Was This Oldsmobile Actually America's First Muscle Car?

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By astir people's definition, a "muscle car" is V8-powered, front-engined, rear-wheel drive, made successful America, and mostly has a coupe assemblage style. So by these metrics, nan 1949 Oldsmobile 88 would surely qualify. It has a large honkin' Rocket V8 nether nan hood, truthful check. Those 303 cubic inches were decently voluminous for nan era, and it featured go-fast goodies for illustration a dual-plane intake, forged crank, and aluminum pistons, moreover if nan horsepower was only 135 gross ponies. It's rear-wheel drive, truthful cheque there, too. The 88 was offered arsenic a two-door coupe, and Oldsmobile is arsenic American arsenic a bald eagle wearing bluish jeans. So location you go. The Rocket 88 is simply a reminder of Oldsmobile's bully aged days earlier its sad death, and was America's first musculus car.*

Oh no, an asterisk! All right, location are different imaginable firsts. How astir nan 1932 Ford V8? It ticks nan boxes and Clyde Barrow of "Bonnie and Clyde" fame allegedly wrote a missive bragging astir its speed. And nan 1935 Duesenberg SSJ was a 400-horsepower monster, though its supercharged straight-8 didn't person a V configuration. 

The reply whitethorn dishonesty successful intent. Those '32 Fords brought V8 powerfulness to nan masses, though not for nan intent of drag-strip acceleration, but alternatively to connection powerfulness formerly disposable only to luxury-car buyers (and crush Chevrolet's inline-6 successful sales). As for Duesenbergs, well, they were nan epitome of luxury and expense. 

The ethos of a existent musculus car goes beyond its layout and state of origin. It must supply powerfulness and speed, but beryllium wrong nan financial scope of nan mean person. With this successful mind, two cars usually get nan attraction arsenic imaginable alternate first musculus machines complete nan 88: The 1955 Chrysler C-300 and nan 1964 Pontiac GTO.

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Like nan Olds 88, nan Chrysler C-300 raced successful NASCAR, had V8 powerfulness driving nan rear wheels, and only came successful a two-door assemblage style. And boy, did it person power. The Rocket V8 had grown to 324 cubic inches by 1955 and put retired a coagulated 202 gross horsepower, but nan C-300 made that Olds look for illustration a play cart pinch lofty aspirations. The C-300's hood was filled pinch 331 cubic inches of Chrysler FirePower Hemi, and it was nan first American V8 nan mean user could bargain pinch 300 hp (gross though it was).

Despite nan softness that later 300s would acquire, 1955's C-300 was a existent capacity effort that could deed almost 130 mph. It didn't travel pinch aerial conditioning, extracurricular mirrors, fog lights, aliases backup lights. With nan objection of modular leather interiors, nan C-300 turned its chemoreceptor up astatine immoderate frivolities that didn't thief it spell faster.

There are 2 problems pinch calling nan Chrysler C-300 nan first musculus car, though. First is MSRP. The guidelines value of Oldsmobile's 88 bid successful 1955 was $2,436 ($29,523 today), while nan Chrysler C-300 costs a comparatively house-like $4,109 ($49,799 today). This was Cadillac territory. That said, costs isn't nan only consideration. If it were, past nan $7,200 ($63,721 today) Fred Gibb 1969 COPO ZL1 Chevrolet Camaros wouldn't suffice arsenic musculus cars, either. The quality whitethorn beryllium that location was only 1 level of C-300 successful 1955, nan pricey one, and Camaros spanned a scope of capacity tiers that began astatine conscionable $2,727 successful 1969 ($24,134 today). 

Problem 2 is that nan C-300 was designed for apical speed, not rowdy, tire-smoking acceleration (9.8 seconds to 60 mph!). It's conscionable not unsmooth capable astir nan edges.

When John Z. DeLorean had Pontiac jam nan 389 V8 into nan Tempest/LeMans, nan template was group for what musculus cars were expected to be. The faux-racing-branded 1964 Pontiac GTO wasn't as accelerated arsenic Ferrari's 250 GTO (even Car and Driver itself refers to its infamous March 1964 comparison arsenic "fictional"), but it was still built pinch velocity arsenic nan eventual goal. Plus, it was affordable. The MSRP for a '64 GTO erstwhile caller was $2,780 ($29,127 today). Buyers could take nan "Tri-Power" triple two-barrel setup for 348 gross hp and, if they had self-respect, a Muncie four-speed manual transmission.

The logic nan GTO gets brought up truthful often arsenic nan first existent musculus car is apt because of its image. Muscle cars are mostly brash, loud, and marketed toward younger demographics (or those who want to consciousness younger). One 1964 Pontiac GTO advertisement began pinch nan line, "For nan man who wouldn't mind riding a tiger if someone'd only put wheels connected it." Meanwhile, Oldsmobile Rocket 88 ads featured nan comparatively lame "Make a day pinch nan '88,'" and some "Rocket" 88 and Chrysler 300 ads featured a drafting of a suit-wearing man driving his woman astir astatine a safe speed. If Chrysler's and Oldsmobile's ads depicted personification spinning doughnuts successful a parking lot, possibly they would get much consideration.

As for music, 1 tin statement nan merits of "Little GTO" by Ronny and nan Daytonas vs. "Rocket '88'" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats (who really were Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm). The '55 Chrysler C-300 ne'er sewage a song, but it did get a movie called "300," which starred Gerard Butler. That's what that movie's about, right?