Bobby Rahal Lists His 5 Favorite Muscle Cars

[Blue_69_malibu]

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/ ... 52094.html


While I don't neccessarily agree with his list, it's a very good read nonetheless. Obviously, when it comes to opinions, one man's coffee is another man's tea.

My gripes, however trivial, are as follows:

1) A Cobra really is a sports car, not a muscle car....although we'd all love it if one magically appeared in our garage one day.

2) I don't know how you can come up with this list and not include the '70 Chevelle LS-6. Fans of the L-88 Corvette and 428 Cobra Jet Mustangs have a similliar beef, IMHO.

2.1) No '69 Malibus with a 307 and a Powerglide? C'mon........

3) The 1969 Z28 is a gorgeous car.....but I sometimes wonder about all praise the Chevy 302 and Ford Boss 302 get. On the track or the Trans Am circuit, they both rock. On the street, I would wager it's a differenet story. Both motors need to (and are quite capable of) pulling up to 7500 or 8000 RPM to achieve peak power. It's hard to keep a street car in the 6000 - 8000 RPM range.....even for TireSmoker. These motors just don't make that much torque down low and really need to be revved to "enjoy". Off the line or street light to street light, they would struggle somewhat against larger, torque-ier motors.

But, no one asked me for my list, so Bobby Rahal's will have to suffice for now.

[Maverick]

I guess the definition of "muscle car" has changed over the decades. It used to refer to a factory pony car built for straight line performance most often with a big block.

Agree that the Cobra doesn't belong in that group. Neither does the GT350, it was a road racer. My list would include the Boss 429 and the Chevell SS 396.

There is an endless thread on the Maverick forum where guys try to put a Maverick in the Muscle Car category because it can be hot rodded. Makes no sense to me.

[TireSmoker]

Bobby Rahal is a road-racer, so I can sorta understand his inclusion of cars the Cobra and the GT350. But I'll agree that the Cobra, awesome as it is, doesn't belong on a muscle-car list. Those things were only 2-seaters, and let's be honest, an all-out race car. I would argue against the inclusion of Corvettes for the same 2-seater issue. A big-block Chevelle or Nova is more appropriate on a muscle-car list than a Vette. I have no issue with the 69 Z/28. When you have 4.10s and 25" tall tires, it's not hard to keep it in the RPMs. Man, I would love to row a 4-speed with a 7000 RPM small-block.

I remember riding in Andy's LeMans waaaay back when and that was the only high-revving small block I had ever been in -- it just sounded sweet. None of mine have ever been past 6000.

-Dave

[ttamrettus]

1 - 69 Z28 (I'm biased)
2 - 70 SS454 Chevelle
3 - 69 Judge
4 - anything hemi, they are too much to list, roadrunner, cuda, superbird.
5 - Shelby GT500

I might adjust the order but there are so many cool muscle cars out there.

edit - ALL MUST BE COG DRIVE.

[Basement Paul]

I'll go with no special order either:

'69 Vette - 427 (but any big block Vette this vintage will do)
'74 Trans Am SD455 (kind of a slug, but they looked cool and were really the last real muscle car of the time)
Hemi Cuda's were just plain sick
'70 Buick Skylark GS Stage 1 - awesome
'64 Ford Thunderbolts 427 (or replica since there weren't too many)

(honorable mention to the AMX because it was really different from the rest of these)

-BP