Editing Muscle car (section)

== Terminology ==
=== Definition ===
{{Unbalanced|section|reason=Too many dubious/disputable claims made.|date=April 2021}}

The definition of a muscle car is subjective and endlessly debated,<ref name="musclecarclub.com">{{cite web|url= http://www.musclecarclub.com/muscle-car-definition/ |title=Muscle Car Definition |work=Muscle Car Club |date=2 January 2015 |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref><ref name="carsdirect.com">{{cite web |title=Muscle Car Definition: Understand the Requirements |url= https://www.carsdirect.com/car-buying/muscle-car-definition-understand-the-requirements |website=carsdirect.com |access-date=9 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref> resulting in the term having few universally agreed characteristics:<ref name="musclecarclub.com"/><ref name="ateupwithmotor.com">{{cite web |title=Super-iority: Defining the Supercar and Muscle Car |url= https://ateupwithmotor.com/terms-technology-definitions/supercar-muscle-car/ |website=ateupwithmotor.com |access-date=9 February 2019 |date=28 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muscle%20car |title=muscle car |publisher=Merriam-Webster Online |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/automobiles/04MILLION.html |last=Sherman |first=Don |title=Muscle Cars Now Worth Millions| newspaper=The New York Times |date=4 June 2006 |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://musclecars.howstuffworks.com/classic-muscle-cars |title=Classic Muscle Cars Library |date=19 October 2007 |website=musclecars.howstuffworks.com |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151104051617/http://musclecars.howstuffworks.com/classic-muscle-cars |archive-date=4 November 2015 |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.musclecarsociety.com/muscle-car-definition |title=Muscle Car Definition |work=Muscle Car Society |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120722070047/http://www.musclecarsociety.com/muscle-car-definition |archive-date=22 July 2012 |access-date=18 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Muscle car definition and meaning |url= https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/muscle-car |website=collinsdictionary.com |access-date=9 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
* A large high-performance V8 engine, often in the most powerful configuration offered for a particular model
* Rear-wheel drive
* Being manufactured in the United States in the 1960s or early 1970s (the specific year range of 1964–1973 is sometimes used)<ref>{{cite web |title=Why Are Old-Fashioned Muscle Cars Louder than New Ones? |url=https://www.classiccardeals.com/Page/why-are-old-fashioned-muscle-cars-louder.aspx |publisher=Classic Car Deals |access-date=23 January 2024}}</ref><ref name="ateupwithmotor.com" />
* A relatively lightweight two-door body (though opinions vary as to whether high-performance [[full-size car]]s, [[Compact car|compacts]], and [[pony car]]s qualify as muscle cars,<ref>{{cite book | last=Mueller |first=Mike |title=Motor City Muscle: The High-Powered History of the American Muscle Car | publisher=MBI Publishing |year=1997|page=13 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLP8kKL4w2kC&q=muscle+car+definition&pg=PA13 |isbn=978-0-7603-0196-8}}</ref> and why a two-seat [[AMC AMX]] could be, but a two-seat [[Chevrolet Corvette]] was not. While some feel that only [[mid-size car]]s can be considered muscle cars,<ref name="musclecarclub.com"/><ref name="ateupwithmotor.com" /> this view is not held by the top, industry-defining, enthusiast publications, including ''Car and Driver'', ''Road & Track'', and ''Motor Trend''.

High-powered [[pony car]]s are sometimes considered muscle cars,<ref name="musclecarclub.com"/> as by the above-mentioned publications, with some exceptional [[personal luxury car]]s also regarded by some as qualifying on their merits. In the opposite direction, by the late 1960s a wave of inexpensive, straight-line speed oriented stripped down intermediate sedans offered at prices under as {{USD|3000|year=1968}}{{inflation-fn|US}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ray |first1=Manny |title=The 29+ Best American Muscle Cars Ranked |url= https://daquan.tv/news/great-american-muscle-cars-ranked |website=daquan.tv |access-date=18 May 2022 |date=3 November 2021}}</ref> expanded the original definition from a "muscle car" as one offering ''both'' performance and some measure of style, accessories, and cachet, and doubled it back toward the [[drag racing|drag strip]] focus<ref>{{cite web |title=1960s Muscle Cars - The Beginning, Downfall & Best Muscle Cars Ever |url= https://www.supercars.net/blog/sixties-muscle-cars/ |website=supercars.net |date=3 March 2020 |access-date=18 May 2022}}</ref> of such exceptional early proto-muscle cars as the limited production, factory experimental 1964 [[Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt]].

[[Sports car]]s &ndash; including those which meet all the above most basic criterion, such as the 1969 [[Chevrolet Corvette (C3)#ZL1 (1969)|ZL-1 Corvette]], with an all-aluminum {{cvt|427|cuin|L}} V8 listed at {{cvt|430|hp|kW|0}} but reported to produce {{cvt|560|hp|kW|0}}, that slung the car through the {{convert|1/4|mi|km}} traps in 10.89 seconds<ref name="50th Anniversary">{{cite book |title=Corvette: 50th Anniversary |author=((Editors of ''Consumer Guide'')) |year=2003 |publisher=Publications International |isbn=978-0785379874}}</ref> &ndash; are considered muscle cars by some,<ref>{{cite magazine | magazine=Hot Rod | title=10 Most Collectable Muscle Cars | publisher=Hot Rod | issue=3 (March) | year=1986}}</ref> and not by others.<ref name="Henshaw"/> Drag strip-oriented fans see muscle cars as an extension of the [[hot rod]]ding philosophy of taking a small car and putting a large-displacement engine in it to maximize straight-line speed.<ref name="Henshaw">{{cite book|last=Henshaw |first=Peter |year=2004 |title=Muscle Cars |publisher=Thunder Bay Press |isbn=978-1-59223-303-8 }}</ref> However, widespread public acceptance and use of the term, including that exemplified by the ''Car and Driver'', ''CNBC'', ''Road & Track'', and ''Motor Trend'' [[#Lists of ten best muscle cars (1962–1974)|top muscle car lists]] below, affirm a much broader interpretation as the norm.

=== "Supercar" ===
{{distinguish|text=the expensive exotic automobile known as a [[supercar]]}}

Muscle cars were initially referred to as "supercars" in the United States,<ref>{{cite web|url= http://ateupwithmotor.com/terms-technology-definitions/supercar-muscle-car/ |title=Super-iority: Defining the Supercar and Muscle Car |first=Aaron |last=Severson |date=27 July 2009 |work=ateupwithmotor |access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> such as the 1957 [[Rambler Rebel]], which was described as a "potent mill turned the lightweight Rambler into a veritable supercar."<ref>{{cite web |title=1957-1960 Rambler Rebel |work=How Stuff Works | url= http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1957-1960-rambler-rebel1.htm |date=22 August 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200727033220/http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1957-1960-rambler-rebel1.htm |archive-date=27 July 2020 |access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref> From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, "dragstrip bred" mid-size cars equipped with large [[V8 engine]]s and [[rear-wheel drive]] were also referred to as supercars, more often than muscle cars.<ref>{{cite book |last=Harless |first=Robert |title=Horsepower War: Our Way of Life |year=2004 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-0-595-30296-3 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gunnell |first=John |title=Standard Guide to American Muscle Cars: A Supercar Source Book, 1960–2000 |publisher=Krause Publications |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-87349-262-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Norbye |first1=Jan P. |last2=Dunne |first2=Jim |title=The Hot Ones: Supercars of medium size flaunt their suspension, brakes, and engines |magazine=Popular Science |volume=189 |issue=4 |pages=83–85 |date=October 1966 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rykDAAAAMBAJ&q=The+Hot+Ones:+Supercars&pg=PA84 |access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref>

In 1966, the supercar became an "industry trend".<ref>Harless, p. 8.</ref> This was when the four domestic automakers "needed to cash in on the supercar market" with eye-catching, heart-stopping cars.<ref>{{cite book |last=Campisano |first=Jim |title=American Muscle Cars |publisher=MetroBooks |year=1995 |page=91 |isbn=978-1-56799-164-2 }}</ref> An example of the use of the supercar description for early muscle car models includes the May 1965 ''Car Life'' road test of the [[Pontiac GTO]],{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} followed in 1968 with a ''Car and Driver'' review of the 1969 [[American Motors]] [[Rambler American#SC/Rambler|SC/Rambler]] describing it as ready to compete in "the Supercar street racer gang" market segment,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Rambler Scrambler |magazine=Car and Driver |volume=14 |page=84 |year=1968}}</ref> with the initials "SC" signifying SuperCar,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lyons |first1=Dan |last2=Scott |first2=Jason |title=Muscle Car Milestones |publisher=MotorBooks/MBI Publishing |year=2004 |page=89 |isbn=978-0-7603-0615-4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eQK68tbpAVIC&q=the+SC+stood+for+SuperCar&pg=PA89 |access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> and a 1969 ''Car Life'' review that included how "[[Hurst Performance|Hurst]] puts American Motors into the Supercar club with the 390 Rogue".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Rambler Scrambler |magazine=Car Life |volume=16 |pages=33–36 |year=1969 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UvY6AAAAMAAJ&q=Supercar+Rambler+Scrambler |access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref>
 
The supercar market segment in the U.S. at the time included special versions of regular production models<ref>{{cite book |last=Bonsall |first=Thomas E. |title=Muscle Plymouths: The Story of a Supercar |publisher=Bookman Publishing |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-934780-71-1 }}</ref> that were [[Positioning (marketing)|positioned]] in several sizes and market segments (such as the "economy supercar"<ref>{{cite book |title=Hot Rod Magazine: Muscle Car Files |page=112 |year=2004 |publisher=MotorBooks International |isbn=978-0-7603-1647-4}}</ref>), as well as limited edition, documented dealer-converted vehicles.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Carner |first=Colin |title=1967 Chevrolet Stage III Nickey Camaro |magazine=Sports Car Market |date=February 1999 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-SixJrUESDcC&q=define:+supercar&pg=PT22 |access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref> However, over time the term came to be applied to much, much more expensive and exotic cars, which claimed the name [[supercar]].