8 Great American Vehicles That Aren't Muscle Cars #blogpost
There’s more to the American car scene than quarter miles. Here are some great American vehicles that aren’t muscle cars
One: Chevrolet Corvette
There’s more to the American car scene than quarter miles. Here are some great American vehicles that aren’t muscle cars
One: Chevrolet Corvette
Currently a world class sports car, the Corvette has been challenging deep seated European competition since 1953. While it may be cheap it’s really fast. The Corvette ZR1 went around the Nurburgring in 7:19.63, that’s faster than a Ferrari Enzo. It’s all become pretty classy as of late.
Two: Ford Taurus SHO
If you want a real sleeper, you could do worse than the Taurus SHO. The SHO goes back to 1989 and is currently being made as a full sized sedan with over 350 horsepower. Not bad for something based off of a commuter car.
Three: Jeep Wrangler/CJ
Dating back to World War 2, the Jeep has been a legend throughout the world for decades. Two door Jeeps are still being made with solid front axles for off road prowess. “You wouldn’t understand, it’s a Jeep thing”
Four: Ford Raptor
No other off road oriented pickup made such an impact on the car scene as the Ford Raptor. It’s basically a street legal trophy truck with creature comforts. While Dodge and Chevy have tried to play catch up, they haven’t gotten close. Just try not to go too crazy with it, it isn’t a REAL trophy truck.
Five: Pontiac Solstice
Available with a 2.4 liter or 2 liter turbo engine, the Pontiac Solstice and it’s Saturn Sky cousin has been General Motor’s most recent sports car addition. What it lacks in status it makes up in quirkiness.
Six: Pontiac Fiero
Want a Toyota MR2 but want something American? Try out the Pontiac Fiero. Besides the Chevrolet Corvair, there hasn’t been any other mass produced mid engined American car. Available with a 4 or 6 cylinder engine, the Fiero can be some serious back road fun.
Seven: Dodge Viper
Bob Lutz says that the Dodge Viper is the spiritual successor to the Shelby Cobra, and it looks like he’s right. It’s a small sports car with a long hood and a big engine with a tendency to bite back if you don’t respect it. To the chagrin of it’s enthusiasts, the Viper will be ending production soon. Not all is lost, the recent track monster Viper ACR is a proper send off for Dodge’s metal snake.
Eight: Shelby Mustang GT350
The return of the GT350 nameplate for Ford’s Shelby division has been well recieved all throughout the car community. It has a 526 horsepower 5.2 liter flat plane crank motor and completely debunks the myth that American cars can’t turn. There’s a reason so many non American car lovers like the Shelby GT350, it’s basically a Maserati with a Ford badge.
Honorable Mention: Ford Crown Victoria
Comments
A muscle car is a car where you put the biggest engine in a small body, like c65 amg. So i would say muscle car can be a proper sportscar. And i wouldnt look at the shelvy mustang to find a proper track more to the boss 302 wich is build for the trans am series wich is like the etcc with v8 mashine
Muscle cars were originally built to be fast in the quarter mile and cheap. The GT350 is built for the circuit, not the quarter mile.
The fiero was about the worst car ever. Had one and it broke about every 500 miles
Queing “what is a muscle car” argument in 3…2…1…
Uhhhm. A maserati woth a ford badge? Really?
Yup. The engine sounds like it’s straight out of a Maserati
Don’t forget Panoz
Panoz does not get enough credit
No muscle cars? You started with a ‘vette, and ended with a ‘stang…
The Corvette is a sports car. It didn’t get a V8 until 1955, and it came out in 1953. Muscle cars were originally built for straight line performance and bang for your buck.
The Mustang is really a pony car. The only Mustangs i consider to be muscle cars are the regular V8 models and the GT500
Instead of debating questionable definitions of what is a muscle car, pony car, track car, can we just call American cars….. ‘American Cars’? Y’all make it sound like the only worthwhile cars that the US offers are camaros, mustangs, challengers, vipers and corvettes.
Well, Most americans are like everyone else says, Lazy, Idiotic. They don’t understand anything that Ain’t A V8 or RWD And I’m talking the South… We Northerner’s on the other hand, are smarter. More Like people that act like Intelligent life. We have things like Snow, ICE where some Yanks V8 Mustang will NOT Do well in. when the local SHO owner passes. without a care the idiot with a confederate flag on the window crying about his apparent so called baby being gone after flooring it on a ice patch. Welcome to the US.
Nice article.
Ignore the people who don’t really know what a muscle car is.
To them even a Ford GT is muscle because it’s American and has a V8.
One small point though: the Corvair is rear-engined, not mid-engined.
Someone already pointed out that the Corvair is rear engined.
I still feel some tweaks should be made, vipers for instance (besides acr track types) are muscle cars, even the boys at “Top Gear” said they were too ludicrous to drive in anything but a straight line (also a Mopar guy)
Muscle cars are about affordability and obtainability, traits that the Viper doesn’t really have.
I can see that and it’s a valid argument, good on you sir. I just belive it fits closer to that than just “sports car” hell, it barely fits the title supercar, due to lack of manuverability and a staunch lack of over engineering besides on the engine. But on a side note I would love to see a revival of the Nova but not pussed out like the dart
Crown Vic! Used by nearly all American police forces. Even Russia had some in the early 90’s
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