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From: Joe Godec
Email: [email protected]
Remote Name: 198.81.17.43
Date: July 27, 2002
Time: 19:24:56
I dunno, Daven. I really think the MoPar musclecar era started with the C300 in '55. Also, the "other two" of the Big Three started uping their horses just about every model year starting about then -- the famed "horsepower race." Musclecars had different images then, primarily that of high speed cruisers for those affluent enough to afford 300s or Adventurers. DeLorean gets all kinds of credit for dropping the big Poncho mill in the Teapot, but Plymouth did virtually the same with the Dodge/DeSoto 383 in '60, while '61 saw both Dart and Plymouth use the 300's 413. In both instances, the installations were very successfull (witness Al Eckstrand taking S/SA in '60 and Jim Thornton doing the same in '61). If a musclecar were to be defined as a specific model dedicated to high performance, the '55-'61 letter cars, the '56-'57 Adventurers, and the '56-'58 Furies would certainly meet that criteria. Quite definitely, all of the Big Three were then trying to define "muscle," GM with the Vette and the Bonneville, Ford with the T-Bird, but I really think Chrysler was the only one trying to do it across the board with each of it's lines (except Imperial). I think that the mid- to late-60s and the very early 70s were the zenith of the musclecar era, but its genesis lies in those early 300s, Adventurers, and Furys.
