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Muscle car madness: Corvette tops the power list

Michael James

1960 Corvette

Muscle cars may be defined differently by different enthusiasts of the car segment. But it’s unlikely there’s a more diverse list of muscles cars than those outlined by the website autodesk.com.

In an non-bylined article, the editors have chosen their list of the top-15 muscle cars still manufactured.

In reverse order, the list begins with the Dodge Viper and ends with the Chevy Corvette.

The list also includes some curious choices.

Here’s what autodesk wrote in part about the Dodge Viper:

“In January 1992, Dodge introduced the Viper to the public as a car that was unlike any other American produced car of its time. It set its own place at the muscle car table. Technically a sports car, the Viper was a dramatic departure from cars being produced, and was as close to a muscle car as you could get in the ‘90s. Car and Driver Magazine put it through its paces and discovered it could go from zero to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds.

The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette was named Road & Track's Performance Car of the Year.
The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette, a long-time muscle car, was named Road & Track’s Performance Car of the Year.

It blazed through the quarter mile, reaching 107 miles per hour in the 13.2 seconds it took to complete it. It was sleek, sporty and fast. Redesigned slightly in 1996, the new design was dubbed the “double bubble” for its curved roofline and fenders. After a redesign in 2002, no new model was introduced in 2007.

Once again, Car and Driver tested it and found it to reach zero to 60 in 3.5 seconds, increasing its acceleration by about 25% since its introduction. Rebranded as the SRT Viper for the 2013 model year, its power comes at a price, with a base price of about $100,000. The Viper remains in production today, although Car and Driver says production was paused for two months in 2014 to allow demand to catch up with production.

Here’s what Autodesk wrote about the Chevy Corvette:

The Corvette traces its history through seven generations of models to 1953. It originally was more of a sports car than muscle car but tops our list as the oldest muscle car still in production.

Chevy says its original motor, an in-line six cylinder engine, was actually used as the power plant for all the Chevy models at the time, but this car was unique for its fiberglass body and streamlined good looks.

A rare Corvette Sting Ray will be auctioned in Chicago.
A rare Corvette Sting Ray from the early 1950s, one of the original muscle cars.

According to Chevrolet, by 1956 a Corvette race car with the proper factory parts could give just about any car in the world a run for its money. The “Corvette Chronicle”, a publication of the Corvette Museum says there were 21,513 Corvettes produced in 1963. President Kennedy even announced a national “America’s Sports Car Day” in honor of the car. Originally, the car was produced in Michigan and in St. Louis, but in 1981, all production was moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Although yearly production is modest, overall, more than 1.3 million Corvettes have been produced. This latest generation of Corvettes has given rebirth to the original Stingray name, although initially it was spelled as Sting Ray. The Chevy website says the 2014 Vette has a base price of around $53,000. For that price you get an engine that produces an impressive 450 horsepower, and can reach a top speed of 195 miles per hour. Now, that’s our definition of muscle.

Here’s the list of the 15 top current production muscle cars:

15. Dodge Viper
14. Audi S &RS
13. BMW M Series
12. Mercedes AMG
11. Pontiac Trans-Am
10. Holden
9. Chevrolet Camaro
8. Dodge Charger
7. Ford Mustang
6. Plymouth Barracuda
5. Chevy Malibu
4. Porsche 911
3. Dodge Challenger
2. Chrysler 300
1. Chevrolet Corvette

To read the complete article, visit: Autodesk Muscle Cars

 

Article Last Updated: June 10, 2014.

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