10 Non-American Muscle Cars
Associating between America and cars, to most of us, means muscle cars. American car manufacturers are most known for models with massive shouty V8s, with rear-wheel drive and optional limited slip differential. However, muscle cars do exist globally.
Associating between America and cars, to most of us, means muscle cars. American car manufacturers are most known for models with massive shouty V8s, with rear-wheel drive and optional limited slip differential. However, muscle cars do exist globally. These are the 10 best muscle cars outside the United states.
1. Vauxhall VXR8
Successor to the Monaro VXR, the first Vauxhall VXR8 had a 6 litre V8 engine, with over 400 horsepower. Later it was upgraded to 425 by getting the same engine from a Chevrolet Corvette C6. The same engine also had a ‘Bathurst S’ version which was supercharged, named after Australia’s famous racetrack. In 2013 the VXR8 got a whopping 577 horsepower supercharged V8 from Camaro ZL1.
2. Opel Diplomat V8
In 1964, successor to the ‘Kapitan’ from the early 1960s, Opel launched a new model with either a 2.6 I6, 2.8 I6, 4.6 Chevy V8 or a 5.4 Chevy V8. From 1966 the Diplomat was available only in its V8 forms. In 1969 the Diplomat was re-launched in its second generation “Diplomat B” and had either a 2.6 I6 or a 5.4 V8. Even though It’s under General Motor’s ownership and the Chevy motor, the Opel Diplomat is considered to be one of the most iconic foreign classic muscle cars.
3. Aston Martin Virage
Produced between 1989 and 2000 (relaunched in 2011), the Aston Martin Virage featured a 5.3 litre V8. With just 1,050 cars made, it is also quite rare. In 1992 Aston Martin also introduced a conversion service featuring a 6.3 litre V8 from AMR1 racing car that reached a top speed of 282 Km/h (175 mph). Aston Martin also had a Virage Volante version, two shooting brake versions, a saloon and a convertible.
4. BMW E90/92/93 M3
The first and only BMW M3 to come with a V8. Began production in 2007 until 2013, the BMW M3 had a modest 4 litre v8 that produced 414 horsepower. Available chassis were a four door saloon (e90), two door coupe (e92) and a two door convertible (e93). The coupe version was initially set to be called the M4 but remained under the M3 name, by BMW, due to interest in retaining the M3 line. In 2011 a pickup version was built as a one-off from the convertible version.
5. Jaguar XK8 & XK
Launched in 1996, as a replacement for the XJ-S, the XK8 was a proper British muscle car. A newly developed V8 engine was introduced with a supercharged model. Ignition system from Japan, transmission from Mercedes and a French lighting system, it was a world car. Renewed in 2006, again, with a v8, had featured an all-aluminum monocoque and a top speed of 300 km/h making it the 3rd fastest jaguar ever made (Jaguar over the years had a lot of fast cars including record speed production road cars). In 2014 production ended, and the F-Type was introduced as a replacement, featuring a V8 or a V6.
6. Nissan Skyline C110
Also called the Datsun 160K/180K/240K, it is considered being the most American-like Japanese car to be made. It was made between 1972 and 1977 as a four-door sedan, two-door coupe or a five-door station wagon. However, it did not feature a v8. Instead it had a 1.6, 1.8 or a 2 litre inline-4 engines, 2 versions of a 2 litre inline-6 and a 2.4 inline-6. The styling, which what made it look so American, is known as “Ken & Mary” or “Kenmeri”. Ken & Mery were a young couple featured in a skyline ad campaign.
7. Holden Maloo
The Holden Maloo is what happens when you combine a pickup truck with a modern muscle car. Classified as a ‘high performance utility vehicle’, the Holden Maloo began production in 1990. The Maloo began as a 5 litre V8 and the current Maloo has a 6.2 litre supercharged V8 from a Camaro ZL1. “Maloo” means ‘thunder’ in Aboriginal language, the language of the native Australians. The Maloo has a top speed of 271 km/h, and is the fastest pickup vehicle in production. Honorable mention is the Commodore which shares a lot with the Maloo, both under Holden’s HSV division (Holden Special Vehicles).
8. Jensen Interceptor
Even though it’s classed at a GT-Classic, the 6.3 litre ‘Golden Commando’ V8, the 7.2 litre ‘TNT’ V8 and the 5.9 litre ‘LA’ V8 gives it an unofficial muscle car title. Only 6,408 were made in a 10 year period between 1966 and 1976. The car also featured a limited slip differential and Jensen was between the first carmakers to sell production cars with four-wheel drive. A special ‘Jensen FF’ was made and also featured anti-lock brakes and traction control which were very rare when it was made in 1967. Only 320 FFs were made, making them super rare.
9. Alfa Romeo Montreal
The Alfa Romeo Montreal was debuted as a concept car in 1967 in Montreal, hence its name. The car had a small but advanced DOHC 2.6 litre V8 and featured fuel injection. The car had 197 horsepower and had a limited slip differential. The car redlined at 7,000 rpm, which in 1967 was unheard of. With a top speed of 220 km/h (136 mph) and 0-100 km/h in 7.4 seconds, it was ahead of its time. The car proves that you don’t need a massive engine to have the specs of a supercar. The car was discontinued in 1977, and Alfa Romeo was struggling to sell the remaining cars. Around 3900 cars were made, and today the car is a very desirable classic.
10. Mercedes W204 C63 AMG
The W204 C class began production as a usual ordinary German saloon car in 2007. Later, AMG gave it steroids and the C63 AMG was born. AMG gave it a 6.2 litre (badged 6.3) of Germanic power with 451 horsepower under the bonnet, pushing the car to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. It is one of the fastest sedans on the market today, rivaling BMW and Audi. The engine was originally ment for DTM racing and is used in other AMG series cars, later replaced by a downsized 5.5 litre v8 which was bi-turbocharged.
Bonus! Mercedes W204 C63 AMG Black Series
If the ‘regular’ AMG wasn’t impressive enough, AMG gave the car even more power and torque with an impressive new aero kit including a rear spoiler, spitters and diffusers. A lighter crankshaft with new forged pistons and connecting rods were given too, controlled by a new ECU. Producing 510 horsepower, 59 more than the standard engine, that already makes big figures. The engine redlines at 7200 rpm instead of 6800 and makes 457 lb-ft of torque instead 443. The AMG black series C63 is one of the best muscle car outside the united states, and a true contender to the American muscle car.
Honorable mentions:
- Valiant Charger R/T
- Ford Falcon Cobra
- Mercedes 300SEL 6.3
- TVR Chimaera 400
Comments
What about the Lexus family with the UZ engines?
I wish we got utes in the US
We do they’re just all old
I can shed some light on the Virage—-Uh, no wait, Vantage—-I mean, V8 Coupe/Volante—-No, scratch that, V8 Vantage Le Mans—-Ugh, just one of the above: The 5.3-litre V8 was actually the same V8 you would have found lying under the hoods of the old Lagonda’s, 1977 Vantages and DBS V8s. Producing 65 bhp per litre, this meant that it would be the First Aston that could beat the emissions regs of the time without individual modifications for individual markets. That engine produced around 330 bhp in its first Virage appearance, and later on, would be increased to 349 bhp, then, in the Vantage, would actually get Twin-Superchargers, boosting output to a insane 550 bhp, and boosting torque to 555 lb-ft, and in a car with suspension that still wasn’t stiff enough even after being stiffened, that was pretty unbelievable, which, would make it the Most Powerful Production Car On Sale at the time, since McLaren weren’t making the F1 anymore. The conversion service of Aston, Works Service, now more or less the Q Division of Aston, would do the 6.3-litre conversion, derived from the AMR1 racer, and it would produce 500 bhp at 6000 rpm, and a monstrous 480 lb-ft or Torque, of course, paired up to 362 mm Ventilated Disc Brakes, the largest ever used till something called ‘Bentley’ and ‘Continental GT’ came along, and, the 6.3 also had wider, flared bumpers and stuff like that. And the most important feature, a Bosch 4-Channel ABS Unit, the first time ABS had ever been fitted to an Aston stock.
Oh yes, did I ever mention that Twin-Supercharged V8 would have even more power later on? An extra 50 bhp thanks to more boost on the Superchargers and a Intercooler to keep the engine cool boosted power to 600 bhp, on the 1998 V600, and that variant, would also find its way into the V8 Vantage Le Mans.
If you really want more details, just go read my article on the Virage—-No wait, Vantage—-No, V8 Coupe/Volante—-No, scratch that, V8 Vantage Le Mans—-Gah, just one of the above, and please don’t tell me about the paragraphing issue. I can’t fix that.
The ironic thing is that none of these have the performance of the Mustang and Camaro
The Vantage variant of the Virage has, though….
The camaro and mustang are all new cars these are slightly . Don’t get me wrong though the mustang or camaro is faster than even the modern versions of these cars . Maybe a c63 black series could be faster than the same year mustang could be wrong though
Let’s take a look at how ‘’muscle car’’ is commonly defined:
-It has two be a 2-door car (not a truck)
-It has to have a (preferably big) V8
-It has to be relatively cheap
-It cannot be a sportscar.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at that list:
I would admit that you are correct, except for a few missed points:
I’m talking about the best outside the United States, and of course, they’re built differently and for a different market. They aren’t 1:1 with the American cars, but some of them are quite similar. I would agree that price is and issue in this list but I didn’t take that into account.
I did look for styling, power and similar engines.
So with that in mind - if you discount the price, the doors (and on the skyline, the engine) the cars are muscle cars indeed
Please read my new post
Agreed
where is the 06 gto
How the f* is the Mercedes C63, BMW M3 and Jaguar XK considered as Muscle cars?
Just because it has a V8 doesn’t mean it’s a Muscle car, get over it man.
Mercedes - flatplane v8 with lots of torque and power
M3 - v8, looks like a muscle cars to me
XK - v8, supercharged vision
Lets be real though, the Vauxhall VXR8 is just a Pontiac GTO and the Holden is the same thing with a truck bed. Both are GM products and are therefore, American at heart. Once you drop an LS anything into a car from the factory, its an American car.
The Opel diplomat also under GM’s license and had an American motor.
Well im glad there is someone on CT that at least respects Opels, BUT why didnt you include Opel Omega instead the second generation that had V6 and a 5.7 V8
The diplomat is very iconic
I get the point of the write up here but the term Muscle car is definitive, and is not colloquial.
Here is the official definition:
.[1] The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines muscle cars as “any of a group of American-made 2-door sports cars with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving. A large V8 engine is fitted in a 2-door, rear wheel drive, family-style mid-size or full-size car designed for four or more passengers.”
So if any of that is not the case, its not a Muscle car…. by definition. Let’s stick to the facts here.
Agree on the definition (and a thumbs up to your comment as proof).
In fact I think the definition of American muscle even goes up to a certain year when they received engines with worse compression and a bunch of cold-start+idle economy crap bolted to them when the consequences of the imagined oil crisis hit the American auto-industry right in the schnads (and elevated Japanese and European auto-makers in the U.S market).
BUT… Also, I think the OP had this in mind, hence why he covered his ass with the term non-american in the article name.
^Thus we have a different definition, for all intents and purposes, of non-american car that fits 1 or 2 bills.
1) Big enough motor, which, mind you, by todays standards, is anything V8, but not American made.
2) Similar styling to an American-Made muscle car, but again, not American made.
I do get where you come from, and your facts are spot on, no question about that, but remember to take into account social media politically correct society with its "feel-good-trends" and never offend anyone AT ALL.
Insert these new feel-good-trends, a lot of people dont own muscle cars per definition, but they own something V8 or something similarly styled, so why shouldnt they get to be lauded for owning something similar, and get to feel like, per creation of a new definition, that it`s akin to American muscle? :)
Tell me then, what would you classify a Ford Falcon XR8 as?
Please read my new post
The amg black is the only non-american muscle in my mind according to this definition
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