10 Wimpiest Muscle cars

[MAGNUM GT XS22L9R]

lol, well, if you include the 75-79 B Bodies , then you have to add the 73/74 B Bodies. they were built on the same exact platform, only the sheet metal changed. at least you could still get a low compression big block in them. the true muscle car era went out with the 426's and 440 HPs. compression was down by 72 and the hemi was gone. in my opinion the muscle car era had ended by 1973. everything was turning to appearance packages instead of true horsepower and track packages. by 1975 , the charger daytona and
roadrunner was nothing more than stripes with a 400 thrown in the mix. by 77 , the road runner was now an F body with graphics and a small block. the charger was nothing more than a cordoba with charger badges and/or a daytona paint treatment and the occasional 400.

I have a 1979 Magnum with a factory E58 360ci 4bbl with
195net/265 gross horse power! Only 10 less than the 71
340 with 275hp. So not that much different.

1979 Magnum GT E58
(A75) Magnum GT Pkg - GT Appearance Package & HD/XD Suspension Package
(E58) 360ci HP 4bbl. H.D. (High Performance-Police Package Engine)(265hp+ Gross)
(D36) Heavy Duty 727-A TorqueFlite (Non-lock up) High speed stall
(B12) Heavy Duty Front Disc Brakes & Heavy Duty Rear Drum Brakes
(N41) True Factory Dual Exhaust w/Dual Cats!
(D91) 9 1/4 [Sure Grip] Axle w/3.21 gears
That's better than most so called mucsle cars?!

The 1978's 400ci had only 195net and E58 360 only had
175net hp. The E58 horse power was up'd for 79's for the
new Lil Red Express & Chrysler 300's.
I noticed that the Mirada was on the list? You could order it
with the E58, not many had though?

 

[70RR]

Magnum

I thought most 1971 340's were in A & E Body cars which I would think weight 300/400+ less than a 1979 Magnum and a lot shorter ? ?
I google and this is what is says about the 1978-79 GT..I cut and pasted page I did not under line anything !! I had no idea what the car was or any history of it...Every one has an opinion to what is a Muscle Car..... :edgy:

FROM allpar.com website

The Dodge Magnum never sold well, and lasted only two years before being renamed to Mirada. It was not a muscle car, or even a common family car, but it has dedicated followers.
As for why the name change from Magnum to Mirada, as much as I love the '78-79 Magnums, the Magnum name suggested a level of performance that the car was not able to back up at the lights. It is also possible that Chrysler wanted to use the Mirada name on something. The original planned names for what became the Horizon TC3 and Omni 024 were Plymouth Mirada (!) and Dodge Solo, according to a contemporary account

I have a 1979 Magnum with a factory E58 360ci 4bbl with
195net/265 gross horse power! Only 10 less than the 71
340 with 275hp. So not that much different.

1979 Magnum GT E58
(A75) Magnum GT Pkg - GT Appearance Package & HD/XD Suspension Package
(E58) 360ci HP 4bbl. H.D. (High Performance-Police Package Engine)(265hp+ Gross)
(D36) Heavy Duty 727-A TorqueFlite (Non-lock up) High speed stall
(B12) Heavy Duty Front Disc Brakes & Heavy Duty Rear Drum Brakes
(N41) True Factory Dual Exhaust w/Dual Cats!
(D91) 9 1/4 [Sure Grip] Axle w/3.21 gears
That's better than most so called mucsle cars?!

The 1978's 400ci had only 195net and E58 360 only had
175net hp. The E58 horse power was up'd for 79's for the
new Lil Red Express & Chrysler 300's.
I noticed that the Mirada was on the list? You could order it
with the E58, not many had though?

 

[MAGNUM GT XS22L9R]

QUOTE=70RR: I thought most 1971 340's were in A & E Body cars which I would think weight 300/400+ less than a 1979 Magnum and a lot shorter ? ?
I google and this is what is says about the 1978-79 GT..I cut and pasted page I did not under line anything !! I had no idea what the car was or any history of it...Every one has an opinion to what is a Muscle Car..... :edgy:


There are plenty of 340's and 318's in early B bodies! I guess not in
your world??? The 1979 Magnums Curb Weight is - 3,675lbs
I'm not saying the Magnum is a Muscle car but is not that far off from
what others call muscle cars. My Quote: "That's better than most so called
muscle cars?!"


FROM allpar.com website

The Dodge Magnum never sold well, and lasted only two years before being renamed to Mirada. It was not a muscle car, or even a common family car, but it has dedicated followers.
As for why the name change from Magnum to Mirada, as much as I love the '78-79 Magnums, the Magnum name suggested a level of performance that the car was not able to back up at the lights. It is also possible that Chrysler wanted to use the Mirada name on something. The original planned names for what became the Horizon TC3 and Omni 024 were Plymouth Mirada (!) and Dodge Solo, according to a contemporary account.

Pretty stort description? No real infomation on the Magnums? No
mention of the E58 cars, just the base model. Mirada is completely
different than the Magnum and is not a B body?! The Magnum XE
is a Charger rebadged. What I have is a Magnum GT kinda like having a
Plymouth Satellite vs. Plymouth RoadRunner, same concept
Magnum XE vs. Magnum GT. Mine happens to have the performance E58 360.
If you want to know more read this:
The 1978-79 Magnum XE/GT! (Information) Fender Tag/Vin# Decoders/Production Numbers

 

[RustyRatRod]

77 Charger & 75 Roadrunners (begining of the end for real RR's), sorry other B-Body guys, but they were pretty whimpy, also 74 AMC Hornet & Matador...... J-M-H-O no offense intended to anyone...

You're right about whimpy, BUT they CRUSHED the competition (the monte carlo). They were WAY more luxurious than a monte carlo could ever hope to be.

 

[Bruzilla]

I would like to know the reasoning behind the 75 Roadrunner. They knew the Satellite was going away, and knew the Volare was coming in, so who thought it would be a good idea to stick a bunch of decals on a Fury and call it a day? Were they really expecting to make a lot of sales off a one-year design?

 

[Budnicks]

Magnum

here's a cool Magnum advert., with a Pro Golfer I got to meet a few times, die hard Muscle Car /Collector car guy too... I had a friend Rob, with a Magnum GT, that thing was so loud with carb/engine sucking noise when you hit the secondaries, it sounded like it would "suck in the surrounding universe"...LOL... "We still laugh about those road trip to this day", it still didn't move very well, or very fast anyway, just allot of noise "baa ah whoooo osh", but it was memorable thou.... And a couple of other performance cars, that weren't the best...

 

[70RR]

Magnum

Wow.. a little to sensitive about Magnum GT's are we? You got your panties in a wad over an opinion...I did say every one has an opinion ...You compared a 1971 340 to your car so, why would I talk about a 318??..They also came with a 383 or 440 , but I guess NOT in your World..To quote you..Mine happens to have a E58 performance package but, if they did not live up to the performance name what good is bragging about it ? Did it come with that Rare Corthinain Leather too..Why do you think so few were sold ? ..You say...Your Quote: "That's better than most so called muscle cars?!" My Quote..Which one's ?


There are plenty of 340's and 318's in early B bodies! I guess not in
your world??? The 1979 Magnums Curb Weight is - 3,675lbs
I'm not saying the Magnum is a Muscle car but is not that far off from
what others call muscle cars. My Quote: "That's better than most so called
muscle cars?!"


FROM allpar.com website

The Dodge Magnum never sold well, and lasted only two years before being renamed to Mirada. It was not a muscle car, or even a common family car, but it has dedicated followers.
As for why the name change from Magnum to Mirada, as much as I love the '78-79 Magnums, the Magnum name suggested a level of performance that the car was not able to back up at the lights. It is also possible that Chrysler wanted to use the Mirada name on something. The original planned names for what became the Horizon TC3 and Omni 024 were Plymouth Mirada (!) and Dodge Solo, according to a contemporary account.

Pretty stort description? No real infomation on the Magnums? No
mention of the E58 cars, just the base model. Mirada is completely
different than the Magnum and is not a B body?! The Magnum XE
is a Charger rebadged. What I have is a Magnum GT kinda like having a
Plymouth Satellite vs. Plymouth RoadRunner, same concept
Magnum XE vs. Magnum GT. Mine happens to have the performance E58 360.
If you want to know more read this:
The 1978-79 Magnum XE/GT! (Information) Fender Tag/Vin# Decoders/Production Numbers[/QUOTE]

 

[Revhendo]

Okay, once again, Mustangs are Pony cars, not Muscle cars. Corvettes are Sports cars, not Muscle cars. Muscle cars are full-size cars with high-performance equipment installed. Pony cars are any long front deck-short rear deck cars based on the Mustang design, which includes Mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds, and Mopar E-bodies. Sports cars are two-seat cars. Also, Dusters/Demons also don't qualify as Muscle cars as they were classified as compact cars when they were first made.

Generally speaking, with the exception of the Mercury Marauder, the only cars made since 1980 that really qualify as Muscle cars, i.e., full-sized cars with high performance engines, exhaust, brakes, cooling, etc., are police package vehicles.

Psst, Buick GN.....

 

[rev.ronnie]

I have a buddy from high school that had a 75 or 76 Hornet X. It had a 360/auto. It was a neat car, stripes, floor shift, buckets etc. but it was a dog. It was definitely something to work with. I'll bet he still has it it had 20 some thousand miles on it. He would never drive it.

 

[WP29440SE]

I would like to know the reasoning behind the 75 Roadrunner. They knew the Satellite was going away, and knew the Volare was coming in, so who thought it would be a good idea to stick a bunch of decals on a Fury and call it a day? Were they really expecting to make a lot of sales off a one-year design?

one can only speculate, but with the B Bodies getting brand new sheet metal for 75, the chrysler cordoba was a brand new design for chrysler and really their pinnacle model. i think the decision was made to keep the road runner name alive to help promote sales for plymouth because the road runner had had so much success in the past. we all know the charger and charger daytona was nothing more than a rebadged cordoba with very subtle changes and actually got its own body code (XS22). oddly enough, the base model charger sport was based on plymouth sheetmetal (75-76)and the SE was wearing cordoba sheet metal. i think there was too much alcohol going around in the design department from 75-78. the charger SE ran from 75 to very early 78, when after only 2800 78 charger SEs left the factory wearing 77 SE panels and trim, production was halted and the 78 magnum took over the XS22 body code and was put into production until 79. i think the early run of 78 SEs was only to use up the 10 tons of leftover 77 sheetmetal. now that the true muscle era was dead, they had to rely on appearance packages and nameplates to sell cars.

to make things even more confusing, the A body duster and dart sports (73-76) were left alone to run virtually unchanged until the F body took over the A platform in 77. i think chrysler again slapped the RR and R/T names on those to compete with cobra's and monzas in 77. strangely enough, some models continued to carry the duster nameplate as well.

 

[tpodwdog]

:edgy:"WHIMPY MUSCLE CAR".... is redundant and a contradiction in terms. haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

 

[kb67mopar]

to define something without muscle as a muscle car is kinda dumb. I find anything over 3000 lbs with less than 250 hp to be a grocery getter worthy of little old ladies on Sunday driving slowly not to ruffle their bonnet.

I'm sorry to whom this offends but the muscle era ended in 1972 with the golden age between 65 and 71. If you have anything after 1972 you made it a muscle car by modifying grandma's sedan.

Now the later 70's definitely were good for rolling couches though....they made some comfy cruisers.

 

[WP29440SE]

to define something without muscle as a muscle car is kinda dumb. I find anything over 3000 lbs with less than 250 hp to be a grocery getter worthy of little old ladies on Sunday driving slowly not to ruffle their bonnet.

I'm sorry to whom this offends but the muscle era ended in 1972 with the golden age between 65 and 71. If you have anything after 1972 you made it a muscle car by modifying grandma's sedan.

Now the later 70's definitely were good for rolling couches though....they made some comfy cruisers.

i agree, but the 73 and 74 H and L code 340 and 360 dusters and dart sports werent exactly muscle cars but they sure as heck werent slow, and they could still be had with 4 speeds and gears.

 

[Budnicks]

:edgy:"WHIMPY MUSCLE CAR".... is redundant and a contradiction in terms. haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Maybe Even An OXYMORON or contradiction in terms...

 

[Revhendo]

to define something without muscle as a muscle car is kinda dumb. I find anything over 3000 lbs with less than 250 hp to be a grocery getter worthy of little old ladies on Sunday driving slowly not to ruffle their bonnet.

I'm sorry to whom this offends but the muscle era ended in 1972 with the golden age between 65 and 71. If you have anything after 1972 you made it a muscle car by modifying grandma's sedan.

Now the later 70's definitely were good for rolling couches though....they made some comfy cruisers.

Psst, Buick Grand National. Psst, Buick GNX.

 

[daredevil]

If I had my choice I would take the Gremlin!
Matter of fact, I just found a Levis Gremlin in great shape for $450.

I would love to have a levi gremlin. Talk about finding matching interior material easy.lol I thought they made a special gremlin x with a 401 though.

 

[daredevil]

Psst, Buick Grand National. Psst, Buick GNX.

not to mention the typhoon and cyclone

 

[Revhendo]

I would love to have a levi gremlin. Talk about finding matching interior material easy.lol I thought they made a special gremlin x with a 401 though.

I lost heads up to a Gremlin X with a 401 in it that the guy swore was original to the car. The only thing I can find on Wiki is a dealer installed 401 called an XR. It was from an Arizona dealer (Randall) who they say only made 20 of them. I'm with you on thinking there were factory 401 Gremlin Xs, though.

 

[Budnicks]

I lost heads up to a Gremlin X with a 401 in it that the guy swore was original to the car. The only thing I can find on Wiki is a dealer installed 401 called an XR. It was from an Arizona dealer (Randall) who they say only made 20 of them. I'm with you on thinking there were factory 401 Gremlin Xs, though.

I had a friend Jeff aka- "the Beak", form Concord Ca., he had a wicked little fugly *** pale orange 70 Gremlin, stock straight 6 banger "Grama's" bucket seat car, with a transplanted, Plymouth 383ci/727tf out of his wrecked 70 Cuda' Grand Coupe, that thing was scary fast, for 1977-78 on the street, for just 2" Hooker headers, Edel. Torker intake, Holley 750DP , Holley Blue electric Fuel Pump & regulator, old Purpleshaft 292*/0.509" camshaft, Harlan Sharpe Roller Rockers, stock 3.90:1 gears, Prostar wheels & M/T sportsman tires, he beat a bunch of far more impressive cars, with allot more motor & money in them, light & fast, it took us an afternoon to do the swap, we made our own mounts & cross-member, the drive-shaft was the only part outsourced...

 

[Revhendo]

I had a friend Jeff aka- "the Beak", form Concord Ca., he had a wicked little fugly *** pale orange 70 Gremlin, stock straight 6 banger "Grama's" bucket seat car, with a transplanted, Plymouth 383ci/727tf out of his wrecked 70 Cuda' Grand Coupe, that thing was scary fast, for 1977-78 on the street, for just 2" Hooker headers, Edel. Torker intake, Holley 750DP , Holley Blue electric Fuel Pump & regulator, old Purpleshaft 292*/0.509" camshaft, Harlan Sharpe Roller Rockers, stock 3.90:1 gears, Prostar wheels & M/T sportsman tires, he beat a bunch of far more impressive cars, with allot more motor & money in them, light & fast, it took us an afternoon to do the swap, we made our own mounts & cross-member, the drive-shaft was the only part outsourced...

LOL, my SS Elky got smoked by that 401 Gremmy. That wasn't as embarrassing as getting my butt handed to me by a short box Dodge van. Sure, it had a little rumble to it, but I wasn't expecting the 383/4spd under it's doghouse.....