Rafael E. Rivera INTD # 19/10/2010

Introduction  Since the creation of the wheel, human kind has been creating and developing many different types of transportation. The biggest accomplishment has been the automobile. Both Henry Ford and Karl Benz are sometimes most likely related with the "invention of the automobile", but the reality of this development included many inventors.  At the end of the 1800s many of these inventors created what could be called a car.  As people get more interested and stricted on the development of the car, the market becomes stronger.

Important Terms  Hot rods: are typically American cars with large engines modified for linear speed.  V8 engine: is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders.  Muscle Cars: the term generally refers to 2-door rear wheel drive mid-sized cars, and sometimes full-sized cars equipped with large, powerful, V8s, and sold at an affordable price for street use.

Description  In the 1960s, a high-performance, two doors, rear wheel drive mid-sized car with a powerful V8 engine was created, known as a muscle car.  This car follows the hot rodder’s philosophy of taking a small car and putting a “BIG” engine under the hood.  Other important countries in this industry were Australia and South Africa.

Description / Cont.  Australia developed its own muscle car tradition during that time, with the big three manufactures Ford Australia, Holdem Dealer Team (part of General Motors during that time), and Chrysler Australia.  These cars were specifically created to run in the Armstrong 500 and in the Hardie Ferodo 500. The problem with these cars was brought by a change in racing rules. These new rules required that 200 examples had to be sold to the general public before the car could qualify.

Description / Cont.  All American muscle cars shared common characteristics.  The most significant characteristics of these cars are the age, the body and the big engines and performance  The body of these cars was intended to be sport and for racing. The muscle cars were 2+2 cars. Which means that the car has seating for two passengers in the front and two smaller seats in the back for occasional passengers.

Conclusion  During the 60s and 70s the muscle cars gained a lot of popularity and desire. That’s why so many automotive companies decided to create their own models of muscle cars. Every company’s model represented an important part in the history of the American muscle.  Finding information about “American muscle cars” isn’t difficult because there’s a lot of information on the Internet, on books, and magazines.

References  Sessler, Peter C. (1999). Ultimate American V8 Engine Data Book.  Biggs, Henry. Top 10: Muscle Cars. February 3, car_news_article.aspx?cp- documentid=475271&wa=wsignin1.0http://cars.uk.msn.com/News car_news_article.aspx?cp- documentid=475271&wa=wsignin1.0 >  Leffingwell, R. & Holmstrom, D. (2006). Muscle: America's Legendary Performance Cars. Motorbooks  Oldham, J. (2007). Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver. Motorbooks.  Schorr, M. L. (2009). Motion Performance: Tales of a Muscle Car Builder. Motorbooks.  Newhardt, D. (2009). Art of the Muscle Car. Motorbooks.

References/ Cont.  Bob Ryder. (2009). 5.3L Vortec V8 Engine Buildup - Vortec 5.3L Transformed. Truckin' Magazine, April  Jay Storer. (2009). Oldsmobile V8 Engines - Vintage Engines: Oldsmobile Rockets. Street Rodder, January  Muscle car. (2010) Wikipedia.com. Retrieved January 11, 2011 from  V8 engine. (2010) Wikipedia.com. Retrieved January 2, 2011 from