Pralle,+Pralle,+Creason


 * __Muscle Cars __**

The true definition for a muscle car is a mid-sized car that is made as light as possible, rear wheel drive with a large and powerful V-8 engine, that are sold cheap to the public for street racing or drag racing. Oldsmobile is credited with the making of the first muscle car. In 1949 Oldsmobile engineered the first overhead valve (OHV) V-8 engine, it was nick-named the Rocket. The Rocket was a 303 cubic inch displacement V-8 that had 135 horsepower and 263 foot pounds of torque. They put this engine in the Oldsmobile 88 model it was called the Rocket 88. Oldsmobile quickly took the Rocket engine and put it in the Oldsmobile 76 series which is a lighter model car. This truly made a muscle car. After Oldsmobile engineered the Rocket engine the other car manufactures started to make their own muscle cars. In the early 60's muscle cars became very popular. Car manufactures were now in a race to see who could make the fastest most powerful car that was still affordable. Dodge came out with a Dodge Dart in 1962 with a 413 cubic inch displacement Max Wedge V-8 engine with 410 horse power stock. The 1962 Dart with the 413 Max Wedge could run a 13 second quarter mile at over 100 M.P.H. Dodge was winning the race for the fastest quarter mile car at an affordable price. The 1962 Dodge Dart sold for just $374.70 Making this a very affordable car with a lot of power.

In 1964 Ford was behind in the race for the fastest cars. They had the Galaxy which was heavier than any of the Mopars, Chevy, Oldsmobile, or Pontiac muscle cars. Ford decided to take Pontiac's idea with the Le Mans Super Duty by taking the 500 plus horse power 427 cubic inch displacement V-8 engine out of their full sized Galaxy, and placing it in their mid sized Fairline. Ford soon found out that the Fairline’s stock engine bay wouldn’t hold the massive 427 without major modifications. The Fairline’s engine bay was re-engineered with a tube frame to make room for the massive 427. Once complete these Fairlines were re-named Thunderbolts. They dominated the track on their debut, until the NHRA said all models competing in NHRA races had to have 500 produced and sold to be able to compete. Even with the NHRA's ruling people poured into show rooms to get their own Thunderbolt.


 * __Chevelle __**

Chevy came out with the Chevelle in 1964. When it came out it had many different models of the Chevelle including the Super Sport (SS), 300 which was bottom of the line, 300 deluxe, and Malibu were all available. The SS is the true muscle car of the Chevelle. It was built to be raced either at the drag strip or on the streets. The SS models were available in SS 396, and SS 454. Chevys 454 cubic inch big block engine had 450 horsepower which tied Chevy’s 427 cubic inch displacement big block with 450 horsepower for the most powerful engine ever put in a stock muscle car. Chevelle’s were produced through 1977 but after the government started making the emission laws more strict Chevelle’s just like all other muscle cars disappeared and came back as a much weaker car with less power.


 * __Mustang __**

Ford designed the mustang around one of its previous car the Ford Falcon. The first mustangs were 1964 1/2 models because they were rushed into production as soon as possible and didn’t want to wait until 1965 to start selling the first mustangs. When they were first designed Mustangs were supposed to be mid-engine two seater cars. But after the 1955 T-Bird two seater had a low amount of sales the idea was soon abandoned. Then the true mustang was born. When they first came out they were available with a 260 cubic inch displacement V-8 or a 170 cubic inch displacement in-line 6 engine. After the first year ford put the 289 cubic inch displacement V-8 into the redesigned mustang. They lasted clear through the muscle car era and are still being produced today.


 * __Charger __**

The Dodge Charger was first seen at the 1966 Rose Bowl where Dodge revealed it for the first time. The Charger started out as a muscle car from the first day that it was debuted. It came with many different engine options including the 440 cubic inch displacement V-8, 426 cubic inch displacement Hemi V-8, 383 cubic inch displacement V-8, 361 cubic inch displacement V-8, and the 318 cubic inch displacement V-8. The 325 hp 383 cubic inch displacement V-8 was the most popular choice in 1966 because it was cheaper than the 426 Hemi and the 440 still had lots power. The Dodge Charger was the first US production car to have the option of a spoiler on the car from the factory. This was inspired by the us of the Charger in NASCAR they found out that the air traveled faster over the car then under it which makes the rear-end lift up at high speeds. The spoiler solved this problem giving the Charger better traction at speeds of over 150 M.P.H. 1967 wasn’t as good of a year for the Charger sales dropped compared to the 1966 model. So Dodge took action and started to redesign the car. Richard Sias of the Dodge design team came up with the new body design now called the coke bottle shape. The Charger was the first of the muscle cars to receive the classic coke bottle shape body, the design caught on quick and soon many of the cars being produced took on the coke bottle shape as well. During the re-design Dodge added the R/T which stood for Road/Track it was Dodges high performance production any car caring the badge was built for high performance. The Charger R/T came with the 440 or the 426 Hemi they were true muscle cars that could run with the best of them. The Charger was produced until 1978 then it was discontinued until 2006 when Dodge bought it back.