The Ultimate Muscle Car History Quiz

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The only thing more American than Muscle Cars is the Bald Eagle and the Red-Blue-White Flag itself. While the European and the Japanese were chasing concepts like efficiency and precision, the American car industry had a race for putting the big-honking V8s in their cars and getting the job done with nothing but good-old brute force.

Muscle Car history is embedded in American history to the point that references to this breed of cars have, in fact, become a part of pop culture. Let’s see how well you remember this part of American automotive history! Good luck.

When did Oldsmobile Rocket 88, often considered the first full-size Muscle Car, come out?

0%

Retry Correct Incorrect Thirteen seconds to 60mph, 18 seconds for a quarter-mile run, and 97mph in the name of top speed might look like a joke by today’s standards, but back in 1949, the Rocket 88 was the best performance you could get. With a big engine, affordable price, and rear-wheel drive, this car checked all the boxes.

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When did Oldsmobile Rocket 88, often considered the first full-size Muscle Car, come out?

1957
1961
1959
1949

This car came out in 1970 and became the favorite of the Muscle Car community. Can you name it?

3%

Retry Correct Incorrect The Rocket 88 might have been the first Muscle Car, but it was this one that took the whole Muscle Car culture to a new height. Whenever you hear the words ‘American Muscle,’ this is the car that comes to your mind.

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This car came out in 1970 and became the favorite of the Muscle Car community. Can you name it?

Dodge Challenger
Dodge Charger
Pontiac Firebird
Ford Mustang

The Hemi-V8 engines have a special place in the heart of Muscle Car lovers. Which company created them?

5%

(Boston, MA, 08/25/17) 2017 Ram Power Wagon has a 6.4-liter HEMI V-8, 410 horsepower engine. Staff photo by Christopher Evans

Retry Correct Incorrect The HEMI engines are named after the hemispherical cylinder head, as opposed to the normally used flat heads. This helps with compression and lets engines run more efficiently. Chrysler, the company that owns Dodge, created this engine back in 1951.

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The Hemi-V8 engines have a special place in the heart of Muscle Car lovers. Which company created them?

Chrysler
Ford
GMC
Fiat

Shown below is the most iconic Muscle Car of all time. Can you select the correct name for it?

8%

Retry Correct Incorrect The Pontiac GTO was created to be a lightweight, affordable car that had good performance. The GTO first hit the market in 1964 and was made until 1974. It is one of the most sought-after classic Muscle Cars today.

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Shown below is the most iconic Muscle Car of all time. Can you select the correct name for it?

Ford Everest
Chevrolet Equinox
Pontiac GTO
Dodge Durango

Which of the following was a front-wheel Muscle Car?

10%

1966 Oldsmobile Toronado Cross Country Road Test

Retry Correct Incorrect Marketed as a ‘personal luxury car,’ the Toronado is, to this date, regarded as a true Muscle Car by spirit. Some even argue this is more of a Muscle Car than the V6 Chargers we have today… all thanks to its roaring V8!

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Which of the following was a front-wheel Muscle Car?

Ford Focus
Buick Enclave
Pontiac Firebird
Oldsmobile Toronado

One of the most sought-after Muscle Cars, the Camaro was introduced in which of the following years?

13%

Retry Correct Incorrect Chevrolet entered the Muscle Car party with its performance-oriented Camaro back in 1967. The Camaro had just one purpose behind its creation: to beat the Mustang. Which one is better? You can decide that. That’s pretty subjective.

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One of the most sought-after Muscle Cars, the Camaro was introduced in which of the following years?

1956
1964
1951
1967

Which of the following engine types was never offered in a Muscle Car?

15%

Retry Correct Incorrect Well, there is no law to that effect, and car companies are even planning on building “Electric Muscle,” but traditionally, Muscle Cars used to have only V8s and then V6s. Putting a 4-cylinder in a Muscle Car will just turn off the customers, so no one has done that.

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Which of the following engine types was never offered in a Muscle Car?

V-8
V-10
I-4
V-6

Which company made the most powerful stock Muscle Car of all time?

18%

Retry Correct Incorrect The Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is the most powerful production Muscle Car to ever leave an assembly line. The V8-powered freak of a car can put out 840 horsepower and do a wheelie in stock configuration.

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Which company made the most powerful stock Muscle Car of all time?

Dodge
GMC
Pontiac
Ford

Which of the following is the only Muscle Car on this list?

20%

Retry Correct Incorrect While most people think that Muscle Cars are only made by Americans, that is not entirely true. The 1967 Toyota 2000 GT, with its front-mid engine layout, rear-wheel drive, and a 148-hp I6, was as much of a Muscle Car as a Charger, only more reliable.

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Which of the following is the only Muscle Car on this list?

Ford Focus
Chevrolet Corvette
Toyota 2000 GT
Dodge Viper

When did the Ford Mustang first come out?

23%

Retry Correct Incorrect The Mustang debuted in 1964 for the 1965 model year. That was after the testing of two non-production prototypes in 1962 and 1963. The car was such an instant hit that the same generation was produced by Ford for the next ten years.

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When did the Ford Mustang first come out?

1968
1965
1964
1966

When was the Charger introduced by Dodge?

25%

Retry Correct Incorrect Well, you would be correct to choose any year between 1964-6. Dodge showed off the Charger for the first time in 1964, it was made available to people in the fall of 1965 for the 1966 model year, so all three are correct.

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When was the Charger introduced by Dodge?

1965
1968
1966
1964

When did the Pontiac Trans Am first hit the market?

28%

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Retry Correct Incorrect The Trans Am was not a separate model in Pontiac’s lineup but rather a trim level of the Firebird model. When introduced in 1969, it took performance off the charts with turbochargers and a better state of tune.

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When did the Pontiac Trans Am first hit the market?

1969
1979
1961
1976

Can you name the fastest Muscle Car of the 1960s and 1970s?

30%

Shelby 427 Cobras - Street - Road Racing

Retry Correct Incorrect The 427 Cobra from 1966 represented the absolute pinnacle of American automotive engineering. This thing hit an incredible 165mph back in the day when breaking 100mph was considered an achievement.

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Can you name the fastest Muscle Car of the 1960s and 1970s?

1970 Doge Challenger
1965 Dodge Charger
1966 427 Cobra
1966 Chevrolet Corvette

The Pontiac GTO was one of the cars that took the Muscle Car boom to new heights in the 1960s. What does the GTO in its name mean?

33%

Dean Jeffries Pontiac GTO Monkees Car - Monkeemobile

Retry Correct Incorrect The term Grand Turismo Omlogato basically means a grand touring car that has been made available to the public just for homologation purposes so that it can qualify in racing events designed for ‘production’ cars. That basically means it is the most sports car-like a car can get while just being street-legal.

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The Pontiac GTO was one of the cars that took the Muscle Car boom to new heights in the 1960s. What does the GTO in its name mean?

Grand Turismo Omolgato
Grand Trek Outstanding
Grand Tourismo Overdrive
Grand Tourer Omolgato

Which year Mustang was the best-selling one ever?

35%

Retry Correct Incorrect Remember Ford made the first-generation (1966) Mustang for ten years straight? Well, they were so busy selling a ton of them, 607,568 to be precise, that they did not have the time to develop a new generation. No Mustang generation has managed to sell more units than that in the history of Mustangs.

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Which year Mustang was the best-selling one ever?

1979
1966
2015
1986

Which was the rarest Muscle Car ever produced?

38%

Retry Correct Incorrect While all of the cars listed here are collector’s items, and owning any one of them will make you a high-roller, the answer is the Hemi Cuda Convertible because there were only 21 of them ever made. There were 135 Superbirds and 57 Fairlanes, so if you guessed those, you were close.

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Which was the rarest Muscle Car ever produced?

1967 Plymouth R023
1970 Plymouth Hemi Superbird
1967 Ford Fairlane
1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Convertible

Which one of the following was the name of the first Muscle Car to come from Dodge?

40%

Retry Correct Incorrect With a 6.8-L V8 and 3-speed transmission, the Dart was Dodge’s first attempt at Muscle cars. If you think who, in their right mind, would mate a V8 to a 3-speed, well, it was the 1950s, and the V8 would have, like, 100Nm of torque.

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Which one of the following was the name of the first Muscle Car to come from Dodge?

Dodge Durango
Dodge Dart
Dodge Charger
Dodge Challenger

Which of the following was the lightest Muscle Car ever produced?

43%

Retry Correct Incorrect While all four of these were remarkably light, the title of THE lightest goes to The Griffith. With a Ford-sourced V8 and an aluminum body weighing in at just 2000lb, this thing could literally fly if you gave it a set of wings.

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Which of the following was the lightest Muscle Car ever produced?

Shelby Cobra
Chevrolet Nova
Sunbeam Tiger
1965 Griffith Series 200

Which was the only American Muscle Car to break the 200mph barrier?

45%

Retry Correct Incorrect If your guess was the Veyron, you got the 200mph part right, but not the American part. The 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona was the first American Muscle car to go past 200 mph, 200.447 to be exact. Buddy Baker’s original Charger Daytona is still present in a museum in Iowa.

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Which was the only American Muscle Car to break the 200mph barrier?

Bugatti Veyron
Ford Mustang Fastback
Dodge Charger Daytona
Chevrolet Camaro

What does the R/T mean in Dodge’s model names?

48%

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Retry Correct Incorrect The R/T badge means Road/Track because the very philosophy behind Dodge’s muscle cars is that of a vehicle that you can use to take the kids out for ice cream or tear the track apart… all in the same car!

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What does the R/T mean in Dodge’s model names?

Race/Track
Road/Track
Rear/Turbo
Road/Tested

Which of the following went down in history as the cheapest ex-factory Muscle Car?

50%

Retry Correct Incorrect Coming in at just $1,974 in the 1960s, the Ford Falcon is the cheapest Muscle Car of all time. It came with a V6 in the stock configuration, but you could also upgrade to a 4.3-L V8. It might not have been as powerful as the Charger of that era, but it did save you two grand on the MSRP.

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Which of the following went down in history as the cheapest ex-factory Muscle Car?

Dodge Charger
Mercury Cougar
Ford Falcon
Shelby Cobra

What was the name given by Dodge to its entire lineup of Muscle Cars?

53%

Dodge To Discontinue Challenger And Charger Muscle Cars In Transition To Electric Vehicles

Retry Correct Incorrect The terms Scat Pack is a play on Frank Sinatra’s famed Rat Pack and is just a Dodge term made up to create loyalty with the brand and have something to unite everyone who owns a Dodge Muscle Car.

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What was the name given by Dodge to its entire lineup of Muscle Cars?

Scat Pack
Speed Freaks
SRT Pack
Wild Bunch

Can you name the only vehicle in history that combined a Muscle Car and a pickup truck?

55%

Retry Correct Incorrect The El Camino was a Muscle Car in the front and a pickup truck in the back. It was a strange concept, but people liked it to the point that these cars are now collector’s items.

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Can you name the only vehicle in history that combined a Muscle Car and a pickup truck?

Chevy El Camino
Chevy Equinox
GMC Syclone
Chevy Chevelle

Which of the following Muscle Car companies is not in business anymore?

58%

1965 Inaugural NHRA Springnationals at Bristol International Dragway

Retry Correct Incorrect Plymouth, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile made great cars that the buyers liked, but they could not keep up with the rapidly changing market, and eventually, all three of them went out of business.

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Which of the following Muscle Car companies is not in business anymore?

Plymouth
Oldsmobile
All of them
Pontiac

Can you name this car that appeared docile but was the second-fastest accelerating production of its time?

60%

Retry Correct Incorrect The GNX was based on the Regal, a family car made by the company between 1973 and 2004. It was the definition of a sleeper, as it appeared to be just another family car but could put many sports cars to shame.

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Can you name this car that appeared docile but was the second-fastest accelerating production of its time?

Dodge Challenger R/T
Oldsmobile Toronado
Plymouth Hemicuda
Buick GNX

What was Steve McQueen’s ride in the movie Bullitt?

63%

Retry Correct Incorrect It was 1968, and McQueen was playing a badass cop, so there could’ve been no car that suited him more than the talk of the town, the car which descended from the line of the American vehicle that defeated the mighty Ferrari… the Mustang was what Bullitt rolled in!

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What was Steve McQueen’s ride in the movie Bullitt?

Ford Mustang Fastback
1972 Chevy Camaro
427 Shelby Cobra
1969 Dodge Charger

Which of the following is the most expensive Muscle Car ever sold?

65%

Jack Sears, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Tourist Trophy

Retry Correct Incorrect The 1962 Shelby Cobra CSX2000 sold for $13,750,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction on August 19, 2016. That is because this was the first Shelby Cobra ever made and was a real one-of-one unit.

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Which of the following is the most expensive Muscle Car ever sold?

1969 Cevy Chevelle SS
1962 Shelby Cobra CSX2000
Dodge Charger SRT Demon
1970 Dodge Challenger

The 426 Hemi engine, like the one in this Charger, will always have a special place in the heart of Muscle Car fans. What is it affectionately called?

68%

Retry Correct Incorrect There is nothing subtle or agile about the 426 Hemi. It only has one quality and that is a LOT OF POWER. So there could be no better nickname for this engine than Elephant.

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The 426 Hemi engine, like the one in this Charger, will always have a special place in the heart of Muscle Car fans. What is it affectionately called?

Boss
Rhino
Tiger
Elephant

Which of the following was released by Ford to compete with the Corvette shown below?

70%

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Retry Correct Incorrect Many assume that the Mustang was supposed to be a competitor of the Corvette, but that is not the case. Mustangs were for Camaros. Thunderbirds were what took the Corvette head-on, not as good as the Mustang did the Camaro, but that is the story for another day.

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Which of the following was released by Ford to compete with the Corvette shown below?

Falcon
Thunderbird
Mustang
Fairlane

Which of these cars had the most power in the 1970s?

73%

Retry Correct Incorrect The Chevelle was the true embodiment of America in every way. It was big, it was fast, and it had a ton of power. This car put 450 horses through the wheels, back when Toyota’s Corolla had like 50 of them.

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Which of these cars had the most power in the 1970s?

1971 Hemi Cuda
1970 Mustang Boss
1971 Camaro
1970 Chevelle SS

Which of the following cars won the first Daytona 500?

75%

Retry Correct Incorrect Lee Petty of Petty Enterprises drove a 1959 Oldsmobile Super 88 at an average speed of 135.521mph to complete the 200 laps (500.00 miles) in 3:41:22 to go down in history as the first-ever Daytona 500 winner.

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Which of the following cars won the first Daytona 500?

1970 Dodge Challenger
1964 Plymouth Fury
1959 Oldsmobile Super 88
1965 Dodge Charger

When was the first Shelby Cobra produced?

78%

Retry Correct Incorrect The 1962 Shelby Cobra CSX2000 was the first Shelby Cobra ever made. The car sold in 2016 at an auction for a jaw-dropping $13 million. Needless to say, the sum was a lot more than the car was sold for when it first when on the market.

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When was the first Shelby Cobra produced?

1961
1963
1962
1964

What aquatic animal was the Chevy Corvette named after?

80%

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427 Convertible

Retry Correct Incorrect The Corvette got a new generation in 1963 and was affectionately called the Stingray, making reference to the incredible agility and speed of the aquatic animal of the same name.

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What aquatic animal was the Chevy Corvette named after?

Whale
Stingray
Tiger Shark
Octopus

Which of the following is the name of a 1968 Plymouth performance vehicle?

83%

1971 Plymouth Road Runner 440 Wedge. Creator: Unknown.

Retry Correct Incorrect By 1968, many Muscle Cars had started drifting from their original roots of being cheap performance vehicles. Plymouth revived the original concept with the Road Runner, a mid-size car with a focus on performance rather than luxury.

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Which of the following is the name of a 1968 Plymouth performance vehicle?

Falcon
Coupe de Ville
Road Runner
Prowler

What were the Shelby GT350 models affectionately called?

85%

Retry Correct Incorrect Referring to the speed and cunning nature of the snake of the same name, the immensely powerful and incredibly nimble Shelby GT350 car got the name Cobra and that name has since become official.

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What were the Shelby GT350 models affectionately called?

Cheetah
Viper
Cobra
Cougar

Which of the following car was declared ‘unsafe at any speed?’

88%

Retry Correct Incorrect ‘Unsafe at Any Speed’ was a non-fiction book written by a consumer-rights advocate. The Corvair was highlighted in the book because it had a design flaw in the rear suspension that could make the car flip over if handled abruptly at any speed.

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Which of the following car was declared ‘unsafe at any speed?’

Chevy Chevelle
Ford Thunderbird
Chevy Impala
Chevy Corvair

Which of the following cars is known to be ‘allergic to crowds?’

90%

Retry Correct Incorrect Well, if you selected the Viper, Sorry, the picture was there to confuse you. The Viper is just always actively trying to unalive the driver… it’s the Mustang that’s famous for getting out of control and ‘interacting’ with by-standing crowds in a way that can lead to lawsuits.

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Which of the following cars is known to be ‘allergic to crowds?’

Chevy Impala
Chevy corvette
Dodge Viper
Ford Mustang

Which of the following is not a Muscle Car?

93%

Retry Correct Incorrect The Chrysler Imperial was big in size. It had a behemoth V8 engine and was a rear-wheel drive vehicle. But it was actually a luxury car and not a Muscle Car.

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Which of the following is not a Muscle Car?

Ford Thunderbird
Chrysler Imperial
Ford Mustang
Dodge Charger

Which company made the Thunderbolt?

95%

rare-pristine-1964-ford-fairlane-thunderbolt-oddly-fails-to-sell-185133_1

Retry Correct Incorrect The Thunderbolt was one of the sickest cars ever made by Ford. With its dual carburetors and a big-honking V8, this car had more power than it needed… and the stripped-out interior just made it go like a rocket.

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Which company made the Thunderbolt?

Dodge
Mercury
Ford
Plymouth

Which of the following is the only car to produce 300 Horsepower in the stock configuration in the 1950s?

98%

Chrysler Kurtis at Thrifty Drug NHRA Show - Frank Thompson

Retry Correct Incorrect As it says in the name, the 300C made that insane amount of power even back in the 1950s. That is a respectable amount of power even by today’s standards, but cars used to weigh, like, a million tons back then, so there’s that.

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Which of the following is the only car to produce 300 Horsepower in the stock configuration in the 1950s?

Ford Fairlane
Chrysler 300C
Chrysler Imperial
Ford Model T

Congrats, you finished! Here are your results:

100%

Congrats, you finished! Here are your results:

Retry Better Luck Next Time! It looks like you are more into modern cars. Well, we’ll have quizzes about them too! Read More About Classic American Muscle! You have the basic idea, but you need to study these cars to talk at length about them at the next Barbecue party. You Know the Muscle! If you scored in this range, you know your Muscle Cars pretty well. Cheers! You are the Real Life Dom Toretto! We think you need to team up with the Torrettos and start living your life a quarter-mile at a time. Oh, wait! you already do that.

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