Chrysler ad says they made the first muscle car. Is that really true and, if so, what was it?
Vegasbrad asked:
ponycar fan
ponycar fan
Tags: Chrysler, Chrysler Car, Muscle Car
Porsche Guy
Here it is, and I agree fully.
muscle car
Chrysler claims the original 300 to be the first muscle car. That’s very debatable. Any car built with horsepower in mind is a muscle car.
ponycar fan
According to Wikipedia it is. The 300 can be considered the first muscle car or the ancestor of today’s muscle car. Production started in 1955. One of the first sports cars after WWII…Check link for more details…Needless to say, there were better muscle cars offered years later…
Camaro Bob
even though the article claims that chrysler built the first musclecar I have to disagree as their chrysler 300 was not a musclecar as the name never came about until 64 when the GTO was born, the name musclecar was derived from an intermediate sized car with a large motor not a large car with a large motor, technically even though they were large hot rods the name does not pertain to those cars.
ponycar fan
Well, MR SS is correct in his assertion that the GTO was pegged as a muscle car first but the first real muscle car was in fact the Chrysler 300 series. In 1955, it was introduced with the Chrysler firepower engine which developed 300 horsepower, with very little effort, one could easily raise that to 350 and even 400 BHP. That started and defined muscle. It took Ford and Chevy a while to catch up.
What the 300 had was style, as it is today. Chrysler leads the pack. Wait til the Challenger hits the streets, it will blow the doors off of the Camaro that wears the bow tie for next year, if they ever produce it.
muscle car
It’s more correct to say that the C300 is the “daddy of them all”. Being the daddy of them all is different from being one of them.
Everybody that is a fan of muscle cars is in awe of the 300, but it’s not a muscle car. It’s a full size car that was really, really, really great.
Edit – I see we’re supposed to pick the first one. The Pontiac GTO is the first muscle car. The GTO was an intermediate. It may look big to you, but it’s not full size. That is part of what a muscle car is.
Muscle Car Man
The first muslecar is either a Chrysler or a dodge take your pick.The 1955 300 and the 1955 d 500 coronet were both hemi equiped.The 58 plymouth fury came with a 290 hp 318 poly with dual carter carbs.A 413 dart would beat a 1963 split window corvette stingray buy more than a second in the quarter mile.A 1964 dodge polara 330 with the factory lightweight aluminum front end and 426 max wedge could probably give the 64 gto a 2 second headstart and still beat it in the quarter mile.The first funny cars came from Chrysler and a contract with an Ambulance company.Mopar is the muscle.
Hybrids
1969 Road Runner with the 426ci hemi,yesssssssssss
Camaro Bob
This is a very debatable question…
In my opinion a muscle car is a small – mid sized car with a high horse power engine. The best, 1st muscle cars are from the 60′s I would say. But the 1st as most have stated is the Chrysler 300. Since it had the Hemi, I have no problem in saying that was a fair attempt at a muscle car and a good start for what became the muscle car era in the 60′s.
The Hemi engine from it’s birth, and to date has been proven to be the leader in Drag Racing Engines. The same hemi design can now produce over 7,000 horsepower in racing applications.
Even though the 300 was not very “muscley” as a racer, it did have a hemi. Thus the birth of the Muscle Car.
Chrysler has had a many 1st’s, inovative designs, ideas and products. A definate leader in that area as far as American Auto Manufactuers. Daimler, and Mercedes were also leaders from the earliest days.
muscle car
“Pfft” Chrysler produce shit. Mustang is the grandaddy of all muscle cars.
muscle car
Pontiac GTO started the Muscle car era in 1964…
Pontiac had the monster Catalina 2+2 and Chrysler had the 300s in the late 50s and early 60s. But these were examples of BIG heavy “sled” cars (over 4,000 pounds) with monster engines–like the 421 SD in the Catalina 2+2. What made the GTO different was it became the first “light” production car with a monster engine and performance package. Many other “muscle cars” followed and were even faster than the GTO, but no other car ever matched the combination of performance, style, and mystique of the GTO.
muscle car
I think that statement is true. The1955 Chrysler C300 was designed as a luxury performance car, with performance as the operative word. The C300, with its newly upgraded 2 four-barrel, dual exhaust, 354cid Hemi engine, was a dominant force in NASCAR and AAA in 1955. It also successfully competed in Speed Week on the sand at Daytona Beach, Florida. It, and subsequent 300s, stormed onto the automotive scene in the 50s to launch what evolved into the Muscle Car Era. The 1964 Pontiac GTO and others such as the 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner markedly contributed to muscle car history by making performance financially available to the ordinary person.
Vehicle History
this is a very good question. when most people use the term muscle car they are reffering to a MID SIZED car built between 1964-1972. GTO hands down. mid sized car with a big car engine. now there were a ton of performance cars made before the GTO. like mentioned the chrysler 300 57 chevy 283 ci with 283 hp. dodge 330. chevy 409, pontiac 421 SD wich owned nascar and nhra in the early 60′s. 49 olds rocket v8, how about a 1950 hudson horonet (dominated the nascar circuit in the early 50′s) but as far as midsized cars. the GTO gets it. Oh and the ford mustang is classified as a pony car.
muscle car
That is a debateable question, If you define muscle car as a intermediate sized car with extra power due to having an engine that was intended for a larger car, The 1st one was the GTO. If you go for a vauge definition of muscle car as a car with alot of power it may be the 300, but there have been plenty of other muscular cars made before then.
Hybrids
what about the 1955 Olds Rocket 88…I always thought that was the first muscle car…built as a performance vehicle…rather than a sedan or sports car like the Vette and T-Bird.
somebody mentioned hudson …what about studebaker…my pops said that they had cars that could hit close to 200 hp….he had a Rambler but he says there were more upscale versions…I’ve done some research and if i remember right…those cars had sedan ..bigger car engines in them and were so light that they moved like the wind….but they were butt ugly….they were intended to attract guys coming home from World War II and the korean conflict
Vehicle History
i would also agree that the chrysler 300 series car was in fact the first muscle car within the horsepower rating but in the ’60s plymouth started the muscle car era of the era of the ’60s not for with the mustang pontiac with the gto either
BMW X6 Pilot
old Mopars………… are awesome
muscle car
Horsepower isn’t the deciding factor. Calling the ’50s 300 a muscle car is like saying a new Charger SRT8 is a muscle car. Both are powerful, sorta quick cars, but they’re also both very large cars. Muscle cars are mid size only. That’s why the ’06 GTO (as well as the original ’64) was a muscle car, but the ’06 SRT8 was merely a powerful sedan.
Plus there’s the price factor. Muscle cars in the ’60s could be bought after working a while at the burger place. That’s how so many teens got their hands on them; they were cheap. The old 300 was a halo car that only upper class people drove. A nice car, but no muscle car.