The American sports car Corvettes was huge in size compared to most of the sports cars of the 60’s the Sunbeam Tiger, MG, Spitfire, Porsche, Lotus and the Prancing Horse Ferrari. Ford was already bloating the t-bird and at the time trying to buy Ferrari. Ferrari said yes then they say NO! This was the best thing that ever happen to American cars. Ford was mad and got into international racing with the 260, 289, and latter 427 Shelby Cobra and the GT 40 (the first super car) and of course the Shelby Mustang GT 350, this dragged GM into it international racing with the Corvette and Chaparral. As we all know Ford went on to beat everyone. Other facts that today’s press tell the half true that the Mustang was based on the Falcon, the I6 was, but the V8 drive train was from the Fairlane ( example 4 bolts vs. 5 bolts on the wheels).

The Pony car didn’t become defined until the Mustang copies. First was the Plymouth Valiant with glass fastback called Barracuda then Cougar, Camaro, Firebird, Javelin. Instead of calling them “plastic Mustangs” they called them “Pony cars”

First of all pony cars are American cars! They all had base sporty models and hot models and they were 2+2 small back seats.

Historic Muscle cars the GTO, Novas, Fairlane Torinio, 442, Roadrunner, Charger, and others. These were what at the time called intermediate (bigger than our full size now) with big 400+ cubic inch 5 seat land yachts that burned rubber and didn’t win races with turns in both directions. The GM Muscle cars were fast on the street but didn’t have much of any racing glory, the Fords and Mopar were winning NOT STOCK stock cars.

Pony cars can be setup to play and win with Sports cars Muscle cars; if the press calls the Mustang a sports car or muscle cars I guess it doesn’t matter, a rose by any other name, but I thought you should know the real difference

MustangDan

smitty

Well put. Mustang: creator of the class and the last man (or woman, since I'm pc) standing.

CelticNut

That's what I thought too, but I've recently learned that to be incorrect... the reason I posted this topic.
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Hey John, my 2 cents: I was of the understanding that muscle cars are those that were created with performance as their primary feature. I've also heard that the Mustang was the "original" pony car, meaning other cars have tried to emulate it's formula (ie. long hood, short decklid). In my opinion, the Mustang GT is a muscle car, and both current versions of the Mustang are pony cars.

Conundrum

Neither, its a fire hazard.

harleybill

Muscle Car:
Sometimes called “Pony Cars” too. Big giant V8 engines with super chargers and special exhaust created these gas-guzzlers that were really fast! Muscle cars reached their epitome in the 1960’s with the advent of the GTO, certain Mustangs, Camaro’s and some Chyrsler models like the Challenger, etc. Unfortunately the “energy crisis” killed this genre of cars.

Muscle cars are high-performance automobiles made primarily in Detroit from 1964 to 1974. Car manufacturers placed large V8 engines in mid-sized cars, giving them quite startling performance and setting off intense competition between manufacturers to produce the most powerful and extreme machine. The 1973 OPEC oil embargo, stricter air pollution laws and insurance premiums killed most muscle car models, though they are actively collected and restored.



I think you can see it goes "both" ways...