Cool Stuff !!

[Bad Ass Camaro]

The popularity and performance of muscle cars grew in the early 1960s, while Mopar (Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrysler) and Ford battled for supremacy in drag racing—the 1962 Dodge Dart 413 cu in (6.8 L) Max Wedge, for example, could run a 13-second 1/4-mile dragstrip at over 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). By 1964, there were Oldsmobile, Chevrolet, and Pontiac muscle cars in GM's lineup, and Buick joined them a year later. For 1964 and 1965, Ford had its 427 cu in (7 L) Thunderbolts, and Mopar unveiled the 426 cu in (7 L) Hemi engine. The Pontiac GTO was an option package that included Pontiac's 389 cu in (6.4 L) V8 engine, floor-shifted transmission with Hurst shift linkage, and special trim. In 1966 the GTO became a model in its own right. The project, spearheaded by Pontiac division president John DeLorean, technically violated GM's policy limiting its smaller cars to 330 cu in (5.4 L) displacement, but the new model proved more popular than expected and inspired GM and its competitors to produce numerous imitators. The GTO itself was a response to the Dodge Polara 500 and the Plymouth Sport Fury, which in 1962 had been shrunk to intermediates—at a time when bigger was considered better.

[NuclearKid]

On the other hand the trade of true muscle cars was relatively limited by total Detroit production standards, they were important in publicity and elite. Because of the concurrence between manufacturers the buyers had the choice of as never before powerful engines.