The Muscle Car Era featured cars and trucks built between 1964 and 1972.
Muscle Cars are a product of the Classic Car Era. They evolved from the feverish
consumerism that followed World War II, when bigger and faster were always better.
Muscle Cars evolved by accident at a time when Detroit was trying to stop the invasion of
imported cars with new, light-weight models like the Corvair, Falcon and Valiant.
Pontiac GTO Muscle Car
But as the national highway system grew and gasoline became plentiful, Americans
wanted more power. More speed. And in 1964 Detroit bowed to consumer pressure by
putting big block V-8’s on mid-sized chassis, and giving them names like Camero,
Firebird and Barracuda, common household names of the Muscle Car Era.
However, despite America’s love for horsepower, the Clean Air Act of 1970 called for
pollution control devices that hampered performance. And then the oil embargo of 1973
limited the supply of gasoline. By the time congress passed the Corporate Average Fuel
Economy rule in 1978 the Muscle Car was gone forever.
