The Death of American Muscle

stick with the 360 with a 4bbl

1978 models could still pull 7s and 8s on the 0-60

The Malaise Era versions are some of the most fun for tinkerers since they respond really well to mods.

As for OP's point of discussion the real reason muscle died was the market was changing towards luxury even before insurance made muscle unattractive. Then almost as quickly it moved to sport sedan.

>godawful 318
why the 318 hate? You can NOT kill them great engines. And if you know what you're doing, you can screw 400+ HP from them N/A

ITT: mistakes were made

I'd like an Aspen R/T. The duck tail works for me and a hot 360 should be a lot of fun. Or maybe a Gen III Hemi. Too bad I'm bogged down in a 4 eyed Fox resto atm.

this is the saddest one for me, they should've just killed the poor thing instead of making it this fuckfaced turd, and yeah I didn't like Drive that much

Shout out to the Challenger though for at least keeping the sexy body styling through 1974

the 'Cuda deserves a mention too ofc, consider the fact that the Mustang II was in its second year by then

I'd like to build a bomber to hoon around in when I get some additional income. Maybe I should get a second job.

Duck tail spoilers and huge v8s are my fetish.

...

do this
youtube.com/watch?v=YUefSKCjP8w&t=3s

I kinda want a shitty low Hp American V8, just to park next to EV charging stations.

so cringe

tfw 1973 chevelle is the only chevelle i like

...

the earlier chevelles are ugly and the 74-77 didnt have the right tail lights

that car looks better than anything that came out of the 60s

Took them long enough, but they found a solution. 300 hp from a spicy turbo 3.8L V6. Sadly diminished very soon because of a stuck up target audience (muuuuh veee aaaaiiite) and boundless GM bad decision making.

you're really not helping your case

meh 73 chevelle best chevelle

lies
64-69 chevelle >> 70 >>>> 71-72 >>>>>>>> 73-77

64-67 plain economy car 68-72 ugly boomer garbage 73-77 smex city

hes probably one of those faggots who saw Drive

Funny how things come full circle isn't it.

probably, that or just being a contrarian shit

Full circle from what?

We have turbo v6 again this time it's replacing the V8 for good

the body lines on the 68-72 are awful and prior are just eco boxes 73-77 have the right amount of windows and low lines that i crave

the chevelle was always boomer garbage
the tempest and the cutlass were always more attractive cars

>Sadly diminished very soon because of a stuck up target audience (muuuuh veee aaaaiiite)
Not in the slightest. The things sold so well that GM actually extended the production run as long as they could without running into 1988 crash standards and also contract penalties because that plant was already obligated to produce other vehicles. Extending a production run like that is a huge deal to an automaker because they have to get suppliers to ramp up to produce shit they hadn't planned on producing because they'd already set about making other things.

Can Am was a homoligation special. Probably one of the last ones out of Detroit too.

>Probably one of the last ones out of Detroit too.
The W41 Quad 442 would like a word with you
>just over 200 built for the specific purpose of SCCA racing.

attaching the pic would help

Tfw no 7.0 v8 making 450f/lb torque

510 from 68-70

>through the front wheels
what absolute madmen the engineers at Oldsmobile were.

That looks badass

cant wait for the next energy crisis crippling american fatsos with their colossal trucks for which biggest load is walmart groceries

>implying you wouldn't dd a comfy malaise boat
the '78 charger didn't even look that bad

we're already preparing user. This time, we'll be ready. The downsizing trend has started.
A great example is the Ford F150. There's a single 5.0L V8 option, but 60% of them have the turbocharged V6 options (2.7L and 3.5L)

fucking forgot the pic. I need to stop doing that

but the truck bodies are still getting bigger

the oil crisis of the 70's drove people away from boats and v8's and into cramped city cars with asthmatic 4 cylinder engines. People now are still driving full size car but with cuckolded engines

>but the truck bodies are still getting bigger
but the trucks themselves are getting lighter to help with fuel efficiency.

>140 HP
>5.2L V8

That's why.

Fuck I love malaise era "muscle", looks so comfy

kill yourself my man

theres still no sense of downsizing what theyre driving though. Your average driver doesn't give a shit about weight, only physical dimensions and so i believe without downsizing the physical proportions of the trucks, theres no current trend for smaller cars.

Unless of course, the F series starts becoming unpopular and the Ranger becomes more mainstream

why is this car getting so much recognition lately, when cadillac eldorado FWD was better, stronger with the 8,2

It was the first popular American FWD.
It was the first car period with no seam where the roof had been attached/welded
It won the fucking Pikes Peak Hill Climb with a bone stock car.
The drivetrain was so overengineered and so bulletproof that it was used to power 1970's GMC motorhomes.

And by the time Cadillac's 8.2L came out emissions has strangled the horsepower from it.

Cord
ok
it won a stock class against other stock cars and didnt even run a fast time
thats not impressive considering that was a regular occurrence

the Cadillac engines were more powerful on average

Oh Cord was popular? I didn't know they were still around.

dumbass

because Oldsmobile is still kicking eh?

some top tier logic there user

One day desu,

my N/A 2bbl V6 will be a Turbo FI V6

>American muscle is more powerful than ever, enormously so when you consider the 60's/70's had a different way of measuring horsepower
>and can stick it to those stuck-up no-sense-of-humor German cars on the track with just a V8, stick shift, and RWD

What's wrong with modern muscle, if it does everything classic muscle can do ON TOP of being able to turn? Seriously, a Challenger Hellcat would be rated at 1000 HP back in 1960's

Lasted longer than Cord, didn't they?

That 6.6L V8 made 325 ft-lbs at 2200 rpm at least.

You might have felt fast for a second or two off the line.

Passing on a freeway in higher gears was probably not that bad either.

Still a strangled choked out engine though.

doesnt mean more popular though

Cord was a limited production cutting edge automobile made in the great depression and its fwd dominated Indy racing

the Olds Toronado was a fwd barge

Id say the Cord was way more popular in their respective eras

so throw money at it. 318's respond well to mods.
youtube.com/watch?v=ECeTWlUnpgY

Through the front wheels WITHOUT turning the engine 90 degrees and using a transaxle, no less.

Because they're cool, and Oldsmobile had always been the people's car instead of a Cadillac which was priced and marketed way, way above the other GM marques.

1972 was the year they switched from SAE Gross to SAE Net horsepower measurements, and where the real disconnect in old horsepower ratings lie with the modern.

SAE Net is more or less what has carried on since under standards J1349 and J2723.

Of course, several old muscle cars were underrated by the SAE Gross method, so it was also kind of a wash in some cases. The "overrated" hp method was partially corrected by a voluntary underrating by the manufacturer.

hardly any of the muscle cars were overrated as much as people like to act

underrated*

Well certainly there are those who take artistic license with the phenomena to the point of exaggeration.

The point is that old Gross SAE ratings prior to 1972 are a crap shoot. 1972 on is more or less comparable.

Yeah but the Caddy looks miles better.

You don't even have to throw that much money at it.

A $500 camshaft would do wonders compared to the stocker.

I'm always astonished how American manufacturers managed to justify a 50%+ drop in horsepower over 2 years or so, PR-wise. How did they sell a car that was way slower despite using almost the same engine as its predecessor?

sure its a crap shoot but Ive seen enough dynos to know that plenty of gross ratings were about right

you can multiply gross hp by .75 and youll get in the general area of the net hp

like a K code dynos 170whp ends up being a little over 200 net hp do the math and you get around the 271 rating

Hey dude, is there any easy way to translate old horsepower ratings to modern ones? I'm about a 289 V8 from 1966 into my Maverick and want to know what I'm putting in there before I do.

Marketing and options, lots of it to appeal to as many people as possible

500 for a camshaft is way too much

they werent way slower

Why would you want to drive a dangerous, explosive mess when you could cruise in luxury?

most malaise era cars have been crushed by monster trucks in the 90's.

only desirable american malaise are camaros, corvettes, firebirds, cadillacs and that's about it.

did those explode too?

Not really. The fuel tank is above and behind the rear axle not slung under the trunk like most Detroit stuff of the era.

meh/ I prefer the looks of the Oldsmobile.

Gross. It's like they couldn't decide on a front end design and the loser became the ass end. The fastback Toronado is way nicer looking.