http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto...ll-time-1.aspx

 

Wow, a good list! I would have liked to see an AMC on there but the S/ C Rambler and Rebel Machine just weren't as popular as those listed. All of the ones listed are pure muscle with the GTO being the only one that lacked major cubes and horsepower that the others had.

There were also a lot of full size muscle cars in the early 60's like the '62 Bel Air 409, '63 Z-11, the 421 Bonnevilles, and the Max Wedge mopars. But since so many people think muscle really started with the '64 GTO, this list is good to go.

 

I approve. Any true muscle car list will always contain the Roadrunner somewhere towards the top.

 

the only car i agree with is the 454 chevelle .. all others should be called " super cars " i never saw a 429 BOSS nor 426 HEMI anything when i was growing up in that era .. at most there would be a 455 buick or two ..the 440 roadrunner belongs there much more than the hemi .. same for the 428 cobra jet ,, dozens of them around back then ...

 

my dad had a 68 or 69 roadrunner, not sure which kind. but sadly he sold it before my days

 

>>shrugs<< while I like older Musclecars this list is just a trip down memory lane like watching WWII footage. Cool to watch but zero relevance.

 

I think the 69 corvette with the 427 tri power should be on that list? Maybe top ten list

 

a sports car ?

 

I miss 2 door, mid-sized, rwd, V8 cars.

A real back seat where adults can sit comfortably, and you can take the family on vacation. Smooth ride, nice little V8 rumble. I'm even fine with the spit bench front seat.

Oh, the good ol' days!

 

top ten sports cars??

 

http://t.autos.msn.com/features/the-...cid=autos_4874

20 of the most influential Chevrolet vehicles

 

Who cares!

 

you wait and see someone will care.

 

My first ride in a muscle car when I was 12 or 13! Guy down the street just got back from VNam gave me a ride and wowsa!!

 

Being from that era and owning a 1970 Road Runner and having been around plenty of the classic muscle cars (which, BTW, were not called by that name back then. They were known as 'Super Cars') I can tell you that the only thing they had going over today's performance cars was torque. That was what you got with a good OHV V8. It was routine to get well into the 400s of lb/ft and that was what pushed your spine into the back seat. Horsepower is what you read about, torque is what you feel.
I'll take my Mustang over the old Road Runner any day of the week.

 

Naw you feel horsepower, torque can't do anything without RPM and the result is horsepower.


An engine with more average horsepower (which is what big cube engines high torque engines provided) will accelerate quicker which is where that "punch" comes in. Especially if the number of gears in the transmission is limited.


The other path for increasing the average horsepower in an engine is to increase the number of gear ratios and allow an engine with less torque and equal horsepower or more horsepower to reach that peak power more often.


A very good example of this is the Getrag backed 5.0 and the Tremec backed GT500. While both transmissions have the same number of gears, the Getrag is setup so that it allows the 5.0 to increase its average power using five gears instead of four (like the GT500 and its double OD).

 

no way Tq gets you going and hp keeps you going.

 

Sorry, but that is incorrect. Even a dynamometer can't measure horsepower, but measure torque and arrive at a horsepower figure through mathematic algorithms. IOW, horsepower is an abstract, torque is the absolute. If you have enough torque, you don't need lots of gears. Many quarter mile racers have been run with 2 speed gear boxes.

That's another good way of looking at it.

 

Can't say I agree with including the Buick while excluding the 1969 Hurst Olds 442 W-32





It was one of only about 3 true muscle cars that could run sub-13 second 1/4 miles bone stock.

 

Sure I said that when I referred to average power in a combination. Whether its a high torque engine using fewer gears or a high horsepower engine using more gears. The combination that produces the most average power will win the acceleration game.


Torque by itself is just force and doesn't do any work. In the case of an engine that force is combined with RPM to accomplish work (horsepower).