Technology Driving The American Muscle Cars
Muscle cars have always commanded awe and yearn from the American auto connoisseurs courtesy their blazing speed and dramatic looks. Interestingly, the fair share of speed technology incorporated in such classic steams owes its genesis to military applications, especially in the 2nd & 1st World Wars. The war jets carried supercharged & turbocharged engines yet that very high end technology wasn't really available for the civilian applications. In late 1940s, the trend was to pack smaller cars with bigger engines & the biggest pick back then was V-8. It became the most favorite for performance engine and a Ford V-8 flathead was the best pick for those on the lookout of some serious speedy drive.
Side-valve design & Ethyl
Sported by Ford flathead, side-valve design was much popular back then as it could inhibit detonation while burning low-grade fuels in initial phases of internal combustion-engine. However, as Standard Oil came up with tetraethyl lead to serve as fuel additive for gasoline, the scene changed. Tetraethyl or popularly Ethyl, slowed down detonation in combustion chamber. Higher detonation destroyed the internal components of an engine & restricted overall power output. More the compression in cylinder head, better would be the engine power. As Ethyl was introduced, the side-valve concept soon started fading. The very design was extremely inefficient from thermodynamic standpoint as it sapped energy right from fuel charge- which deteriorated internal components of the engine to the extent of failure.
Overhead-valve engine took center-stage
The foray of Ethyl brought alive the concept of overhead-valve design in muscle cars as it assured faster burn for air-fuel charge. Compared to side-valve frame, the over-head option showed more solid combustion chamber which meant a tighter squish zone- and consequently led to better compression capacity. By 1924, all Standard Oil stations started selling gasoline amped with ethyl right from pump.
However, the initial overhead-valve 8-cylinder engine by Buick was large, heavy & was not exactly as fast as desired. But then, it was in 1949, Oldsmobile and Cadillac started extending modern overhead-valve engines yet they carried a high price tag. Thus, hot rodders were again back to Ford's earlier flathead V-8 until the over-head design was actually made affordable by Chevrolet and Chrysler in 1950s.
Let's have a look at the three most popular muscle cars-
Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 1968
Mustang purists swear by the 1968 Shelby GT500 as it was always more fun compared to the previous simply styled 1966 & 1965 GT 350s. When it came to winning at drag races, there couldn't be a better Mustang than this one. The suave steam was introduced with 428 cu. inch 355 hp big-block engine and obviously a better glamorous silhouette to complement the new-found torque and power.
Dodge Charge Daytona 1969
Designed especially to score at the Nascar races, the Daytona model came up with advanced aerodynamic modifications for enhanced speed. Yes, it did live up to the expectations and was the first ever car to break the impeccable 200 mph in Nascar's history. It's one of the most coveted collector's cars now pulling $150,000+ at the auctions.
Shelby AC Cobra
Shelby AC Cobra, a classic car known around the world, won hearts with its small-block V8 American power & Brit-built lightweight chassis. It was a beauty to drive it both off & on track and the car had a huge command over the American circuit for quite a while.
Every spirited car connoisseur has this dream to tear up the streets in a classic muscle car. While some of the retro muscle cars are still produced, most of them are collectibles now, flaunted mostly for vintage car shows.
