Is a Turbobuick considered a Muscle car?

434nova

Active Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Was having a conversation with a buddy the other night and we were going over Turbobuick’s. His opinion is the muscle car era ended in 1972 when they went to low compression engines. But I think the Turbobuick is a muscle car maybe the last. His opinion a Turbobuick is just a 80s performance car and a v6 is not a muscle motor turbo or not. Do you guys consider a Turbobuick a muscle car if not what do you categorize it as being.
 
Kind of funny actually. When new, and outrunning 60s and 70s big blocks no one wanted to call them musclecars then either. The V8 argument is stuck in most peoples minds I guess. No matter what you call it, it was and still is a respectable car.
 

I think if more people really knew what they were capable of when they were new they would consider them muscle cars.
I think the question is are they classic muscle cars? I say yes.
Today we can buy 800 hp production cars. Are they not muscle cars?
When most people think of classic American muscle cars they think of 60”s to 70”s V8’s but I have always considered the GN a muscle car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Powerwise, yes. ...but small V6 with technology, not really.

I always think musclecars should be big and brutish. A a 231 6 banger really isn't.
 
NO... 60s/70s were .. I'd say a Buick is a performance car that would kill most of the muscle cars though. :cool: Muscles cars are barbaric when compared to a Buick.
 
I'd consider the muscle car is a period in time of 1964-1972. After that its high performance.
 
so yall saying that a 77/78 trans am is not a muscle car LOL or any camero or mustang after 73 come on !!! get your steam punk glasses on and roll out :LOL:
 

Attachments

  • BBC7AAD5-27E7-4245-B885-D63F8E309223.png
    BBC7AAD5-27E7-4245-B885-D63F8E309223.png
    1.6 MB · Views: 172
Question, back :
Are the '80's Corvettes considered ' Muscle Cars ' ??? 'Cuz Our Buick's surely Scared the Shit out of those Folks ! :eek:

Please read :
ScottHeidinger's reply & attachment for the Motor world's opinion on this..... It's a Fun Fact :cool:
 
Last edited:
It's was a Modern Muscle Car back then. Now is almost old enough for me to call it a Classic. I can't call an 87 MC SS or an 87 Olds 442 a Muscle Car. They looked sporty but with under 200 horsepower... one might ask where is the muscle.....
 
so yall saying that a 77/78 trans am is not a muscle car LOL or any camero or mustang after 73 come on !!! get your steam punk glasses on and roll out :LOL:

And not to forget the SD TA in '74 that is outside '72. My GN not a muscle car? Excuse my while I spank your ass with it!
 
At the shows, that's the class my car is put under, and at one car show they brought out a dyno . My 87 Turbo T took first place in wheel HP, and Torque. Now as for the so call muscle cars out there, I out muscled them all. So you can call it what you want...A Muscle Car or you can call it a BEAST
 
so yall saying that a 77/78 trans am is not a muscle car LOL or any camero or mustang after 73 come on !!! get your steam punk glasses on and roll out :LOL:

That 74 Mustang II was a street burner and the graphics add a couple hp too. :ROFLMAO: The 76 Trans Am 455 was iirc 200hp. 86 GN was 180hp, oops, I mean Monte Carlo SS, I keep getting them mixed up. Camero was 190hp same year. Guess you'd of had to live a bit of that time frame to get the drift. Maybe Jim Wangers and John Deloren will check in and give their thoughts since they invented the "muscle car" ;) Do you mean rose colored glasses? The other team wears though. :p
 
I guess cameros and mustangs are classified as pony cars at really big ,professionally judged shows ...but never the less I still get judged with the barbarians :p
 
how this sound?

WHAT IS A MUSCLE CAR?
Muscle cars, on the other hand, don’t have a clear origin story. While all pony cars can draw a neat line from some aspect of their design to that first Ford Mustang, the rules of muscle cars are certainly messier.

Most people agree that the first muscle car was the 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. It was created for power—with a V8 engine shoved in a small light body. By today’s standards, it wasn’t a lot to look at. It could only reach 97 mph, and it was a solid 13 seconds from zero to sixty. In 1950, it was astounding. It didn’t have the same meteoric success as the Mustang, however, and subsequently was allowed to enjoy a brief period of almost no competition before it was outpaced in the mid-1950s.

Muscle cars are mostly all two-door coupes with rear wheel drive and way too much power. Muscle cars aren’t known for their good handling (quite the opposite, actually) but they excel in one area: Pure ridiculous speed in a straight line. This makes them the choice for drag racing. and since they have no clear definition, anytime an engine that is way too stupidly big and powerful goes into a light car body, you’re technically building a muscle car.

The only "true" muscle car still being manufactured is the Dodge Challenger, but the divide between muscle and pony cars is rapidly changing. The original Challenger was very much a pony car, while Shelby GT500's could really be called muscle cars despite the iconic pony logo.
 
Top