What happened to American Muscle? (discussion)

[ZfrkS62]

First off, this is not a flame thread or bash the Big Three. This isn't a debate, it is merely a discussion of the HeyDay of American Muscle. The only reason I am not posting this in the American Muscle section is because i'm not sure how it would be taken by Nth. This could be construed either way, but i don't intend it to rip on American Cars. That being said, let's get on with it.


40+ years ago, Chevy, Ford and Chrysler were really the only makes in the US. No one had really heard of the majority of the European brands except for Jag, Mercedes, Porsche and VW. Gas was cheap and none of the cars came with anything smaller than an inline 6. Most cars had a small block V8 and no one cared that the amount of miles you traveled was equal to the number of gallons you consumed. In those days, the only numbers that mattered were the Horsepower and standing quarter mile times, which if you were in the 14s you were quick. No one knew how to get more than 4 gears into a manual trans, or more than 3 gears out of an automatic. Back then, racing in America was all circle track and drag strip, so that's all that was practical. Those were also the days of Nascar's homologation rules that assured the public that 500 copies of the car running around the track were available for the road.

Enter the oil crisis of the 70's. Suddenly the 7 mpg that the Camaros, Chargers and Mustangs were getting was just too expensive. The cry for fuel efficiency became the cease fire in the Power Wars and ended an era. The big burly lead sleds were giving way to the compact and efficient Hondas, Toyotas and Datsuns. A few British cars, like the Triumph and MG managed to make it across the pond as well as the ill fated Yugo, but the Europeans were still not widely known. BMW was just starting to immigrate to North America by way of the Bavaria and 2002 models, and Mercedes was starting to make a little noise as well in the luxury markets. Those with enough money to not have to worry about gas prices, began filling their need for speed with these types of cars as the power ratings began shrinking due to emissions standards choking out the engines of the domestic scene. The only cars that were really left for the US, were the Corvette and Camaro for Chevy, and the Mustang for Ford. The Vette being the big brother of the 3 and leaning more towards what it is now.

The 80's didn't help anything for the Americans. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard was forcing the Big Three to turn out a bunch of econo box, 4 cylinder crap which was being hopelessly outsold by the Japanese due to their reliability. The Camaro was down to a 305 CID, 150 HP V8 at best, but usually a 3.8L V6. Ford was beginning to offer a 4 cylinder in the Mustang and Chrysler would pretty much be out of the performance car market until the Dodge Stealth, which was a rebadged Mitsubishi 3000 GT. Even the Corvette suffered, skipping the 1983 model year. While cheap, American cars just didn't offer the 'WOW' factor that enthusiasts were looking for. For about the same to little more, they could pick up a Nissan or a Mazda and get the smile etching kick they were looking for. And on the European front, the 80s saw the launch of BMW's E30 3er. Road racing was gaining popularity in the US a bit more and suddenly, 1/4 mile times weren't the only thing people were looking at.

The 1990's saw a resurgence of Chrysler with the release of the Viper, a case study in over-compensation as the Corvettes regularly wiped the Vipers up in GT class racing, but once again, it was Corvette, Camaro, Mustang. With the Europeans covering the gap for a little more buck for the bang, no one really complained all that much, right into today's market, where the Camaro is on hiatus, and the Mustang seemingly changing only it's skin, leaving the Corvette to rule the roost.

So where did American companies go wrong? What did the Europeans do right? If anything.

Discuss. Intelligently. Please.

[Mattk]

I've always had the opinion that performance cars should be made for a specific type of person and a specific type of market. A certain type of people buy Corvettes and a certain type of people buy Porsche 911s. Successful sports cars were all designed for a reason, and the raison d'etre of American muscle cars of yesteryear was to go fast. American muscle was to be simple, unbridled and unadultered speed.

However, fast forward to now, and it seems car makers want cars to be more than what they are: powerful, but economical; sporty, yet luxurious; plenty of raw speed, but also highly agile. To satisfy these dichotomies, car makers have come up with cars which try to do everything, and they do, but, in the case of American cars, the original, over-riding purpose of speed has been lost to a business decision. Muscle cars are being forced to do too much, and forced to accomplish things which they cannot accomplish, not as a true muscle car anyway.

American muscle cars should thus be alternatives to, and not competitors with the other sports cars in the world. To be successful again, they should return to yesteryear and make big cars that, look powerful, feel powerful, sound powerful, and are powerful. Speed should be the primary goal, with all else secondary (not that other elements should be completely forgotten, obviously). American muscle is no longer as successful because it has lost its way of being (except for perhaps the Corvette), and it needs to be found again.

[ZfrkS62]

IN the last 15 years, the Vette has really proven itself as a competitor in the sports car market. The C5 i think really found it's element and it shows with the C6 getting an upgraded engine and that being really it.

Now if you look at the abysmally selling Ford GT, you can't help but wonder what went wrong. IMO it was a case of too little too late. Having all but pulled out of motorsports, Ford had lost it's market for the GT.

Now we are looking at a resurgence in the Muscle Car segment. Chrysler has reintroduced the Charger, albeit as a Sedan not a Coupe as it should be, and an automatic with no option for a 6 speed. So it's basically the Chrysler 300. Chrysler i think inadvertently missed their target demographic with the Charger and it's not doing as well as they would have hoped. The Challenger is coming soon and that has been reported to have a manual trans option, so that may pick up some of it's market share. But as unpopular as the reintroduction of the Hemi engine was (compared to the hype that surrounded it) I just don't know what's going to come of it.

I believe thoroughly that what has damaged the American car image, has been the oil crunches and emissions laws, along with CAFE. Not to mention the surge of soccer moms with their SUVs that have caused Ford Chrysler and GM to spew out these damn econo boxes.

[RC45]

Small car (usually econobox) + big engine.

Thats what the muscle car was.

Its time came and went.