Oddball Muscle Cars

[Frank Castros]

Lee,
Do you have to be a member to view photos on doverdragstrip.com?

[Jack Matyas]

In September of 1961 my dad came home with a new '62 Impala 4 door Sport hardtop but with a 327 / 300 hp and 3 on the tree -- can't even imagine what he was thinking that day as this car was for my mother ......................

[Greg Reimer 7376]

A friend of mine about 35 years ago told me of one of his buds that ordered a brand new 65 Impala station wagon, power windows,seat,air conditioning, steering,brakes,etc,340 horse 409 with a 4 speed. A few months later,when the 396 came out, he wished he would have waited. History later proved the '09 was more rare. Also how about 66 Nova wagon,327 350 with a 4 speed. Also, when I was about 15 and walking to and from school,I used to see a 65 Chevelle 300 two door wagon with 327 tags on the fenders, a bench seat and a 4 speed shifter curling up from under the seat. Hope they all found good permanent homes.

[bill dedman]

The accepted, general definition of a "muscle car" says "A small (compact) or, intermediate car that came from the factory with a performance-version of a big block engine."

That really narrows it down, and excludes some really fast full size cars with big block engines (427ho, 425 cid Bel air, for instance) and some intermediate and compact cars with healthy small blocks (350/327 Novas and Chevellles) that would run the pants off a lot of popular "Muscle Cars" that fit the "Small or Intermediate cars with Big Block engines, (OEM.)

Additi9nally, there were a LOT of really fast cars available from the factoiry (Max Wedges???) before the GTO (supposedly, the "original" muscle car) came out in '64....

So, if you invlude Thunderbolts and Z-11 '63 Chevy-type killer cars, the list gets a lot longer...

Neat topic; thanks for starting it!!!

My personal entry would be the 1963 Pontiac Tempest 421 AFX car and the 1963 Olds F85 turbocharged Jetfire... Both, off-the-scale "weird", in their own way!

[W J]

I remember some well set-up little '60s Corvair Spyder turbocharged coupes that embarassed many larger "muscle" cars at the track back then.....WJ

[Jim Cimarolli]

How about a 64 Galaxie 500 4 door hardtop with a 427 2X4 carbs and a 4 speed, bucket seats. I know where this car still is today.

[nhramnl]

In line with the other, 427/425 Chevy post, I have seen actual photographs of a 1969 Kingswood Estate wagon that was factory-built with an L72 427/425, turbo 400 and 3.73 Positraction rear end. The last I heard, the car was part of a collection owned by a man in the Phoenix area.

There are also known to be two 1966 Plymouth Hemi 4-door sedans. Garlits owns one of them and has it on display in his museum.

[dakota tom]

Originally Posted by Jim Cimarolli

How about a 64 Galaxie 500 4 door hardtop with a 427 2X4 carbs and a 4 speed, bucket seats. I know where this car still is today.

I was watching Jay Leno one night. He was taiking about going with his father to order a new car. A 1964-1965? Ford. His father let Jay pick out the engine, He picked out the 427 2X4 engine for him.

The stick shift trans was not uncommon in big cars in the sixties. Some men, like my father, did not like automatics then. My Father ordered a new 1969 Olds Delta 88 4 dr sedan. 350 2 barrell, 3 speed coloum shift going to a Ford toploader 3 speed, One of 12 full sized Olds built with a manual trans. It also has the police suspension package, the only HD suspension option avalible.

The local Plymouth dealer ordered a late sixties Fury III with a street Hemi and had it on the showroom floor when I was 10-12 years old. It was still around the area in a collection.