The 1964 GTO is the one that started the whole Detroit Musclecar craze--but it almost never happened. GM's corporate policy wouln't allow such a lightweight car with such a huge engine, but Pontiac "finessed" the rules by making the GTO an option to the Tempest Le Mans. The cost of this option? Oh, about two hundred bucks.
Overview
American Muscle Car is a weekly television show on Speed, produced by Restoration Productions LLC., about muscle cars. Each episode provides a timeline of each vehicle's history beginning with its first year of production to its most recent year of production. The show was initially designed to showcase traditional muscle cars such as the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang, and Dodge Charger. It eventually added other performance vehicles such as the Shelby Cobra and the Chevrolet Corvette, and even began to focus on specific eras such as the Corvette Stingray. It even created a special dedicated to the last 1967 Corvette Stingray produced.
In 2006 season, the show's focus was expanded to include designers and engineers of muscle car era.
In 2007 season, the show's focus was expanded to include vintage races, powertrain components.
The 1964 GTO is the one that started the whole Detroit Musclecar craze--but it almost never happened. GM's corporate policy wouln't allow such a lightweight car with such a huge engine, but Pontiac "finessed" the...
The story of the birth of the Corvette from the introduction of the original 1953 roadster with the "Blue Flame" 6-cylinder engine, the early small-block powered Vettes, the "fuelie" cars featuring Rochester's early fuel injection,...
In 1967, Chevrolet introduced a car that, thirty years later, is still one of their most beloved automobiles. By 1967, GM had recovered from their reluctance to produce fast little cars. The Camaro was designed...
S01E05 The Thunderbolts - 1964 Ford Fairlaine Thunderbolt
30 min
Ford went drag racing in 1964 with their new Fairlane and their NASCAR 427 engine. Talk about a ringer! The result was the most mind-boggling car the NHRA stock classes had ever seen.
Carroll Shelby's GT-350 Mustang was a limited edition road racer in street clothing. Shelby's GT-500KR was not for the faint of heart. It had every performance option you could get from Ford, plus a big,...
"Yeah, it's a Gran Sport. Wanna race?" And that was usually the last of the conversation as the torque monster from Flint, Michigan buried its competition in the leather-upholstered style. Stage I GS cars boasted...
That spells 442, Oldsmobile's entry into the Horsepower wars. With this car, Olds turned the musclecar wars up several notches. Once again those Rocket Oldsmobiles were right in the thick of it!
S01E09 Super Sport - Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 and SS 454
30 min
Chevrolet's SS designation originally adorned the high-performance Impalas, but the most popular Super Sport was by far the Chevelle. All it took was the 396 "rat motor" to turn this little grocery-getter into a pavement...
S01E10 She's Real Fine - 1961-64 Chevrolet Impala 409
30 min
The story of the Legendary 409. When Chevy squeezed one horsepower per cubic inch out of this engine in 1962, it sent everyone in Detroit back into the engine lab, and practically everyone else in...
S01E11 Barracuda - Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda and Dodge Hemi Challenger
30 min
Plymouth's little compact Valiant, with new skin and a huge rear window, became a hot item--once the 383s, 440s and 426 Hemi engines found their way under the hood. Its cousin from Dodge, the Chellenger,...
S01E12 The Baby Super Sports - 1968 Chevrolet Nova SS 396
30 min
With power-to-weight ratios like rocket sleds, Novas became immediate favorites of the muscle car crowd. If a 327 or a 350 wasn't enough, how about a 375-horsepower 396 in a Chevy II Nova? If you...
