1962 Chevrolet Z11 at Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals

[Ron77]

This is a nice Impala.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRQfL67MKo



Ron

[Silverback]

Nice car.....

[DanEC]

Everyone has their idea of the golden age of cars. To me it is that 61 to 64 period when all that big iron was slimming down and and engines were bulking up - 409 Impalas, 406/427 Galaxies, 413/426 Max Wedge Dodge/Plymouths, 389/421 SD Pontiacs, etc.

[RedBarchetta]

Everyone has their idea of the golden age of cars. To me it is that 61 to 64 period when all that big iron was slimming down and and engines were bulking up - 409 Impalas, 406/427 Galaxies, 413/426 Max Wedge Dodge/Plymouths, 389/421 SD Pontiacs, etc.

Dan, I wouldn’t debate you on the cars part, as the space age styling and such developed timeless lines (like the ‘63 Corvette SWC, as yet another example). Engine wise, for me the later peak from 1967-1970 was incredible. Just talking about Chevrolet alone, we enjoyed the ZL-1 and L-88 big blocks and the LT-1 small block. Chrysler further refined the elephant motor for the ages, the 426 and even the often-ignored 440 became a tremendous fighter. And even Ford had the Boss 429 and others. The styling of the cars still evolved, but again it’s hard to debate whether overall it got better. For me I was raised on the latter of this bunch so I tend to be a ‘66-72 sort of enthusiast.

[DanEC]

Dean - I agree that muscle cars really matured and progressed to their state of the art in the 67 - 70 time frame. I look at what I call the golden years as the precursor to the muscle car, the grand daddy of the muscle car, the foundation I guess - thus my term the golden age. Then Detroit took the engines that were being developed earlier and refined them, improved them and then put them in a car with performance styling, improved suspensions and drive trains, youth market appeal, and just all-around improved driving experience. The 67 - 70 time frame was the pinnacle of the performance muscle car era in my foggy perspective. The improvement in how a performance car drives between 1962 and 1969 is huge. I think we are basically on the same page.

[Silverback]

Personally my favorite was the 58 Edsel.

[S_Reynolds]

Some how I'm not surprised.....