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Top 10 quickest musclecars of 1969

I remember CARS magazine in the early 70's defining a 'musclecar' as an intermediate with a big block. They also classified the Mustang/Barracuda/Javelin/Camaro/Firebird/Cougar as pony cars, while Corvettes/AMX/Cobras and other two seaters were sports cars. Full sized cars such as a 427 Impala, big block Galaxie or 440 Fury were called 'Supercars'.
 
That was a great video. It was nice to see that 1/2 of the Muscle cars mentioned were Mopars. This video also exposed one of the biggest Musclecar scams ever perpetrated. I am talking about the 335 hp. rating of Ford's 428 Cobra Jet, coincidentally the same as Mopar's rating on the competing Road Runner and Super Bee 383.
Ford took the torquey old 428 out of the 7 Litre Galaxie, gave it better heads, bigger cam, bigger carb, better intake and exhaust manifolds, and LOST 10 hp. in the process. Brilliant! Best guesses put this engine around 410 hp. Easily one of Ford's better engines. Lots of power with very little fuss.
 
Photon440 said:
I remember CARS magazine in the early 70's defining a 'musclecar' as an intermediate with a big block. They also classified the Mustang/Barracuda/Javelin/Camaro/Firebird/Cougar as pony cars, while Corvettes/AMX/Cobras and other two seaters were sports cars. Full sized cars such as a 427 Impala, big block Galaxie or 440 Fury were called 'Supercars'.
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I guess the Purist lists are all big blocks. (Pontiac being medium wide block.) It's hard to draw any line. Lol.
 
Dave6T4 said:
That was a great video. It was nice to see that 1/2 of the Muscle cars mentioned were Mopars. This video also exposed one of the biggest Musclecar scams ever perpetrated. I am talking about the 335 hp. rating of Ford's 428 Cobra Jet, coincidentally the same as Mopar's rating on the competing Road Runner and Super Bee 383.
Ford took the torquey old 428 out of the 7 Litre Galaxie, gave it better heads, bigger cam, bigger carb, better intake and exhaust manifolds, and LOST 10 hp. in the process. Brilliant! Best guesses put this engine around 410 hp. Easily one of Ford's better engines. Lots of power with very little fuss.
Click to expand...
That was a joke with 428. NHRA didn't buy it for a second. They basically went to the 390+ HP stock class. They got to race 440 6-packs. Not lower end 383 or high end 350 small blocks.
 
Mike67 said:
What I thought was telling was that the 375hp SU-Bee ran the same ETas the 425 HP vette...which was probably 700lbs lighter..
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That would do it. It's about 1/2 sec ET weight advantage in 13 sec cars. Maybe a tick more. That weight reduction was basically the theme for Superbee/RoadRunner option.
 
As far as "muscle cars" I've always interpreted it as a factory built "hot rod" that was intended for Saturday night blvd racing as well as at the strip crowd and exempt from any specific platforms. Usually that was associated with the mid 60s on.
The 50s & early 60s high HP cars were not built for that specific purpose but to appeal to our vets and those going through mid life crisis or who wanted to one up the neighbors.
 
TRIVIA TIME:
Who first coined the term "muscle car" and when?
Bonus question: What specific year/make/model car was he referring to when he used it?
 
Photon440 said:
I remember CARS magazine in the early 70's defining a 'musclecar' as an intermediate with a big block. They also classified the Mustang/Barracuda/Javelin/Camaro/Firebird/Cougar as pony cars, while Corvettes/AMX/Cobras and other two seaters were sports cars. Full sized cars such as a 427 Impala, big block Galaxie or 440 Fury were called 'Supercars'.
Click to expand...
I can understand the A body barracudas being called pony cars but not really the E cars.....never considered a 440 powered E body a pony car lol
 
moparedtn said:
You got the car right....wrong dude, though.



Right dude (writer at the time). It was Brock Yates - but I'm deducting points for doing a Bing search.
That's cheatin'! :)


You're on the wrong forum there hoss...
Click to expand...
just being honest! gotta give credit where it's due! mopar should have made an alu. hemi if they wanted the glory, but they didn't!
 
BB BELLA said:
just being honest! gotta give credit where it's due! mopar should have made an alu. hemi if they wanted the glory, but they didn't!
Click to expand...
Chevy made a whopping 69 supposedly - and none fell into the average guys' hands.
More properly termed a "supercar", using the vernacular of the day.
MOST importantly - you talked smack about a Chebby on a Mopar forum.
Etiquette, man....
 
There is a line, maybe a fine line, maybe not, but never the less, many have debated this topic and to each their own. Pony or muscle, pulling along side of a car that is shaking the ground, it gets hard to remember what the argument was about. I love the smell of gas and I never liked looking at taillights, didn't matter whose.
 
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