Muscle Car Revival

What is it with retro designs first penned in the 60's being so popular in the 21st century? In the last 6 months alone, the muscle car segment, with it's heyday in the late 60's to early 70's, has moved to the forefront of many issues in the automotive industry. All of the big three have announced they are considering, have approved, or have released a new car with its roots deeply in past.

Just last month, Ford Motor Company finally put to the road the most powerful Mustang ever built using the tried and true method of a bigger motor in a smaller car. This technique was earlier applied to one of Carol Shelby's masterpieces, the 1967 GT500. Now in 2006, Ford and Shelby have teamed up again 40 years later to produce the 2007 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500. The GT500 ruled the streets in the 60's as one of the best muscle cars of its day with 355hp from a huge V8 (versus the new GT500 with 500hp via a supercharged V8). But the hood doesn't hide the only similarities. When the Mustang was redesigned in 2005, Hau Thai-Tang was heavily influenced by the 60's Mustangs that he saw driving around when he was a young boy. The current Mustang is one of the best selling in a long time as baby boomers who loved the car when they were young wish to finally realize their dreams of owning their dream car without the problems of a 40 year old car.

But Ford isn't the only one cashing in on the rush for retro cars. Both Dodge and Chevrolet had revealed concepts suggesting their return to the classic muscle car segment. At the 2006 North American International Auto Show, Dodge revealed its Dodge Challenger Concept, which borrowed heavily from the popular 1970 Dodge Challenger with its long and low stance and Hemi V8 under the hood, Dodge received an overwhelmingly positive response which encouraged Dodge to greenlight production just last week.


Not to be outdone, Chevy also showed its Camaro Concept sporting obvious connections to the 1969 Camaro but in a beautifully modern way. The concept packed a 6.0L V8 with 400 hp shuttled through the rear wheels. While GM execs refuse to say that the Camaro has a green light, they do carry a boyish grin on their face whenever the topic is brought up. And considering the current Mustang sells about 160,000 units per year, the necessary 100,000 units for GM to green light it shouldn't be a problem. Pretty soon, we could be looking at one of the biggest and baddest pony car showdowns ever.

But this retro design theme is not being applied solely to the pony car segment. Back when the Chrysler PT Cruiser was released, many were in awe of the retro design cues from past models. This design language was soon repeated throughout the industry, most recently in the 2006 Chevy HHR (Heritage High Roof) with styling cues from the original Suburbans. It seems that all the dreams of owning some of the most desirable pony cars of the 60's my finally be coming true. We can only hope that enough people see it that way to sustain production for more than just a couple years.

Now, it's up to you to let us know your opinions on this issue. Were you fascinated by the muscle bound cars of the 60's and happy to see them return or would you rather say good riddance? Let us know