Definition
According to Muscle Cars, a book written by Peter Henshaw, a "muscle car" is "exactly what the name implies. It is a product of the American car industry adhering to the hot rodder's philosophy of taking a small car and putting a large-displacement engine in it. The Muscle Car is Charles Atlas kicking sand in the face of the 98 horsepower weakling." Henshaw further asserts that the muscle car was designed for straight-line speed, and did not have the "sophisticated chassis", "engineering integrity", or "lithe appearance" of European high-performance cars.
However, opinions vary as to whether high-performance full-size cars, compacts, and pony cars qualify as muscle cars.
The following is a list of classic muscle cars and their manufacturers (along with each make's corresponding pony car, where applicable):
| Manufacturer | Pony car | Muscle car |
|---|---|---|
| AMC | Javelin SST | Machine |
| Buick | none | Gran Sport |
| Chevrolet | Camaro | Chevelle SS |
| Dodge | Challenger | Charger RT |
| Ford | Mustang | Torino GT |
| Mercury | Cougar | Cyclone CJ |
| Oldsmobile | none | 442 |
| Plymouth | Barracuda | Road Runner |
| Pontiac | Firebird | GTO |
Read more about this topic: Muscle Car
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“Was man made stupid to see his own stupidity?
Is God by definition indifferent, beyond us all?
Is the eternal truth man’s fighting soul
Wherein the Beast ravens in its own avidity?”
—Richard Eberhart (b. 1904)
“The definition of good prose is proper words in their proper places; of good verse, the most proper words in their proper places. The propriety is in either case relative. The words in prose ought to express the intended meaning, and no more; if they attract attention to themselves, it is, in general, a fault.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)