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Go behind the wheel and under the hood on the HowStuffWorks auto blog.
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Ben Bowlin
Now, you know, I can’t let the show end without asking – I know it’s a loaded question since we said there’s so much controversy, the first muscle car could’ve been in 1949, the last one could’ve been in 1978 -
Scott Benjamin
’74.
Ben Bowlin
- ’74?
Scott Benjamin
Oh, I guess, you know what, you’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to step on you but -
Ben Bowlin
Oh, no, no.
Scott Benjamin
- I’ve seen one listed as 1974 but with the range somebody has said 1978 and I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know what vehicle they’re talking about in 1978 but that could’ve been the last of them because of the CAFÉ standards.
Ben Bowlin
I see. Okay. And, so, our numbers match up -
Scott Benjamin
Sorry, I ruined your groove there.
Ben Bowlin
No, you didn’t ruin my groove, man, you know, high-speed stuff is all groove all day. We’re doing this. But, so, okay, what’s the first win – what’s the consensus?
Scott Benjamin
The consensus in the first one? Well, there is no consensus but that -
Ben Bowlin
Yeah, what are the majority factions?
Scott Benjamin
Okay. Well, some people say that it was the GTO, the Pontiac GTO.
Ben Bowlin
Okay.
Scott Benjamin
And that would’ve been the early 60s. What year? You’re stumping me. Sorry, I didn’t write it down.
Ben Bowlin
Oh, no, that’s -
Scott Benjamin
The card doesn’t say it, Bob. No, I forget. I don’t have the GTO dates.
Ben Bowlin
We can ballpark it.
Scott Benjamin
I cannot believe it anyways. Let’s move on. The first one, going back to the 40s and this is going to be a surprise really, an Oldsmobile. Something called the Rocket 88 which was where they just stuffed a big V8 into a relatively light-weight coupe and that was in 1949 and really, that does fit the definition of what a muscle car is because you’re taking a giant engine, you’re putting it in something that normally didn’t have that and at a relatively low cost.
Ben Bowlin
Yeah, but at a very early time.
Scott Benjamin
And it’s factory. That’s the other thing behind this whole thing is that you’re talking factory performance because when muscle cars came around, this is again, we’ve got all these ranges but when muscle cars came around, there were hotrods. Hotrods had always been there. I mean, people had always been tinkering with their cars and were taking the customizers but you’ve got to imagine, that that’s pretty expensive as it is now.
Ben Bowlin
Yeah.
Scott Benjamin
It’s costly to take your vehicle to someone and have them update it but this was factory-offered low dollar performance and that’s really what a muscle car is all about.