As the old cliche goes "The only difference between a man and a boy is the price of his toy". People who grew up in the 60's were fascinated with the muscle car phenomenon. They can now afford to purchase the car of their dreams and relive the days of their youth. One can see the fascination many have with the old muscle cars by attending any local classic car show. One fine example is North America's largest classic car event, The Woodward Dream Cruise. It was reported that 660,000 people lined Woodward Avenue to watch a parade of some 30,000 classic car drivers cruise the Avenue as they relived the days when they were young and carefree.
Some of the more popular muscle cars of that era were the Mustang Mach I's , Oldsmobile 442, Pontiac GTO's and the Hemi Cuda. The most popular cars included the Corvette 427, the Chevelle SS396, and the Mustang 428. There are too many other muscle cars from that era to even mention.
It was 1971 that the last true muscle cars moved along the assembly line. Car manufacturers could no longer build the muscle car due to government requirements for pollution control and gas mileage. In it's place a sleeker body style was manufactured that produced cars with less wind resistance and higher gas mileage. As Baby Boomers matured and started having families a more utilitarian car was being purchased (for example the Dodge Caravan).
There are a few cars being manufactured today by companies who are trying to capture the image of the classic muscle car, including the Dodge Viper and Plymouth Prowler. And who can forget the newest example of America's best known "muscle car", the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette! How long will the fascination with "muscle cars" stick around? It is anyone's guess, but for now the Baby Boomers have a chance to bring back a small portion of the fascinating days of their youth.
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