The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 set the muscle car formula back in 1949
The idea was simple: drop a maker's biggest engine into a smaller, lighter, cheaper car. Oldsmobile did it in 1949, fitting the 303-cubic-inch Rocket V8 from its luxury 98 into the 88. The result won eight of ten NASCAR races in 1950 and is often called the first full-size muscle car.
A muscle car is usually defined as an American two-door with a powerful engine, sold on performance, though the boundaries are endlessly argued. The term arrived in the mid-1960s through car magazines and advertising; before that, and for years afterward, such cars were often called supercars, a label later claimed by far pricier exotics. Magazines such as Car and Driver and Motor Trend also count suitably equipped pony cars like the Mustang and Camaro.
Early contenders included the 1955 Chrysler C-300, advertised as America's most powerful car with 300 hp, and AMC's 1957 Rambler Rebel, the first mid-size car offered with a big-block V8, which reached 60 mph in 7.5 seconds, the quickest stock American sedan of its day. In the early 1960s Mopar and Ford fought for drag strip supremacy, and in 1961 an SS package with a 409 V8 for the Chevrolet Impala cost just $53.80.
Some factory specials barely belonged on public roads. Ford built 111 Fairlane Thunderbolts in 1964 with acrylic windows and lightweight panels, able to run the quarter mile in 11.76 seconds, and the Dodge 330 Lightweight came with a disclaimer recommending it only for supervised acceleration trials. Chevrolet's 1963 Z-11 Impala, built just 57 times, gave up its heater and radio to save weight.
The 1964 Pontiac GTO, developed by John DeLorean and Bill Collins as an option for the Tempest, caught the public imagination and prompted rival GM divisions to follow. Plymouth's 1968 Road Runner pushed the idea toward cheap, basic speed. Although pure muscle cars sold in modest numbers, manufacturers prized the publicity, and the resulting horsepower war peaked in 1970, when the LS-6 Chevelle advertised 450 hp.
Source: Muscle car
