Motorsports

courtesy Ford Motor Company

Main Street Muscle

If you‘re of a certain age—say, a Baby Boomer or an older member of Generation X—you probably have vivid memories from your youth of cruising around town on Saturday nights, planted in the bucket seat of a rumbling, raucous, American musclecar. Perhaps you engaged in the occasional stoplight challenge, or spent your weekends busting knuckles while bolting on speed parts. You might even have structured your life around the care and feeding of your big, bad cruiser.

Good times, right? And if you haven‘t paid much attention to the collector car world in recent years, you might have just assumed those great old cars have motored off to that big junkyard in the sky, forgotten relics of a happier time.

Well, here‘s hoping you held onto the keys to your old musclecar, because these machines have come roaring back in popularity over the last few years, with values soaring to unheard-of heights. The cars have powershifted their way back into the popular culture, with vintage musclecars popping up in movies and automotive “make­over” TV shows. An entire in­dustry has reached maturity supplying restoration and modification parts for these classics. Today, these old favorites are even influencing the design direction of new models from Ford, Dodge, Pontiac and Chevrolet.

Although musclecars have occasionally fallen out of favor with the public, their appeal over the decades is not difficult to understand. Unlike Ferraris, Porsches, and other exotic sportscars, American musclecars were “everyman” performance vehicles. They were mass-­produced two-door sedans and coupes with big, hyperactive V8 engines, plus the hood scoops, stripes, and image-making de­tails that were a hit on Main Street. They were relatively affordable—especially on the used car market—allowing just about everyone a chance to cash in on the fun.

Generally speaking, the Golden Age of the American musclecar is considered to be 1964–71, before high insurance rates and federal emission control regulations strangled performance, although there are some models from before and after this period that can easily qualify. The best-selling musclecars of the 1960s were the Pontiac GTO, Chevrolet Malibu SS396, Ford Mach 1 Mustang and Plymouth Road Runner, but almost every American car maker, from American Motors to Buick to Mercury, had at least one genuine musclecar on its roster.

Most of these cars sold for around $4,000 new—many for less—and by the late 1970s and early 1980s, they could be bought for a song. Unfortunately, those days are gone. Today, the most desirable models sell for what was once considered “crazy money.”

At the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, earlier this year (generally considered the highest profile of the many auctions that take place around the country), a 1970 Plymouth ‘Cuda convertible with 426ci “Hemi” engine—the nastiest high-performance V8 that Chrysler Corporation ever made—sold for $2.1 million. A 1970 Chevelle convertible with the rare 450-horsepower 454ci V8 sold for $1.2 million. A quality 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang reliably brings a quarter of a million dollars at auction, and one sold for $451,000 at Barrett-Jackson.

Even more common musclecars can bring surprising money; four 1970 Boss 302 Mustangs were sold at prices ranging from $64,800 to $87,480 at Barrett-Jackson. Sellers of 1967 GTOs, a car built in huge numbers, were getting between $41,000 and $69,000.

We should note that most people in the hobby consider these sky-high prices at big auctions to be aberrations, spurred on by TV‘s bright lights and millionaire egos. There are still a lot of good musclecars—nice “drivers” and amateur restorations—that can be found in the $20,000–$30,000 price range. But even that is a big jump from just a few years ago.

In today‘s market, several factors contribute to value, but the big four are: 1) Rarity; 2) Having the highest-­performance engine and transmission options available; 3) The car‘s condition; 4) A paperwork trail. The paperwork trail is crucial, as some musclecars can be easily faked using lesser models—a practice known as “cloning.”

The driving force behind this popularity is not hard to figure out—Baby Boomers with disposable income and a desire to once again drive the dream machines of their youth. But now there‘s a new twist. American auto manufacturers have latched onto the classic musclecars of their past to help forge distinctive, recognizable styling themes for today.

For an example, check out Ford‘s Mustang. The Mustang has been in production uninterrupted since 1964, with the usual peaks and valleys you‘d expect ­during a 40-year production span. But its redesign for 2005 dripped with 1960s styling cues, kick-starting sales and enthusiasm. Ford sold 160,975 Mustangs in 2005, more than 30,000 above 2004’s total. A new 475-horsepower Shelby GT500 model is on the way this summer, reuniting the Mustang with one of the icons of 1960s performance. The buzz about the new Mustang hasn’t been this loud for at least a decade.

Manufacturers have to tread carefully when reviving classic musclecar nameplates, though, as these cars carry a lot of emotional freight. Name a new car after a 1960s favorite, and people show up at dealerships with certain expectations.

Pontiac brought back the GTO, the best-selling musclecar from 1964–68, for the 2004 model year, to mixed reviews. The horsepower was there, but the heritage styling was missing, and the car is already leaving production at the end of this model year.

Museum Quality

Been a while since you’ve been surrounded by classic musclecars? One of the premier showcases for vintage American performance is Floyd Garrett’s Muscle Car Museum in Sevierville, Tennessee. Although the cars on display rotate in and out, there are typically at least 90 musclecars on display at any given time. The museum celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, having opened on April 26, 1996.

Dodge has likewise revived the Charger name for its new four-door sedan. If its silhouette doesn’t remind you of classic Chargers, its Hemi V8, Daytona R/T model, and forthcoming Super Bee special edition should at least tell you Dodge’s heart is in the right place.

But new concept cars from Dodge and Chevrolet introduced at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit show just how fast the musclecar revival is spreading through the Motor City. Dodge’s Challenger concept is an amazing re-creation of the original, and is likely headed to production for 2008. Chevy’s Camaro concept wowed crowds at the North American International Show in Detroit and, if built, will re-establish another connection to the original musclecar era.

Good ideas are lasting ones, and for Americans of all stripes, musclecars were the right automotive idea at the right time. As it turns out, that time has not yet passed, and we’re going to see a whole new generation of musclecars rolling down Main Street, side-by-side with the well-preserved originals.

Happy cruising.

Texan Steve Statham has kicked his spurs into more than a few American musclecars, both past and present. Steve has authored several automotive books, and is the current editor of Musclecar Enthusiast magazine.