1 Of 1 Muscle Cars

Learn about the rarest muscle cars ever produced with this new book. In the world of muscle cars, many were produced and sold in large enough quantities that they would be considered special but not particularly rare at the time of production. The Boss 429 and Plymouth Superbird were produced for racing homologation reasons, and since they were very expensive to produce, the manufacturers ensured that they would be rare. However, there is rare, and then there is rare. Prototypes and special factory builds, factory production cars, and super car tuners and builders are all covered in this new book by muscle-car historian Wes Eisenschenk. Some are single examples, some are very close to being the last remaining example, and all are extremely rare. Some have no surviving example known to exist. Featured cars include a Boss 429 Cougar, a 1971 Pontiac Ventura II Sprint 455, a 1965 Chevelle 300 COPO car with the L78 option, and a 1970 FK5 Deep Burnt Orange Metallic Superbird. Dealer promotional specials include a 1968 AMC AMX Von Piranha, a 1970 Dick Harrell LS6 454 Camaro, and a 1973 Nickey Chevrolet 427 Nova. These are cars that you will read about but likely never see. For a fun ride through muscle-car history and great stories of the rarest muscle cars ever produced, add this book to your automotive library today.

The Chevrolet Corvette; the Dodge Coronet; the Ford GT—they're names that send a shiver down the spine of true car enthusiasts. With big V8 engines crammed into mid-sized shells, they ripped up the roads on their way out of Detroit as they roared onto the market and into the awaiting arms of the power-hungry public. Readers discover which is the most powerful muscle car ever made and what nearly led to their extinction in the '70s, as well as learning which of their 21st century descendants should be purchased today. Readers discover all this and more with beautifully laid-out, detailed profiles of the best muscle cars—their facts, stats, and great stories from behind the scenes.

American Muscle Cars features stunning historic and contemporary photography and offers a thorough chronology of this classic car's evolution from the 1960s to the present.

About the book: In the 1960s and 1970s American automakers produced millions of muscle cars: high-performance cars more adept at competition than transportation. The baby boom generation snapped up these cars and proceeded to use them as intended, drag and street racing the cars until there was nothing left of them. No longer minimum-wage high schoolers, today's boomers enjoy more disposable income than any generation in history. And many of them are spending that income on highly collectible muscle cars. Because so few muscle cars survived the abuse of young drivers back in the day, muscle car prices have skyrocketed, with mundane muscle cars commanding six-figure prices and the most significant muscle cars surpassing the million-dollar mark. Respected muscle car expert Colin Comer and top photographer David Newhardt tell the story of each of these rarest of rare cars in Million-Dollar Muscle Cars, the only book dedicated to these top-flight cars. Table of Contents: Introduction: Big-Money Muscle Section 1: Million-Dollar Cars Chapter One: 1970-1971 'Cuda & Challenger Hemi Convertibles Chapter Two: 1965 Shelby GT350 R Models Chapter Three: 1965 Hurst GeeTO Tiger Chapter Four: 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake Chapter Five: 1968 Camaro Z/28 Convertible Chapter Six: 1969 Trans Am Convertibles Chapter Seven: 1969 ZL1 Camaros Chapter Eight: 1971 Sox & Martin Stock Hemi 'Cuda Car Section 2: Six Figures and Rising Chapter Nine: 1965 Hurst Motor Trend GTO Riverside 500 Pace Car Chapter Ten: 1965-1966 Shelby GT350 Factory Drag Cars Chapter Eleven: 1968 Mr. Norm's GSS 440 Dart Chapter Twelve: 1969 Yenko 427 Nova Chapter Thirteen: 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona Hemi Chapter Fourteen: 1969-1971 Pontiac GTO Judge Round-Port Convertibles Chapter Fifteen: 1970 Chevelle L56 Convertible Appendices Appendix A: Alternatives to Million-Dollar Muscle Appendix B: A Real-World Buyer's Guide See Motorbooks author Colin Comer interviewed by Jay Leno on JayLenosGarage.com: http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/jays-book-club-lee-klancher/1211582/

Muscle Cars is the story of America's pursuit of sheer horsepower in the 1960s and '70s. The first of the type, the famous Pontiac GTO or “Goat,” would launch a race between America's automotive manufacturers to produce ever-more-powerful V8 engines wrapped in legendary “Coke-bottle” sheet metal styling. Following Ford's extremely successful introduction of the galloping Mustang in 1964, others would follow, such as General Motors's Camaro and Firebird as well as Plymouth's Barracuda, competing against one another on race tracks to “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday.” This book details these golden years, as well as the economic and environmental developments of the 1970s that brought an end to the muscle car era.

A muscle car is not a piece of Italian exotica, a Ferrari or a Lamborghini, cars which are just too complex and too specialized; nor is it a German Porsche, which is too efficient and too clever by half; nor yet a classic British sports car, a Morgan, TVR or Jaguar, which could never be regarded as fitting the bill. Sports cars, by and large, are not muscle cars, with two notable exceptions: the legendary AC Cobra of the 1960s, and the Dodge Viper of the 1990s. These followed the muscle car creed of back-to basics raw power. In effect, muscle cars always were, and always will be, a quintessentially North American phenomenon. The basic concept is something like this: take a mid-sized American sedan, nothing complex, upmarket or fancy, in fact the son of car one would use to collect the groceries in any American town on any day of the week; add the biggest, raunchiest V8 that it is possible to squeeze under the hood; and there it is. The muscle car concept really is as simple as that.

Gift local 1-11-2003 $15.95.