America's love affair with the automobile began during the first few decades of the 20th century. Between 1918 and 1941 our way of life changed. Henry Ford's V-8 engine in a light body created one of the quickest, liveliest cars on the road in 1932. It was the first American "performance" car of its day. Gradually more and more people began to depend on their cars to meet more and more of their needs in daily life. Once World War I ended, car manufacturers fiercely competed with each other to lure new customers by creating cars with sleek lines and stylish features.

But there was something missing. There was No Zip, No Zooooom, and definitely No Pizzazz!

That is, until 1949 when the fine folks at Oldsmobile put an innovative and powerful new engine; America's first high-compression overhead valve V8. It was a 303 cubic inch powerhouse that was placed the 1949 Rocket 88 and it delivered an impressive 135 horse power. The only car in the world that came close to it at that time was the Hudson Hornet.

Steve Dulcich, writing in Popular Hot Rodding, also cites Oldsmobile, concurrently with Cadillac, as having "launched the modern era of the high-performance V-8 with the introduction of the "Rocket 88" overhead-valve V-8 in 1949."

That's all it took to be performance kings back then and it created a sensation. Times were a changin and the public had an interest in more speed and more power and that's just what Oldsmobile had delivered.

Historians and opinions differ but many believe that this car was the first of the new species. It was a new breed of high performance cars.

The dam had been broken and the flood was soon to follow.

High performance cars have always been special machines. And nothing short of legendary results took place when the Wizards of the automotive industry combined large engines and light weight bodies; these two ingredients created MAGIC!

Grass grows at a faster pace than the improvement of performance the cars did over the next decade. Six years later a new king of performance was crowned with the classic 1955 Chrysler C-300. This was a large car but it had more than doubled the horsepower of the Rocket 88 with a heart pounding 300 horse power Hemi engine. It was the most powerful American car manufactured at that time. The Hemi engine could propel this luxury car from zero to sixty in 9.8 seconds with at top speed of 130 miles per hour. This was HUGE performance for its day, but couldn't hold a candle to what was coming in the next decade.

The 1960's is the decade considered to be the golden age of the muscle car. Drag racers had some toys to play with at the start of the decade. A compact Dodge Dart was fitted with a 413ci Max Wedge engine and it promptly started dominating everything on the strip. Ford created the Thunderbolt from a stripped down Ford Fairlane. This car had fiberglass body boards and lack threw out almost all of the comfort features. It was a scorcher. It ran the Quarter Mile in less than twelve seconds. Ford made 200 units of a stripped down version of the Galaxies with a 427 cubic inch engine. This was the same engine powering the Thunderbolt.

These were very limited production models and only a few were sold. The only "muscle car" offered to the masses during the early part of the decade was the Impala Super Sport with a 409ci engine.

The birth of an era! The flood gates open!

In 1964, John De Lorean and Russell Gee, two performance car enthusiasts working at GM's Pontiac Division envisioned and created the Pontiac GTO. This is the car that is considered by most historians to be the first factory produced Muscle Car. This was the first classic muscle car. It was an intermediate sized car and it came with a 389ci engine. Performance was very acceptable with 0-60 time of 7.7 seconds and a ¼ mile time of 15.8 seconds, but performance was not the only aspect that carried this car. It was a triple threat. Yes it had acceptable performance but it also had... Style; it looked great and another important factor was that the price was right! Performance, Style and Price would be the three big factors that would shape the legendary cars that came next from this era.

The GTO spawned what was to become a new fever; it created a new frenzy ... Muscle Car Madness:

The true definition of a muscle car is a little fuzzy but it basically comes down to BIG engines stuffed lightweight auto bodies with higher performance rear ends, transmissions and suspensions.

Automotive trends in the early-mid 1960s had all the U.S. manufacturers looking at making sporty compact cars. Chrysler's A-body Plymouth Valiant was chosen for the company's effort in this direction and on April 1, 1964 the Barracuda was introduced, making it the first pony car produced but its reign was short lived.

Just two weeks later another legend was to come along. This car was introduced to the public on April 17, 1964 and with it, Ford hit the ball out of the ball park. The 1964 Mustang was born.

The first model was called the 1964 ½ due to the short model year. The 1964 car was available in a coup and a convertible. The early engine choices included a 170 cu in/ 101 HP/ 6 cylinder, a 260 cu in / 164 HP / V-8, and a 289/ 210 HP/ V8. By June of 1964, Ford released a super fast version of the Mustang with a 289 cu in V8 with a four barrel carburetor and a solid lift cam which pushed the power up to 271 HP. Lee Iacocca and chief engineer, Donald N. Frey

The Mustang is the only original pony car to remain in uninterrupted production for over four decades of development and revision and it changed the face of Muscle Cars. It proudly proclaimed that good performance, good looks and affordable prices sold cars; lots of cars.

General Motors, not to be out done quickly, scrambled up to speed and introduced the Chevelle Super Sport, the Buick Gran Sport and the Oldsmobile 442 to its stable of muscle cars. Meanwhile the designers over at Mopar began stuffing HEMI engines and other big blocks into everything they could. The legendary Chargers, Coronets and GTXs were produced. The HEMI and 440ci big blocks became the terrors on the streets.

Ford countered with supped up versions of the Fairlane and Galaxies for those wanting something larger than pony cars.

Fords competition raced furiously to compete with the Mustang. GM introduced legendary vehicles called Camaro and Firebird. A year later AMX introduced the AMX and the Javelin. It took Chrysler until 1970 to enter the pony market with the Challenger and a new designed Barracuda.

It was a fabulous decade and by the end of the decade there were performance models that could appeal to almost anyone and anyone with a down payment could happily burn as much rubber as they could afford to burn on the weekends. With cheap gas it truly was the golden age of the Muscle Car.

The 70's decade began with high hopes or even more incredible Muscle Cars only these hopes were quickly dashed because the world changed almost over night. We can thank the Middle East OPEC nations for the higher gas prices and shortages of the early 70's and insurance companies that started raising rates faster then they could print the new forms.

From 1971 the US government enforced new anti-pollution regulations, which saw compression ratios and power figures plummet as manufacturers were forced to convert their engines to run on nasty low- or non-leaded fuel. In 1973, the new frontal crush zone regulations were introduced. Manufacturers had to scramble to cobble the ugly, bulbous plastic noses to the fronts of their existing cars. In just three short years, the muscle car industry had been reduced from a frenzy of excitement and wonder, color and power to goofy, cruise ship-like wheezing hiss-boxes (the "p" respectfully changed to "h"), that had oceans of front and rear overhang and almost zero street-credibility.

While it lasted, the muscle car era produced some of the most memorable vehicles produced at any point in US history!

By 1974, all of the original muscle cars were just pale comparisons of their original selves. Performance was no longer a consideration. The automobiles fuel economy was the force behind automotive sales and not tire burning performance. The Barracuda and the Challenger were discontinued, the mustang crippled and the Chargers and the Chevelles migrated to mid-priced luxury cars.

The Firebird and Camaro were still marketed but as vehicles with more looks than brawny performance.

In 1979 Ford reintroduced the as a performance model. There was some excitement and in 1982 a new Camaro and Firebird were rolled out. Then, in 1984 Chevrolet introduced a new Corvette. Buick decided to shake things up with the sporty Grand National.

By 1987 Buick's Grand National had become one of the meanest muscle cars ever produced. Performance was back in a big way.

Muscle cars continued to improve as the years progressed to the turn of the century. These cars outshined their classic brothers in every aspect; performance, fuel consumption, options, style, comfort, reliability were all better. Did anyone take notice?

The automotive industry was relying on the same formula performance, looks, and price but no one was interested. Gas was still a factor. The newer generation of drivers in the late 90's was not as hip to performance as the generation of the 60's. Sales were not there.

In 2002, GM stopped production of the Camaro and Firebird

Back with another redesign in 2005 Ford released the Mustang and for the third time, the Mustang changed the automotive landscape. People loved the retro look and again sales went through the roof.

Is the muscle car back? We'll have to wait and see.

If you like the classic muscle cars, Muscle Car Ranch is the place to be.