THEY were overpowered, under-tyred, had dreadful brakes and whenused in anger could emit more greenhouse gases than Longannet powerstation on a winter's evening, but the mighty muscle-cars born in theUnited States exactly half a century ago created some of the moststylish and flamboyant motoring icons of all time.
And, were it not for the untimely interruption of one particularreader during Sotheby's auction of Lord Sorn's private car collectiona few years ago, I would have owned the most outrageous of them all -the *Plymouth Superbird Road Runner.
It was, perhaps, fitting that the Superbird should be the greatestof all time, because it was the parent company, Chrysler, whichinvented the muscle-car concept when, after developing the hemi V8and experiencing the beginning of a major design renaissance as thecountry recovered from the Second World War, decided that anextravagant level of power in an outrageous body would be the verything for the emerging drag-racing cult.
So was born the C-300, a car whose styling influences came fromthe F-86 Sabre jet fighter and which, when fitted with a 300bhpversion of the hemi V8, accelerated like one, in the processconveniently giving Chrysler 'bragging rights' over its forthcomingrivals from General Motors with the Corvette and Ford with theThunderbird.
The first cars were built just in time for the Daytona speed weekin 1954, where they took first, second and third in the AmericanStock Car Flying Mile with a recorded terminal speed of 127.58mph.
The following year, Chrysler upped power to 340bhp in what wouldbecome one of the longest and most intense power struggles inautomotive history, with the three big car-makers using everypossible ruse to extract more power, even to the extent, they canadmit now, of lying.
But while the 1955 and 1956 Chrysler models were relativelyspartan, and by US styling standards conservative in their design andfurnishings, all that was to change the following year when thecompany completely redesigned its entire models range and introduced,most famously, the tail fin.
By 1960, these rocket-inspired wings reached their peak, as didengine development with no fewer than 375bhp claimed from the hemi.
The Sixties also heralded the arrival of big-time motor sport inthe US, with the Indy 500 becoming the flagship event (with Chryslermuscle-car as pacemaker), but local drag strips were key to owner/driver participation.
Owners wanted power above all else, and the car-makers were onlytoo happy to oblige.
But to make an even stronger connection between the cars on thetrack and those for sale in the showrooms, another formula was needed- NASCAR - based on souped-up versions of the standard models.
Power outputs plateaued for a couple of years, but in 1962Chrysler came back with the Max Wedge conversion, which offered410bhp for dollars 545 or 420bhp for dollars 612 extra. This at atime, remember, when the favourite British hot car, the Mini CooperS, came with just 75bhp. And while the Cooper S required a straight-cut, close-ratio, four-speed manual gearbox to give of its best, themuscle-car transmission of choice was a three-speed automatic.
As ever in motor sport, the desire to win on the track, however,led to the car-makers virtually hand-building special racing machineswhich were only loosely based on what the customer could buy.
In an attempt to put an end to this, NASCAR decreed that for 1965,500 examples of each race car had to be built with the designatedrace engine and, unable to do this, the car-makers turned most oftheir attention to drag racing, but by the middle of the followingyear demand for muscle-cars was booming, Chrysler wanted back on therace tracks, and the result would lead to the greatest muscle-car ofall.
The Dodge Charger was the king of the muscle-cars as the finalyears of the Sixties ticked by, but, after investigating itsaerodynamics in the wind tunnel, Chrysler came up with theoutrageously streamlined and bewinged Superbird which, it wasclaimed, was good for 200mph plus on the racetrack.
The chiselled nose, which added 18in to the length of an alreadybig car, was a fairly obvious move to cut through the air, but thehuge rear wing was to help it to find clean air and, therefore downforce.
So effective were the aerodynamics that they pushed the car downon to front tyres, a problem solved by cutting holes in the wings andcovering them with reversed air-scoops.
Another reason for the height of the rear wing was, apparently,the need to allow the boot to be opened on road-going versions; butthe two vertical struts needed to hold the wing dramatically improvedthe car's stability by acting like an aircraft's tail fin.
This added stability was definitely a good thing, because intesting, apparently, the cars reached 243mph.
Though offered at a bargain-basement price, the Superbirdstruggled to sell. It was killed off the following year, and soonafter that the 1973/74 oil crisis did the same for the muscle-car.
