End of an Era
This foul year of our lord, two-thousand twenty-four, dawns with several historic nameplates left in the dark from night of before. The Chevrolet Camaro, the Dodge Charger, and the Challenger are gone, leaving only the Ford Mustang to ride solo on borrowed time. The second muscle car era is officially over.
The V8 may still be alive, but regardless, the last page of this chapter has been written, and what a damn good read it was. Action-packed paragraphs filled with dynamic characters that captured the spirit of the pre-oil embargo era while advancing the limits of what a “muscle car” can do.
This article will not detail the automotive history between 2013 and 2023. Nor is it a politically charged rant on the car community doomed to a Orwellian dystopia of anti-street-takeover supported-city-driving bans. Instead, it’s a personal essay reflecting on the second muscle car era witnessed and experienced as an automotive journalist.
A Desire to Drive History
I wear a thick pair of rose-tinted glasses for an era of time between 1963 and 1973. When the roads of America roared with lead-burning high-test V8s that broke sales records, raised insurance premiums, and cemented a reputation.
When John Z. DeLorean decided to stuff a full-size V8 engine into a mid-size Pontiac Tempest, he created the muscle car. Granted, a big engine in a lightweight car wasn’t a new idea, but this new segment of “pony cars” served as the bottle to capture the lightning of a new generation of consenting baby boomers with money to burn and youth to exploit. Performance was no longer a luxury; it was a marketing campaign.
Among the countless media documenting the muscle car era, few cover it as uniquely as the book Muscle Car Confidential: Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver by Joe Oldham. In this book Oldham recounts his best test drives through the highs and lows of the muscle car era while working as an automotive journalist.
Each chapter in Muscle Car Confidential focuses on a car Oldham test drove. One in particular gave me chills the first time I read it. He described a scene of walking through a parking garage at night in late 1968 to pick up a prototype model from Pontiac, a vibrant masterpiece that would go on to be the 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge. His first impression of the car made mentions being put off by its outrageous burnt orange paint scheme, obnoxious rear wing, and gimmicky presence.
Oldham tested muscle cars like a true professional on the street racing scene. Flexing the latest from Detroit’s big three against the locals in their modified machines in front of a target audience of potential buyers.
When the GTO Judge hit the street, Oldham’s previous opinion about the car changed people’s eye-widening reactions. What impacted me about this story is the concept of going to a parking garage and getting a set of keys to a new car that you can drive with nearly no strings attached. No credit card on file. No mileage cap. No refills before return. Just the keys and a return date in exchange for some words about the car afterward.
I discovered this book in 2012 as a still-learning writer and it changed my life. It taught me a priceless bit of information. That test driving muscle cars could be a viable career path.
“650 HP 200 MPH BONE STOCK”
People still debate when the first muscle car started, and this recent sequel will bear the same keyboard disputes. I believe the second muscle car era started when the 662 horsepower, 202 mph Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 hit the street. That car symbolized the shot heard around the world, reigniting the horsepower wars.
I remember walking past the magazine racks of a local grocery store in 2012. A boldly lettered headline stopped me in my tracks. It was the latest issue of Hot Rod Magazine published with a glossy cover of a Grabber Blue 2013 Shelby Mustang GT500 with a headline that read “650 HP 200 MPH BONE STOCK.”
Mopar, Ford, and General Motors had plenty of muscle in the market before 2013, but the 662HP 5.8L aluminum block in the GT500 came with the title of “the highest horsepower engine ever produced in North America” and a 200+mph top speed bragging right. This was a declaration of war. Two years later Dodge shot back with the 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat flexing 707HP – the rest is (now) history.
Muscle Car Era Reboot 2013-2023
I grew up daydreaming with envy about those who grew up with Hemi Cudas, Yenko Camaros, and Hertz GT350s cluttering the background as common traffic. A car scene locked and loaded with Day Two street machines rolling on magnum wrapped in Mickey Thompsons rubber wearing mile long CB radio antennas and running on premium gas for cents on the dollar. Big block power obtainable to anyone earning minimum wage.
One could argue that the second muscle car era of 2013-2023 served as a renaissance period. The average motorist had access to V8s that could sprint to over 150 mph with supercar acceleration, average 18 mpg, and cut an apex like hot steel through butter. A massive step in evolution from their drum brake, bias ply-tire predecessors.
It took me years to realize that my generation was living in a reboot of that era. Today, you see plenty of Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, and Challengers that stand out in traffic like M&Ms in a bag of SUV/truck trail mix.
Mission Accomplished
I’m grateful and a little proud for the opportunity to test drive the muscle cars of my heyday within and sometimes beyond the limits of the law.
History has a habit of repeating itself, so much like the old street brawlers of yesterday, these modern muscle cars will begin to clutter used car and police impound lots across the nation. Desirable models will be labeled assets and banished to the collector car market . Others will be converted into time capsules and shoved into a barn to collect dust. A lucky few will live out their drivetrain in the hands of appreciative caretakers who will keep their digital odometers active.
No matter what the future holds for personal transport and performance, I’ll treasure the digital and physical memories I’ve collected: Taking my family to a racetrack in a black 2019 Bullitt Mustang, testing a 2017 Shelby GT350R at Texas Motor Speedway, perfecting the donut in a 2021 Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye, catching white line fever in a 2020 red Camaro SS, experiencing COTA in a 2017 Challenger T/A 392, or seeing the red needle pass 170 mph mark at 4am in a 2023 Challenger SRT Hellcat.
Maybe I should write my own confession book…
Jesus Behind the Wheel 