How to Excel at a Muscle Car Cocktail Party

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By "muscle car cocktail party," we mean a bunch of dudes standing around, drinking beer and talking about horsepower. When you and your buddies are talking shop, which one of you is the trivia champ? Are you the guy who knows every spec from every model of classic American muscle cars?

Here are a handful of facts that may stump even you. Use them to show your buddies just how deep your knowledge runs. 

There was no 1983 Corvette
Like a 13th floor, it just isn't there. The third generation Corvette had a long and glorious run from 1968 to 1982. Chevy waited until 1984 to release the C4. Some thought they had a radical redesign in mind, while others thought it was due to emissions complications. In the end, for whatever the reason, all but one of the 1983 prototypes were destroyed. And no, you can't get your hands on that one, it's in the National Corvette Museum.

The Original Transformer Camaro was a '69
The modern area Camaro made a badass Bumblebee in the Hollywood blockbuster, Transformers. But it wasn't the first mad science success; that belongs to the 1969 COPO Camaro. Chevy's COPO series was meant for fleet sales, cop cars and taxi cabs. A few clever auto dealers figured out that the 9560 COPO all-aluminium ZL-1 427 V-8 could be ordered as a Camaro package, creating a light and mean muscle car that pumped out 550 horsepower during chassis dyno testing. Only 69 of the ZL-1 Camaros were made and they command as much as $400k at auction.

Too Much Engine, Not Enough Body
In the late sixties and early seventies, NASCAR insisted that manufacturers make 500 of their race vehicles available to the public. Was this safe? Probably not, but it was good for muscle car geeks everywhere. The 1969 Mustang Boss 429 was a prime example. However, there was a tiny production problem: the engine was too big for the chassis. In order to fit the king-sized engine into the engine bay, Ford had to make a variety of alterations, including relocated shock towers and a smaller brake-booster. The retrofitted Boss 429 is a rarity among muscle cars and worth a mint.

Go forth and astound with your new found knowledge! Or brush up a little more with this quiz.

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