The Definition of "MuscleCar"

rumblefish360 said
To answer the OE question......

Muscle cars were regular cars that were equiped with large, powerful engines that often came with higher than normal gear ratios. (But not allways since big blocks had the torque needed to power the cars very well without a high gear ratio.)

IMO, the GTO back in the day may have gotten the title of first muscle car....and with good reason, but, if you go back in time and look at how the even in the 50's the big 3 started getting the engines to produce alot of power by compare to the earlier engines in a big way.

Chrysler came out with the early HEMI's and installed them in the 300's @ 1 hp per cube. That was enormous power back them. This started the HP wars.

Thank you! The early Hemi's actually started touching off the horsepower wars. As said, the 354 dual quad in the C300 was rated at 355hp. (Much to the confusion of the Chevy guys who thought the FI 283 in '57 was the first horsepower per cubic inch). But take a look at when the idea of low buck, high horse cars first started appearing: with the option sheet the '50s Hemis could be had in just about anything (with the exception of Plymouths), the 312 "Interceptor" engine being available in the lighter Fairlane, the 283 dual quad or FI being available in a stripped out type 210. Spring forward a couple of years to Pontiac's 421, Chevy's 409, Chrysler offering a dual quad version of the 350, Ford's advent of the FE engines. To me the idea of labeling the GTO as the "first" musclecar can really be laid at the Pontiac PR's department with the help of DeLorean, and the press going for it.
To be a purist does the musclecar really need to be built between '64 and say '72 when the insurance industry started forcing cars off the market?
Can anything being home built with the idea of high horsepower mods be included in that term or does the blanket term of "hot rod" cover that? Before the factories were building "muscle cars" guys were taking light bodies, putting in big engines and making "hot rods." That being said, my Diplomat, with a built 360 and the performance upgrades falls into the "hot rod" category. But does my factory built 383 4bbl powered 4 door sedan fall into the muscle car category? Afterall, with the exception of five less rated horse and a better interior it's a Road Runner with two more doors...