The Muscle Car Craze In The 1970's

The muscle car wars began in the 1960’s, but the fiercest battles didn’t begin until the 1970’s. By the time the new decade started every manufacturer in America was back into the racing scene and was trying to edge out the competition any way possible. This sparked some of the loudest, most stylish, and powerful cars ever conceived to be created and then sold to the public.

Although this was all short lived because emissions hit companies hard after 1973, those three years were golden. Golden is right too because some of the cars on our list here are ultra rare. No matter how you swing it though these are some of the fastest, most iconic cars to be released at the climax of the muscle car craze! Here we go:

5) 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS

That is exactly what Chevy did in 1970 with the Chevelle. Remanufactured body panels gave the Chevelle a boxy, stern stance that became the icon of the model line. Most importantly the Chevelle could be had with the Corvette's LS6, which made more power than the more standard 454. Although they weighed as much as a small cathedral, the Chevelle could really move. Tagging a ¼-mile time of low 12.0 seconds and as fast as 112 mph (180 kph).

What made the LS6 so much better than the 454 (LS5) was that it touted solid-lifters and a higher compression ratio. This gave the Chevelle 450 horsepower, or so they said. Dyno tests regularly told the truth, which was that it made well over 450 ponies and over 500 lb-ft of torque. Altogether close to 4,500 of these were made, so they are pretty easy to

With an 8,000 RPM indicated redline, the block was extremely sophisticated and produced most of its power well beyond traditional muscle car RPM territory. Add in the excitement of the stripes, the hood vents, the pistol grip shifter, and the ‘High Impact’ colors to the ‘Cuda and it is plainly perfect. Plus, this one’s roof goes down so the other drivers you leave behind can stare at you longer.

2) 1973 Pontiac Trans Am SD-455 - 290 horsepower - $4,929

As we said earlier 1973 all but killed the muscle car craze, but Pontiac didn’t get that memo. Nope. That year they released one of the fastest Trans Ams ever cooked up in Detroit, the SD-455. SD stands for “Super Duty” and it was super because it was essentially a racing motor, suspension, and styling. Forged connecting rods, forged pistons, and an iron casting crankshaft all beef up the block. Even the cylinder head design is exclusive because the intake ports are the same size the entire length of the runners. That means there is no fluctuation in air flow and thus no fluctuation in power.

252 of these scream machines had rolled out of Detroit before the power sapping began. They are hard to find, sure, but if you have the chance make one