King of the Muscle Cars

[Xplantdad]

Originally Posted by RST

I own it ............. 1973 SD 455 ............ incredibly fast, great to drive, A/C, power everything, gorgeous, amazing ......... perfect

Yep!

[69LM1]

Stirring the pot..... but...

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't a Camaro considered a pony car and not a muscle car?

Thus the Boss429, COPO's etc are in a different class than what is being discussed, ie muscle cars? Whereas a vette was a sports car?

Even though the barracuda was first, I think it was mustang that started the whole pony car thing.

I'm glad "pony car" stuck because the term "fish car" totally sucks.

Rich

[Tenney]

Demon (and not of the Dart variety) would hold current scoreboard?

[marxjunk]

when i was a kid, the "king of the hill" around my town was 70 LS6..it was called the pinnacle of all Chevelles/muscle cars...and right behind it was the 69 L78 Chevelle....there was so much competition to get one, most gear heads could only dream about owning one...and the press pumped this over and over..and Legends where born..or like i call it..Urban Legends where created..you say it or read it enough, and the people believe it...

also, when i came up..the 64 GTO is what the press called the originator of the muscle car..because it was a light body, big engine and mass produced...Joe Everyday could get one..

RO23s... WO23s...A12s...T-bolts...L88s....ZL1s.... and on and on where factory race cars...at least where i came from..they where limited production,,most wherent even advertised, and you had to have a connection to get one...and almost all where filtered to race teams..only after they where used, could a guy even get one...there where exceptions, but just my observation..and i am no historian..

FOR THE RECORD...id rather have an A12 Bee ...than a Hemi anything...I'm a big fan..and really..its in my top 5....I wasnt smart enough to buy a Bright Green one like above in the 90s...running and driving..for $11k needing a resto...i was smart enough to torture it for an hour, and it left an impression..thats for sure...

[Mr70]

I went to school with a Joe Everyday...he drove a Vega.

[Jonesy]

Originally Posted by mr 707

There will never be a consensus on this subject. guys love whats in THEIR OWN BARN.

EXACTLY

[1971ls6]

I have raced in the pure stock muscle car drag race for the last 10 years. The L88 vette,ZL-1 camaro, A12 roadrunners, 440 6 pack challenger, 68 RA11 firebird and the hemi cuda are always in the top qualifying group, don't forget the L89 vette, chevelle and camaro' as well.

The automatic is faster than the 4 speed in 95% of these. Keep in mind that they require the stock size tire that came on THAT car, 70 hemi cuda and road runner had f-60 tires, that helped a lot .

With the independent rear, the vette leaves the line the quickest.

The fords just can't keep up, even the FE 428 mustangs, the buicks are mid pack, with the Gto ahead of them, especially with the RAiv

[earntaz]

Back in the day at Amarillo Dragway I ran my brand spankin' new 70 1/2 Z-28 -- LT-1/4sp/4:10s. I ran that car for most of the summer in B/PS. Held both ends of the track record there with 13.88 ET and 104.22 MPH -- that was at almost 3800 ft of altitude. Corrected to sea level -- 13.25 and 109.21. TAZ

[442w30]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

If you include the ZL1 Camaros then you have to include the 1965 A990 Race Hemi Chryslers that would beat any muscle car INCLUDING the ZL1s

....yet one was street-legal, while the other was not.

[Survivor 69/Z28]

IMO the 1970 Chevelle SS LS6 is very hard to argue that its not King.
The ZL1 Camaros were amazing of course, but lets face it that is an "extremely" rare car and I don't see how you can put that in with general musclecars of the day. To be king it has to do everything well IMO. Fast, build quality, solid interior, handling, and just overall well sorted out. I have the LS6 at the top of the list. There are other cars to make the argument, but you can't argue the fact that GM musclecars were overall the most sorted out right out of the box.