Ten Fastest Cars of the Muscle Car Era of 1964 - 1970 

I owned a bad ass 67 mustang coupe s code 390 gt. Also had a 69 mach1 r code 428 cobra jet. Those were years ago. Currently I have a 34 chevy 2 dr sedan and a 51 chevy pickup 5 window. 51 is about of a rat. The 34 is a queen that gets driven so I call her princess. To date the 67 and 51 have been the most fun to drive.

@@BillyJoBuck my favorite american cars are 59, 65, 67, 69 till 74, as in Cadillac, Corvette, ,Pontiacs ,Chevrolet, Mercury and again Chevrolet and Pontiac by that order

Hopefully you still have them :)

@@schoolboy6633 Unfortunately not. The Mustang was totaled in a freeway accident in 1974 and the Z28 was sold to fund my wedding in 1976. It was the only car I ever sold for more than I bought it for.

@@simoteng Bought my 69 camaro Z28 from a guy in Burbank Ca for 900 bucks in 1981 ,still have it to....

I hope you still have it?

428 cobra jet invented by Tasca Ford Rhode Island a drag race genius

They included a 2 off Vette and Copa Camaro but not the 2 you listed. List is not really muscle cars as many are considered pony cars. Looks like true muscle cars fastest was the Olds.

NO Doubt! That's crazy they wasn't :(

Technically, Cobra and Corvette were not muscle cars. Nor were GT40's Ferrari's etc.

Plymouth A12?

Sweet 😋

Very nice….

i had a 66 impala coupé but sold it in 2005, huge but powerfull and sporty look

the impala from that year is amazing nice ,i have the coupé not convertible but still like it today normally i fill the tank and a jerrycan in the trunk so if it goes all the gasoline still have a jerrycan that was taken from a jeep willy´s that my grandfather bought in 1951 and he drove it till he was 101 years old and the last time we took it to inspection was in 2012 and the workers there were amazed because nob defects were found in the jeep all co2 was coerrect the brakes ,all and i still have it

Loved those cars. Was yours a 426 Hemi? I like 440's too.

@@dlmullins9054 It was the 440. I did beat a 66 plymouth hemi. He was bragging he had the fastest car in the neighborhood.

@@davestevens3921 my uncle had a 67 GTX 440 magnum with 6pack heads, torque city!

@@russellchastain841 Lot of people did not know what engine was in the GTX when they first came out. Only if you had a Hemi there was a badge on the side. The 440 sign was on the hood ornament. Lot of guy's wanted to look under my hood but no no.

Yea I learned about the badges from a guy who had a ragtop hemi GTX, he had some cool stuff, 66 hemi satellite too

They were not a GTO engine. 389 back then. Only a Royal Bobcat GTO might. 389 SD's were just as fast as the 421 SD's.

Probably my favorite as I owned one briefly. 389 4b, 4speed Muncie. Fast and pretty as could be but not the fastest. 13.90s...

@@DanHolmes-o9b I had a 389 SD with tri power back in the 70's. It was about 550 hp. I did a 10:70 qtr. mile in 1976. I put it in a 68 LeMans sport. Hurst 400 and dual gate shifter with a 3:90 limited slip posi differential. It was 12:1 compression. I beat everything with it. A friend of mine had a 69 GTO and he put a 421 SD dual quads and he couldn't keep up with mine. Never let anyone tell you different on the 389. One of the best and powerful engines ever built.

Muscle Cars, According to Motor Trend, June 2023: #1. Pontiac Catalina Super Duty

@@woodyw6891 what year? What power train?

Had 1 so easy to work on the motor . not like today headaches

What happened to it?

@@HiTechOilCo Sold it back to the guy from whom I bought it. He later sold it someone who parked it in a field in Michigan. Or so I am told.

@@rcorn79135 And that's a big 10-4 Buddy !

A lot of these cars weren’t even that fast,small 14” wheels,low gears. Quick but not fast.

Quickest a 1970 Nova rally with a 411 rear end top speed of 90 mph next car I got was a Mercury Cougar 1970 351 Cleveland with a highway rear end 160 +

@@Whateva67 there is a late 60´s mercury with 7.0L engine only three manual gears built exclusivelly to the Police to chasse cars on the highways, powerfull as hell on wheels, only heard of it and saw it in a tv show never seen one in reality

@@RUfromthe40s the 1969 Dodge Polara 440 hp. Super pursuit was the quickest and fastest cop car of that era.

What happened to your car?

@@HiTechOilCo I ended up selling it to a motorhead friend of mine. I had a hard time getting that six-pack tuned properly. Anyway, he got 'er up to speed and I ended up with seller's remorse.

@@matthewbernard4427 - That's too bad. :( Hunt it down and buy it back! :) Life is short. Live it!

You better have deep pockets !

@@noahdunaway a man has a right to a dream, maybe I win the lottery, you never know

@@noahdunaway and if you're going to dream, you may as well dream big right

@@DavidCrisp-rv7js yep 👍

If you want to buy a 1969 ZL-1 Camaro, you'll need $1 million +++, if you can even ever find one for sale.

had one in 1980. they were known as L79's. Mine was a 4 speed car. Clicked off consistent 13.90s @ 110. Bought with 40k + miles in '80 for $1700. Traded on a then new Porsche 911sc. I got $1800 trade-in credit.

L79 are awesome engines Fast and quick

Technically, to be a "muscle car" it must have a big block engine. Many small block cars out performed their big block counterparts. My buddy had a 69 350 4spd Nova, and I had a 74 360 4spd Duster. I miss those days!

I'll give you that. Power with less weight wins. Csaba Csere was a Car and Driver writer who wrote an excellent article on the 10 best, truly fast muscle cars in the January 1990 issue. He said he remembers the 340 development boys over at Chrysler taking a ride in one of those cars and hurrying back to invent some more horsepower before releasing the 340 in 68'. Happily for an awful lot of buyers, they got it right, because unlike the very rare, pricey, hard to order L79 in those years of Novas, the masses could drop in with very little cash to any Chrysler dealer and walk out with an in stock, very light, very quick, very affordable, fairly roomy, A-bodied 340 that snuck under the insurance red list because "they lied through their teeth" about the 275 HP and 340 ft/lbs of torque. Tens of thousands did and put the hurt on the fatter, heavier, fancier, significantly more expensive, optioned out 400 cube GM intermediates. The NHRA factored the 340s in at 355 HP, because they were cleaning up in their classes. It wasn't fair, but neither was GM only allowing a max of 400 cubes in their intermediate muscle cars all the way through the 60s, having to go up against intermediate Ford's with 428s and Mopars with 440s and even the 426 Hemi. Just the way it was.

@@nathanadrian7797 Google disagrees with you

What happened to it?

@@HiTechOilCo They gave it to me (1st car!) around 1978 by then it was burning oil and getting rusty, the floors were shot. I sold it to a guy ($300) he was going to rebuild the motor, don't know what became of it.

@@harrydowdall2974 - That's too bad. :( Hunt it down and buy it back! :) Life is short. Live it!

Thanks, Mad Mike!

Apparently you're unfamiliar with SCCA, and Trans-Am stats from that era.

I hope you still have it?

*Camaro.

My pleasure 👍 thanks for watching!

"It looked like CT"? What does that mean?

@@HiTechOilCo Mohegan Sun Casino is in Ct, where the BJ actions had been.

that i didn´t knew and the corvettes i´ve drove were really powerfull , and i noticed in Europe the B.P. gasoline with 98 octanes premium made them a litle faster and later they sold a 100octanes gasoline and i put it always reducing the consume and making them faster and it cleaned the gassoline circuit inside as it had some adictives to do so

@@RUfromthe40s sorry pal but European gas octane is rated different than the US...numbers are always higher. I seriously doubt changing gas brands made your precious Corvette any faster. It was all in your head. You would never notice the difference if there were any it would be so minute. Just like when we were kids and we attached a playing card to the rear spokes on our bikes to make the motor sound. We were all 110% positive out bikes were going 10 MPH faster than they ever did. You sound a bit........we'll just say confused.

@@bultacowally because you don´t have a clue of what gasoline is or it´s diferent types shows how clueless you are ,so you don´t notice any diference maybe because you have 2 CV citroen that in reality as 6 h.p. that´s funny some cars can´t even use some types of gasoline like Lancia´s in the 90´s if not 98 up preferable to put led gasoline and i drove a lot in the U.S. as my main service there was to test the cars i brought to Europe ,only used to put Agip premium and B.P. adictivated, if you don´t know there are diferent types of gasoline you have maybe 14 years old and coment what men know, and not noticing the diference it´s ridiculous as the diference in the old only two types of gasoline used to make a lot of diference, keep riding bikes and you´ll learn in a couple of years if you learn how to drive

@@bultacowally actually you seem to know nothing about cars much more gasoline types that are several, grow up ,there is even oil and gasoline not made for cars but anyone uses it to race, not oficial races

@@bultacowally yes it´s rated diferentelly that why a 2.0L in-line engine is faster than any 7.0L from the 60´s and 70´s , the peugeot 504 2.0L 4 barrel carburator four door or coupé from 71 or the BMW 2002(73 Alpina) or the Mercedes SL500(73) as all in American market with the changes they make to the car to meet the american standarts drive almost half speed of what they really can achieve

What happened to your cars? Do you still have them?

Still got my 71 Cutlass S, lumpy 350 rocket, broke the speedo years ago,lol, good times.

@@Steve-mz7np I'm jealous 😒

@@mikeelder6298 took me 20 years but last week i finally found the right grill for passenger side, 125US turned into 275 CDN delivery/customs, still some somewhat cheap cars in midwest.

A real sports car enthusiast.

I hope you still have it?

Loved? What happened to it?

Ex sold without my knowledge. Dmv told me whoever it was sold to never transfered title and that car had been totaled.

@@midwestgramma852 - If true, that's sad. You can do a title search via the D.M.V. using the car's VIN and track the car down. It's not expensive to do this. Hunt it down and buy it back! :) Life is short. Live it!

I noticed that yes how about a Cobra with the 427 should be right there with that Camaro

It wasn’t mass produced. Ford made almost enough to get it into NHRA and lost big money on every one they sold.

@@timsharpe3498 Well they built enough to win the championship and hold the ¼ mile record for many years.

@@GetsumJ Whether Ford built the required amount is debatable. The NHRA didn’t do a proper car count and Ford played games. I still don’t understand why you want to compare a factory race car that didn’t have a warranty with mass produced vehicles with full warranty coverage and power steering and AC.

Why don't you have it anymore?

You had a 'Sleeper' that lured unknowing and argent wanna be hot rodders into show down. I had a Plain Jane ugly tan 67 Chevelle SS 396 ordered with high performance everything plus aftermarket too. Easily beat friend's 429 Boss Mustang, and just about everything else on the road. Glad we could buy high octane leaded gas for less than 50 cents a gallon.

Well thank you Mr. Science!!!

According to Wiki "The cars were advertised at 375 bhp (380 PS; 280 kW) at 5200 rpm and 450 lb⋅ft (610 N⋅m) of torque at 3400 rpm. Period dynamometer testing supports Ford's rating. The speed equipment manufacturer Crane Cams tested engines that were stock as manufactured, with the exception of substituting tubular headers for the stock cast iron exhaust manifolds. For the 1969 hydraulic lifter engine, they measured a peak of 352.0 bhp (262.5 kW) at 5500 rpm. The 1970 mechanical lifter engine measured better, with a peak of 366.5 bhp (273.3 kW), also at 5500 rpm." Remember that in those days, they tested without accessories (water pump, alternator, smog pump, A/C, etc.).

Cool stuff! Two weeks ago I got to drive a 2015 Ferrari California T for the weekend. That thing will smoke my 04 Z06 in every conceivable metric except price of the car and MPG. Oh and exhaust note. The Ferrari is too quiet and my Z06 is too loud... but I like it that way 😆

@@wydopnthrtl Thanks for sharing...

wrong......the horsepower rating was over rated by 20% back then until 1972. Modern tires only make a difference in corners...NOT is a straight line.

I had a 69 rambler scrambler, and with my slicks tires I was able to pull the front end 6 inches off the ground Leaving the line

@@chadhaire1711 Wrong?? You obviously know jack squat. Traction is not just for cornering. Why do you think anyone who races 1/4 miles uses more rubber, softer rubber to go faster??? And horsepower was NOT overrated back then it was rated GROSS Horse Power. Educate yourself before you tell people they are Wrong. And stay off your Daddies computer.

What about it?

The Cobra is not an American car. It's from England. And it never rolled down on American assembly line. A l88 is faster. Just take a look at Julie Pennington en pure stock.

Shelby got his idea from some guy that was putting small block Chevys in MGs. The guy did not have the backing or funding. And neither did Shelby. He had the car shipped to him. And paid for them after he built them. He went to Chevrolet any wanted to small block Chevy front it to him and they turned him down. Then he went to Chrysler and they turned him down and then he went to Ford

The Hurst hemi Darts and Barracudas are indeed faster than ANY GM OR FORD EVER MADE PERIOD .

​@@tonysendrick6347I disagree.. look up the Briggs Cunningham hemi powered roadster came before the cobra but yet looks just like it

IKR, lol🤦

Does the term "hemi killer" sounds familiar ? I'm slowly rebuilding my GS455 Convertible. I might screw around with my 70 Skylark Custom hardtop. I just miss the comfort of those cars.

@@rverro8478 Definitely familiar to me 👍 I certainly miss not having to exert pressure on my knees as well as scrunching into these tiny things called cars these days, but I've got a 78 and a 86 Cutlass Supreme soon to be back on the road, the 86 will be getting a 70 Buick 455 and the 78 will have a 350 Olds rocket from another 78 Cutty I'm parting out, everything is so much easier to work on and no idiot check engine lights to come on for whatever insane reason.

That 370 horsepower rate is bull lol we all know it made more then that

I’m not a authority by any stretch of the imagination, but wasn’t the GSX a Torque Monster, (the highest factory toque rating) hence the speed???

I think Yenko used the COPO system as his base cars

@@thomasmcdermott8223 - Correct and that's the way the were sold by Don Yenko, with the addition of the Yenko stripe kit, which didn't add any horsepower. :) The 1969 Yenko Camaro's were blazingly fast.

Going fast is just a small part of it. It’s shifting gears feeling the torque with that perma grin.

An ugly car imo ,wasn’t impressed with it

That was in NASCAR trim my friend...did over 200 MPH first car ever. They were probably good for 150 showroom stock.

People always mistake certain cars as muscle. They look at a 6 cylinder 74 nova and call it a muscle car….WRONG😅

Not a muscle car either way. Plastic cookie cutter GM dime a dozen just like the old day's. Nothing special

@@bradhardy2629 better get a bunch of dimes together then. Of the big 3 muscle cars it by far has the best sorted chassis so is it now a sports car?

They were too busy loading the list with Pony cars and sports cars

All of them.

​@@markdellacqua1038WRONG 68 Hurst hemi Darts and Barracudas ruled the dragstrip like the hemi engine still does to this day. PERIOD...

@@bradhardy2629 Sorry but the 427 Cobra ran a documented 12.2et. Sorry nothing ran faster straight from the factory than that.

Don't think enough of those were built to be considered "production" car.

@@bultacowally Production numbers have nothing to do with being a production car. It was sold from the dealer with a warranty, production car.

That was in my prime. At the end of the day you didn't play with a big block Vette, & that included those piggish hemi cars, most of which barely broke into the high 12s on a good day on a perfect track.