Let there be no doubt: Classic American muscle cars are the bread and butter of the Woodward Dream Cruise. And why not? These machines hearken back to a time when horsepower was king, nameplates like Mustang, Camaro, GTO and Charger first started rolling off the tongue and Detroit was at the forefront of the automotive world.

That said, we’ve noticed an interesting trend over the last several years. Modern muscle is making up a more significant portion of the festivities than ever before, a fact we can surely attribute to the rise in quality and performance of today’s crop of high-horsepower offerings. Naturally, you’ll see plenty of Detroit muscle from the 1960s straight on through today in this gallery from the 2011 Woodward Dream Cruise.

We’d like to take a moment to explain our definition of muscle cars. We’re mostly cutting Detroit’s history into two segments: classics and muscle, using 1964, the inaugural year of the seminal Pontiac GTO, as the dividing line. Two seats, four seats or five; two doors or four; modern or vintage – these are the cars that place straight-line performance above all else… and we love ‘em for it.

We went ahead and labeled each vehicle, but if we’re off by a year or two on some of them, we apologize in advance to all you hardcore muscle car enthusiasts out there… With all that in mind, enjoy the gallery!

Woodward 2011: Muscle cars light the fires at the Dream Cruise originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All day long, boys. All. Day. Long.

To what are we referring, you ask? Well, that’s how long all six muscle cars rounded up by the staff at Motor Trend will eviscerate their tires. Such is the nature of the beast, and, in fact, it’s why many automotive enthusiasts just can’t get enough horsepower at the rear wheels.

What we have here are Camaros, Challengers and Mustangs, gathered in pairs – one vintage example from the height of the muscle car’s reign of terror in 1969 and ’70 along with one 2011 model. This begs the question: Which era of American performance resulted in the better car?

Well now, that depends on just what you’re looking for…

There’s simply no arguing the fact that the 2011 Camaro SS, Challenger SRT8 392 and Shelby Mustang GT500 can accelerate (though the quarter-mile results would be closer if the old bias-ply tires were replaced with something more… modern), turn and stop better than their old-timer predecessors.

But, as the editors of Motor Trend found out, that’s not the whole story. Check out the video after the break to find out what we’re on about.

One last thing: Words cannot express how badly we want the keys to that 1970 Challenger. It’s nothing short of muscle car perfection.

Continue reading Motor Trend compares muscle cars, past and present

Motor Trend compares muscle cars, past and present originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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