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Settle This Debate: Was The 1964 Pontiac GTO The First Muscle Car? It Has Been Raging For 50 Years!


Settle This Debate: Was The 1964 Pontiac GTO The First Muscle Car? It Has Been Raging For 50 Years!

It sucks that Pontiac is dead and buried because if they were still alive this would have been a rocking year for the brand. Hell, you have seen how far Ford has taken the 50th anniversary of the Mustang and Pontiac could have done the same thing for the 50th anniversary of the birth of the muscle car revolution that took the country by storm for the next decade. The debate over what the “first” muscle car was has been going for decades. The Chrysler guys like to claim that in the late 1950s their letter cars were actually the first, then there’s the dudes who like to point to the Olds Rocket 88 as being the progenitor for all of this madness as well. We’ll keep our own opinions to the side and leave this one up to you to solve.

Obviously it is because the brand is dead, but we’re kind of bummed at the total lack of coverage regarding the 50th anniversary of what most people consider the birth of the muscle car. As mentioned above, Ford’s corporate strength has dominated the airwaves this year with the significant celebration across the country and world regarding the anniversary of the Mustang. We’re kind of surprised that GM hasn’t at least mentioned its own role in the creation of the muscle car genre this year. Between the GTO, Chevelle, and other models that hit the market that year, it was a ground shaking for sure.

That’s just our opinion on the recognition of the history, we want to know what you think about the car most people think kicked this whole deal off.

Was the 1964 Pontiac GTO the first true muscle car? 

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28 thoughts on “Settle This Debate: Was The 1964 Pontiac GTO The First Muscle Car? It Has Been Raging For 50 Years!

  1. Lee

    LOL . . . OK . . . what’s a “truck muscle car?”

    IMO . . . YES . . . the GTO was the first muscle car: a midsize car with a big car performance engine, with some added “bling” like redline tires and hood scoops. . . a car that ANYONE could buy right off the showroom floor.

    1. phukineddie

      having bought a buick ive done some research and the 1955 buick just may meet the standards other then only 967 build for the highway patrol or chips a two door sedan with century running gear in dyno tests it would shred the tires of the day
      big motor light car round 3700 lbs 322 nailhead 260 hp and tons of torque just a thought

  2. Guitarslinger

    NO ! Definitely not ! From the 57 Bel Air V8 factory hot rod w/4bbl dual exhausts – to Chryslers with the first generation Hemis .. to those mega motored Cadillacs [ oh but for the glory days of Cadillac long since past ] to Lincolns with monster V8’s etc etc etc

    Fact is there were plenty of so called Muscle Cars ..even in Europe and the UK well before the term was officially coined

    1. Lee

      Yes it’s a bit of a “gray” definition. But if you ask 100 people who have some knowledge of cars what constitutes a muscle car, the majority is going to tell you it’s a small car with a big engine. That didn’t happen until the 1964 GTO.

      1. GuitarSlinger

        Ahem . Once again . The 57 Chevy Bel Air factory hot rod w/4bbl and dual exhausts . That being the most obvious choice for those with at least a modicum of knowledge … whereas those of us that truly know would go back even further

        The GTO being the ‘ pop culture ‘ and cliched choice amongst those who’s knowledge of the history of performance cars is somewhat lacking : being based on common rhetoric rather than the historical record

        FYI your definition of a ‘ Muscle Car ‘ is also the pop culture / cliched one …. not the one most accepted by those of us in the know

        1. Lee

          Your FYI comment – that is where the heart of the issue lies . . . you are thinking Micro. Step back a bit and think Macro . . . the big picture.

          The Muscle Car era didn’t start with the 57 Chevy. It started with the GTO.

          1. Ed Coston

            Actually in 1965 you could order a Malibu SS with a 327 cu.inch 375 hp.muncie 4 speed and gear ratio you choose and it would eat Goats.

  3. Scott Liggett

    It could even be debated that it started in 1932 when Henry Ford shoved that flathead V8 into the Model B. First time a performance engine was available in a car that the general public could afford.

    1. Lee

      The moniker ” Cuda” didn’t arrive until 1969. Previous to that it always a Barracuda. And the 273? LOL – a single exhaust? LMAO.

  4. gary

    Not. Even. Close. The letter Chrysler’s are the rightful owners of the title “first muscle cars”.

  5. Barn Engineering

    I have to confess that I was around for the “birth” of the muscle car era. All the manufacturers had high performance cars prior to the GTO. Many of them were more powerful than the GTO. They even had factory supported racing programs.
    However, when the GTO was released, the muscle car era took off. Drag racing became something you could do in your daily ride without being embarrassed. No, you wouldn’t outrun Dave Strickler, Bill Jenkins, Ronnie Sox and all the other legends of the day but you’d bring home a trophy here and there and your glove box probably held a stack of traffic citations as street trophies. (I still have most of mine)
    Since the GTO came out with a great splash of PR and the muscle car era took off around then, I’m in the camp that says if ya gotta call something the first, it should probably be the GTO.

  6. 38P

    I have to go with Roger Huntington in his book American Supercar, and and a bit with David E. Davis in his requiem for the ’64-’74 Pontiac G.T.O. . . .

    The Goat certainly wasn’t the first car ever to combine lower weight and size with relatively large engine capacity for performance. Nor was it the most advanced ( . . . or the quickest and fastest.

    But, just like Ford Explorer wasn’t the first SUV, the G.T.O. hit the market at the right moment in time, with the backing of a major manufacturer

    1. 38P

      [Posted the message above prematurely)

      . . . . And at the right price. . . . So (to borrow from Mr. Davis) it’s the “antediluvian” Goat we remember and its many antecedents and contemporaries that we forget . . .

  7. ratpatrol66

    Lots of power house cars came before it. But none were marketed as well as the GTO. Pontiac was killing it at the strip and the ovals in 61-62. There was an anti-trust suit against GM brought on the Chrysler because of Market dominance. That is why racing ban came down at GM in 63. Pontiac was the number two selling brand at the time. Yes I’m a Pontiac guy and as far as the muscle car brand name goes, I say its the GTO!

  8. HEADACHE RACING

    NOPE!!!! THE 64 MAX WEDGE CARS WERE WAY FASTER THAN ANY GTO EVER DREAMED OF BEING. the only way to make a 64 gto hang with a 64 Plymouth is to tow it behind the Plymouth. END OF STORY.

    1. 38P

      The Max Wedge cars were hot intermediates . . . but they were marketed, priced and sold to serious racers, not ordinary mopes. And although they theoretically could be driven daily, the warranty disclaimers, optional equipment limitations, rowdy camshafts, and elevated maintenance schedules undoubtedly dissuaded it.

      On the other hand, the Goat and its copycat progeny were detuned enough for a wide segment of consumers to tolerate, if not enjoy, as ordinary transportation (while basking in the feeling of tooling around in a “racing car.”).

      And the brilliant Jim Wangers marketing juggernaut made most prior efforts at selling factory “muscle” look like a Methodist minister sneaking out of a massage parlor.

      It is certainly no coincidence that in “Two-Lane Blacktop,” G.T.O. (the man and his car) are symbolic of an effortless, prepackaged, consumerist, chameleon version of life . . . because in a sense, that’s what the G.T.O. and its ilk accomplished by opening the floodgates of the abbreviated ’60s “super car” era — they made near- “super stock” “muscle” instantly and easily available to most anyone with sufficient credit to buy one.

    2. Lee

      I think you missed it. It isn’t about which car was fastest. It’s about which car was “the first muscle car.”

      And the definition of a muscle car is MORE than just a sedan with a big engine in it.

      Put a Max Wedge Savoy next to a 6 CYL Savoy, have them the same color and you would be hard pressed to tell them apart. That is not the case with a Tempest and a GTO.

  9. Lee

    Sure, there were plenty of fast cars that you could buy . . . if you had the big bucks available. Max Wedge Chryslers, 406 and 427 Galaxies, 409 Chevys. But how many did they sell?

    Pontiac sold 32,450 GTOs in 1964. Would it surprise anyone to learn that was more than ALL the other fast cars available combined.

    The GTO was more than just a car. It was a package: Intermediate size with a big engine, redline tires (an industry first), hood scoops, shifter on the floor, bucket seats, chrome engine dress up, HD suspension and lots of emblems.

  10. Ed Coston

    No I copo a 1961 SS 409 Impala and replaced single carb manifold to dual carbs and solid lifter engle cam and headers and exxon plycron rear tires and I had a street driven Drag car. Eliminators race team

  11. Glen

    I would classify the GTO as the 1st true muscle car by the terms of definition. The GTO set a new standard of performance with the midsize big engine concept….by virtue of marketing. I know there was nothing marketed like it before 1964 but there sure was after 1964. Although I am true blue Ford guy I have always loved Pontiacs because of the image they projected. Besides there was nothing really like getting down hard on a 389 Tripower with ram air and a 4 speed.

  12. Powerstroke

    My 2 pennies. Muscle cars are race on Sunday. Buy on Monday, Drive all week to work and then race again on Sunday. May not be the biggest motor/lightest chassis, High dollar low production models or race cars for the streets that only a few had a chance to buy. Maybe just maybe, a production car that old John Q could afford and race without disgrace even if he didn’t win. Think Mustangs Camaros Trans ams Chevelles Buick GS Olds 442 Etc. Just thoughts.

  13. Dan Sallia

    For the record a 57 Chevy was a slug compared to the 57 Golden Hawk. I know my dad cleaned the clocks of a whole club of them with his Hawk. But if you use marketing as the standard than the GTO was the first.

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  15. Nick D.

    What about the 1957 AMC Rebel? It used the lightweight Rambler 4-door hardtop with the new 327 jammed in it, plus Bendix Electrojector on top!

  16. Phil

    Does anyone else remember the 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk? The factory shoehorned a 352 ci Packard engine into the Hawk. Seems like a muscle car to me. Wish I could afford one today.

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