Mopar is the original equipment spare parts and aftermarket accessory division of the Stellantis car brands distributed in North America. Mopar muscle cars are high-performance variants of the Plymouth, Dodge and Chrysler cars manufactured during the muscle car era (1964 to 1977). The Pontiac GTO, a car that captured public attention and strongly influenced the muscle car era, was introduced in 1964 as an optional package for the mid-size Pontiac Tempest. The Plymouth Barracuda was a pony that could be converted into a muscle car with the addition of the famous Chrysler 426 Hemi, available as an option starting in 1968, after making its street debut two years earlier with the Plymouth Belvedere, the Dodge Coronet and the Dodge Charger.
The popularity and performance of muscle cars grew in the early 1960s, when Mopar (Dodge, Plymouth and Chrysler) and Ford fought for supremacy in endurance racing. Muscle cars and sports cars are designed to reach high speeds and offer a fun way to get from point A to point B. According to some definitions, including those used by the magazines Car and Driver and Road and Track mentioned below, ponies such as the Ford Mustang, the Chevrolet Camaro and the Plymouth Barracuda and their luxurious companions Mercury Cougar, Pontiac Firebird and the Dodge Challenger, in that wide, influential and lucrative niche of the sixties and seventies, could also be considered muscle cars if they are equipped with suitable high-performance equipment. According to some definitions and perceptions of the time, the term muscle car came to connote high performance at affordable prices, in which extremely powerful engines were used in relatively basic intermediate cars at extremely affordable prices.
Modern technology means that the engines of newer muscle cars are not drastically larger than those of standard cars. According to some reports, the term muscle car proper was originally applied to the mid-1960s and early 1970s special editions of mass-produced cars that were designed for endurance racing, although it soon entered the general vocabulary through automotive and automotive marketing magazines and was used generically for performance-oriented street cars. While a standard car can take you from one place to another, a sports car or muscle car will ensure that you have a good time along the way. Although the term was unknown for more than fifteen years, some believe that General Motors intentionally introduced the first muscle car in 1949, when it put its 303 cubic inch (5 L) Rocket V8 of its full-size luxury 98 Rocket V8 in the considerably smaller and lighter Oldsmobile 88. They differ in size, muscle cars are traditionally bulkier, while sports cars are small and elegant and manufacturers have equipped them with different engine styles.
