What do you consider a "Muscle Car" ?

[Racer57]

30yr old Nephew that lives near Kansas City sent me a text asking what I thought a "muscle car" was ? He included a pic of about a dozen modern Challengers and Chargers that are apparently part of a Club that calls them muscle cars and he wanted to know what I thought. I told him that "imho muscle cars died in the mid 70s and present day is techno muscle due to them requiring a computer for their power".  He knows I have a 383 70 Cuda and a '15 Stingray which is why he asked me.   

What you think ? 

[headejm]

  Muscle cars start with the 1964 GTO and ends about 1973 (maybe 1972). Lots of great muscle cars including our beloved Mopars. I can't include anything past 1973 on my list.

[RUNCHARGER]

It's different things to different people I guess. To me it started with the 55 Chrysler 300 and is still going today with the Hellcat Challenger. My definition is a high performance V8 engine in a 2 door, sporty looking car. Would it only be a b-body and not an E-body? Some people seem to think so. IMO a 64 Sport Fury with a 4 speed, 426 Street wedge, front sway bar and 11 inch brakes was a superior car to the 64 GTO, it just wasn't marketed the way the GTO was.
Kind of the last 70's musclecar was the 455 SD Trans Am's I guess but those 360 Dart Sports were actually pretty fast too as were the 78-79 Lil Red Trucks (not really sporty looking though and not a car). I forget the exact year the 5.0 Mustangs came out maybe early 80's? Those would be the start of the new breed I suppose, they ran in the 14's.
I see people call any car from the 60's or 70's a "musclecar" Nope.

[anlauto]

I think the new cars out today are muscle cars too

[71vert340]

 I have my 2015 Challenger Shaker R/T 5.7 and my 71 Challenger Shaker 340 and my 74 Charger Rallye 360. I can't compare the two Challengers and say one is a "muscle car" and one isn't as they are different beasts. The 2015 Challenger is quicker than the 340 and is a smoother beast that gets almost 28mpg on the highway. The 340 is fun to shift and gets more attention and is worth more. The 74 Charger is a quick car for its era but is definitely a cruiser. The first muscle cars were from the 60s for sure in my book. A Hellcat Redeye or Demon Challenger are the new high horsepower muscle cars for Dodge.
Terry W.

[dodj]

To me it's a two door car that looks fast, striped, decal-ed etc to advertise it's fast. And it's got the engine to go fast.
I'm not stuck on the years. Pretty sure some of the new Musclecars can out muscle those cars from the muscle car era.
How many original musclecars can hang with a Challenger Demon, Camaro Exorcist or Mustang RTR?

[tparker]

Anything that can roast tires down the street, throw you back in the seat, and leave a smile on your face.

I would say they would be about 64-70 (or 74). I would also say the. muscle is created by brute force from the engine and carb and not a lot of bolt on extras. We all like blowers and nitro, but is it really a muscle car? arguably I would say fuel injection is a gizmo that don't belong. LOL

Are there modern muscle cars? I would say sure, but they aren't the same.

Just my thoughts

[70vert]

I'm not terribly picky as there was never a codified definition of muscle car, or pony car for that matter. I do frown on any truck being referenced as a muscle car (but wouldn't fight over it).

If it is a factory performance car, regardless of year or make I am fine lumping it as muscle.

[JH27N0B]

If you are defining a muscle car primarily based on power to weight ratio (with a few added qualifications such as 2 doors and RWD), I don't know how you couldn't call a new Challenger or Mustang or the like a muscle car.  They will run rings around most 64-72 or however you pick the years muscle cars.
Many differentiate them by calling later cars "modern muscle". That's all good and fine for now but it will be interesting to see what this era is called 20 years from now, long after V8 rwd Challengers, Mustangs and Camaros ceased to be made.
If you are defining an era, than the muscle car era would be 64-72 or thereabouts.  '73-82 is the malaise era. I'm not sure what the mid 80s to mid 90s is, maybe the mini van era? And what will they call today, the boring silver, white or gray SUV and crossover era? Probably not the modern muscle era I don't think, but who knows.

[7212Mopar]

Not really the years. In my book, the Buick Grand National is a muscle car.

[torredcuda]

A "true" musclecar is a GTO starting in `64, `67 up R/Ts, road runners, Mustang GTs and Mach 1s, Z/28s, SSs, Trans Ams etc. all the way up to the mid-late `70`s depending on make/model. You can go back and look at a `55 300 and it fits the basic desription but the term hadn`t been coined yet, new cars also fit the basic description but have added comforts, computers so neither cars are int he same category = I consider them pre musclecar or "modern muscle". Cars like `75 up road runners, `77 Charger Daytona `78 Mustangs etc. also technically fit the description but those are lower powered due to emissions and such so I think of them more as personal sporty/luxury vehicles.

[Flatdad]

The definition is whatever enthusiasts make it to be. It may have been a strict, limited group of cars early on, but today it's inclusive of nearly any performance vehicle in any era, and I'm fine with that. Better to be inclusive than exclusive.

The absolute strictest definition I've ever seen was: 1964-1971 Mid-size cars only, at least 300hp, performance image models only (example: a 383 road runner would qualify, but a 383 satellite would not.)

Today I say we have enough trouble getting new participants in the hobby, I'll call anything a musclecar if it gets people interested.

[torredcuda]

Today I say we have enough trouble getting new participants in the hobby, I'll call anything a musclecar if it gets people interested.

TONS of new muscle at cruises and shows, around here they outnumber the old cars a lot of times. I think it`s the old musclecars that are losing peoples interest as far as getting them out and driving them.

[72hemi]

For me I see them as completely different and refer to them as such. When talking about muscle cars, I am referring to cars built during the original muscle car era of the 60's and early 70's. For the modern cars, I call them modern muscle and goes from the roughly 2005 to present.