American muscle cars were known for their massive
V8's, powerful engine roar, and for destroying their competition
on the drag strip. These cars were very popular during the 60's and 70's, especially in america. Many people have their opinions and likes/dislikes about certain cars, but everyone can agree that the 60's and 70's were owned by the
muscle car. These V8 monsters were the best performing cars in the world, and their foreign competition, including the European
exotics, couldn't match the performance of the
american muscle. Not only were they powerful, but they were loud - you could hear them coming from miles away.
Muscle cars were built with passion to outperform its competitors, and it was successful at doing so. They were known as King of the Road, and it was
this that made muscles such a popular
american icon.
But as the muscle car era neared the 80's and 90's, something changed. There was something different about how american manufacturers were making their vehicles. Their cars didn't perform or look half as good as their earlier models, and they became more.....sloppy. Not only did they go down in performance and looks, american companies became greedy and started selling
muscle cars in
mass production, not giving a care if the car looked or performed well. The countless
victories and success of the muscle car seemed to have made america cocky and greedy, and they were building cars only to make money. Take the
Dodge Charger, for example. In the 60's-70's, these cars were one of the biggest, baddest muscle cars you could buy. Their incredible performance made them popular, and as american companies took notice of the rapid increase in sales, they became greedy. As the years passed, they became more sloppy, making careless mistakes. Dodge was producing
chargers in mass production, not thinking about how they were ruining the car. Soon the charger went from an awesome performance monster to a crappy way for dodge to make money. This caused a rapid decrease in sales, and in 1978, it was discontinued. America's overconfidence and want for money was killing the muscle car, and this continued through the 90's and into the 21st century. Nowadays, muscle cars are crap. They don't perform or look half as good as they did 40 years ago. Current models like the
GTO and Charger are examples of some of the worst muscle cars ever built. It wasn't that america could no longer build cars like they did in the past - they could still do it. But as time passed, technology advanced, and as foreign companies were keeping up with this advanced tech, americans stuck to their original muscle car "recipe". It's all because american companies lost their passion for building the high-performance muscle car, and it was replaced with
the passion for money.
Muscle car enthusiasts, however, refuse to believe this. Their pride and love for the american icon is glued to their hearts. They collect and treasure muscles from years past, and continue to rebuild them and increase their performance. If only it was these people who would run american manufacturers such as Dodge, Ford,
Pontiac..... . Sadly, they don't, and the people that do run these companies just want the money. America still tries to make performance cars, however - the
corvette and
viper, especially the corvette, have been able to compete with the new King of the Road - the Europeans.
Euros these days are built with the passion to perform that america once had. Many are hand built to perfection using high-quality materials and performance parts. Now, Europe makes some of the fastest cars in the world, and lap records to almost every major track are set by
euros. The corvette, although not a muscle car, is as fast as many euros and costs about half the price. This american sports car is the one of very few decent
american cars that is made today. Muscle cars from the 60's and 70's remain as the most decent muscle cars ever built, and there are still some around today. But with global warming and demand for more fuel efficient vehicles, these american icons, with their loud V8's and massive power, will soon be gone forever.