What is a muscle car?

[seasand77]

There are lots of newer cars with big horsepower, 5- 6 speed transmissions, and zero to 60 times in the 5-6 second range, but they can't be called muscle cars. So what really is a muscle car? I like this explaination:

Muscle cars were driven by guys that were at least 18 years old in 1955, and loved to drag race cars on public streets.

The cars were standard American production cars that came with engines and options that were intended to make the car accelerate faster from a stop light.

Muscle cars disappeared when legislated enforcement and excessive insurance premiums forced them off public streets in your particular part of the country. The actual year they disappeared is not consistant all over the country.

Therefore, the definition of a muscle car is simply an American car designed to accelerate rapidly on public streets, and driven by a guy that now sells insurance and reads this with bi-focals.

[Grimm]

I would agree with that, but also add: a muscle car would be a car that there would be no mistaking whether it was running or not, and it would not be driven by 90% of women because it's big, too loud, stinks, etc. The cars nowadays are too quiet and "cute" to be muscle cars. They are simply sports cars.

[Art161]

According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, a muscle car is any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving.