And we love those cars, no doubt about it, but looking at one is much like hearing the same classic-rock song for the millionth time. Sure, "Satisfaction" is a good tune (especially when performed by The Residents), but ennui sets in eventually. But there were plenty of vehicles built that can be classed as muscle cars, yet never attained truly iconic status. I'm a big fan of some of the less common machines, and UDMan truly loves them. He's put together a regular Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot series over on CarDomain, where you'll be able to see obsessively documented and illustrated studies of such greats as the 1958 Packard Hawk, 1970 Mercury Marauder X-100, 1957 Rambler Rebel, and 1977 Pontiac LeMans Can Am. We say check it out!
[CarDomain Blog]

Even non-AMC freaks appreciate the original AMX (reviews are much more mixed for the Malaise AMX), but the days of snapping one up for cheap are decades in the past. You want a really nice two-seater AMX, you must pay. But must you pay $45,000? That's what we're dealing with here. The car looks great: original California car, stripped and repainted, all the original accessories down to the canned spare-tire air, etc… but it's not a 4-speed and that price is a real jolt. What do you think?
[Cardiff Classics]

Below is the initial entry from the BMC site, bmcforums.com bemoaning the apparent cease and desist from Ford.

BMC 2008 Calendar NOT Available Due to Ford Motor Company I got some more info from the folks at cafepress and according to them, a law firm representing Ford contacted them saying that our calendar pics (and our club's event logos - anything with one of our cars in it) infringes on Ford's trademarks which include the use of images of THEIR vehicles. Also, Ford claims that all the images, logos and designs OUR graphics team made for the BMC events using Danni are theirs as well. Funny, I thought Danni's title had my name on it ... and I thought you guys owned your cars ... and, well ... I'm not even going to get into how wrong and unfair I feel this whole thing is as I'd be typing for hours, but I wholeheartedly echo everything you guys have been saying all afternoon. I'm not letting this go un-addressed and I'll keep you guys posted as I get to work on this.

I'm sorry, but at this point we will not be producing the 2008 BMC Calendar, featuring our 2007 Members of the Month, solely due to Ford Motor Company's claim that THEY own all rights to the photos YOU take of YOUR car. I hope to resolve this soon, and be able to provide the calendar and other BMC merchandise that you guys want and deserve! This thread will remain open for you to comment however you wish, and I'll update it as needed.

Thanks for all your support of the BMC!!

My name is Whitney Drake and I work in Ford Communications. We've been watching this discussion with interest and I'd like to clarify what is essentially a misunderstanding.

Yesterday we spoke to both Cafe Press and the Black Mustang Club and explained the situation (about the Black Mustang Club's calendar) to everyone's satisfaction. Ford has no problem with Mustang or other car owners taking pictures of their vehicles for use in club materials like calendars. What we do have an issue with are individuals using Ford's logo and other trademarks for products they intend to sell. Understandably, we have to take the protection of our brands and licensing very seriously.

Ford did not send the Black Mustang Club a "cease and desist" letter telling them that they could not use images of their own cars in their calendar. The decision not to allow the calendars to be printed was made by Cafe Press, because we had gotten in touch with them in the past about trademark infringements on products they sold.

I think it is great that the Black Mustang Club, and any other enthusiast club, would take pictures of their own vehicles for use in calendars or other materials.

I'm looking forward to purchasing a copy to hang in the garage next to my Mustang (even if mine isn't black).

Thanks for giving us the chance to have our say.

"Chrysler Group has confirmed that it will build a high-performance version of the Dodge Challenger. It is expected to launch sometime after the 2009-model base car rolls out. The SRT-8 Challenger will be based on the next-generation LX platform, the LY."

But are we sure we believe Ward's — I mean, they do know the first year of the car's going to be a 2008 model year, right? Or do they mean an SRT won't come out until the 2009 model year — the second year of the newly re-born muscle car from the Ram's Horn-y brand? Also by "LY" platform — do they mean "LC" platform? Are they the same? We're so confused. [SEMA eNews]

For a good number of years I drove a '67 Plymouth Barracuda I'd bought for 500 bucks. Over time, some junkyard engineering brought measurable improvements. Drum brakes gave way to discs from a '70s Dart. Points ignition was swapped out for transistorized technology. The peg-leg rear differential was dumped for a swap meet sure-grip. A 360 took the place of a 318. With each upgrade the car not only got faster, but also more reliable. Eventually the fish was well mannered enough to both drive daily and run 13's at the track. The '72 Challenger had undergone similar improvements, but like the 'Cuda, had lost none of its character in the process.

The real difference between my old fish and this Dodge version of the later E-body, road-swimming Plymouth was the pistol grip shifter poking up Roth-monster style from the center console. The shifter was connected to some sort of updated five-speed rock crusher under the tunnel. Getting the 360 small block to comply was easy enough. Getting the clutch and transmission to cooperate was a little more difficult thanks to a near-blown driver's side engine mount. Herculean clutch pedal effort combined with horsepower rewarded attention and punished ham-footedness.

Even with the aftermarket brake upgrade, stopping the Challenger was a white-knuckled enterprise. Having moments to think ahead was key. There would be no time for cell phones, coffee sipping or menu-driven gadgetry whatsoever. On the way out to Carlisle we made some time to stop at the Meijer and get a 50-in-1 electronics kit so we could splice a power supply to the iPod for Craig cassette player input. This mod was done by the passenger, while the driver smoked the tires on occasion, and cigars frequently.

The drive from Pennsylvania to Detroit International in Romulus was where I actually got to drive the car for a several hours straight. Rowing through the gears was the sweet reward for anything involving acceleration. On-ramp corkscrews and similar interchanges got me thinking of Dan Gurney throwing his AAR Plymouth Barracuda around a road course. Yes this and most every other muscle car of the era had a live axle. Yes, the ass end will kick out on you. No, it won't heel like a Honda Accord. And yes, that's why this and every other muscle car of the era is now legendary.

This is where the paradox lies. Despite the volumes written, published, and spoken about the legendary prowess of American muscle, the fact of the deal is that most of these cars were built for affordable and brutal performance. To harp on how they didn't stop, handle, or even idle on anything but a quasi-regular basis is like faulting Popeye for a lousy kinescope. What these cars did do is go like stink, and let you know they could through a visceral experience unrivaled by any modern car. Slipping the clutch into throttle in a '72 Dodge Challenger and having the entire car pulse through every bone is about as good as the experience gets.

Yes friends, we're here to talk muscle cars. We absolutely need a ride (or two) for the porterhouse steak and french fry set. But as you know, we've got just 50 spots in our +10 Garage of Fantasy, so we need to choose with care. First we have to eliminate some contenders. So let's pick a year. 1970 seems like a nice round number. More than being round though, 1970 was the apex of not only muscle cars themselves, but of the muscle car era. Gas was $0.36 per gallon. 40,000 troops are to be pulled out of Vietnam, and an entire week went by without any dead American soldiers. Men are still golfing on the moon while Gary Gabelich drives the Blue Flame (in a very muscle car-like straight line) to a top speed of 1,014 kph. But life in the US had its downsides, too. The National Guard opened fire at Kent State killing four students. Police opened fire at Jackson State killing two. The Beatles called it quits and Elvis went back on tour. There has to be a single, burly car that encapsulates all that triumph and tumult.

1970 will always be very special for muscle car fans as it was the glorious year when GM decided to lift their self-imposed embargo mandating 400 cid as the biggest engine that could be shoehorned into a mid-size car. It also happens to be the year that saw the peak in gross horsepower for American muscle. Look at any engine-power timeline graph; thanks to emissions restrictions and OPEC it was all downhill from there. And finally, to further narrow our Fantasy Garage choices: for every lunkhead who has scoffed at my WRX because, "There's no replacement for displacement," we're eliminating all MOPARS and Fords. And the AMC Javelin, too. They are just not big enough. Look, we won't be kicking any R/T Charger 440 Magnum Six-Packs out of bed, but you got to draw lines somewhere, man. You got to draw lines. And that leaves us with these four big-blocked bastards from the General.

Buick GSX

In order to match their customers' shirts/cocaine preference, the GSX was only available in "Apollo White" or "Saturn Yellow." Whichever you chose, it came with big black stripes across the hood. There you will also find a pilfered-from-Pontiac tachometer, one of our favorite options ever. Seriously — screw heads up displays, just bolt the instruments right to the bonnet. Especially the clock. Still a brilliant piece of kit nearly four-decades on. Oh, and the car itself was quite the beefcake, too.

Coming correct with a gigantic 455 cid V8 and a Hurst four-speed, the GSX had all the grunt any self-respecting son of the seventies needed. Power figures are elusive and confusing. Officially, the factory quoted 360hp @ 4,2000rpm. No doubt this was true, but what did the mill stonk at say 5,2000rpm? At least 400 horses, if not a bit more (415 to 425 hp). GM fudged the numbers because insurance companies at the time were charging huge draconian penalties premiums based on horsepower. The corporate wink, wink saved customers from insurance payments bigger than their car payments. Luckily insurance companies didn't care about torque, as it is hard to hide 510lbs. ft. of the good stuff at a 2,8000rpm.

The GSX had a load of other performance tweaks besides the monster motivator. They included hotter cams, bigger valves (which really made the power difference in the higher rev range), a Positrac diff, beefier springs and a revised jetting for the carburetor. The transmissions (both stick and auto) were improved, too. Even better, Buick's big 455 V8 was designed smart, so the engine weighed 150lbs. less than its GM stable mates's. Though worrying about weight with this gang of four is like deriving Kirsten Dunst's IQ. Why bother?

All that twist and go-go fury made Motor Trend proclaim that the 455 GS Stage 1 is "the quickest American production car we've ever tested." Though as their quarter mile time of 13.38 is half a second faster than any other mag could muster and their zero to 60 time of 5.5 seconds is essentially unbelievable, MT was probably testing a ringer. Which was a very popular GM ploy at the time — see here. Still, 13.8 through the traps and 6.4 or so to 60 is nothing to turn your jaded 20067 noses up at. You try it on bias-plys.

But more than performance (and sound) we simply love the way the Buick GSX looks. In Saturn Yellow, of course.

Chevrolet Chevelle 454 SS

Like every other car here, 1970 saw the first time an engine larger than 400 cid went into a mid-sized Chevy. Long story short, the LS6 engine in the SS had higher compression (11.25:1) than the standard LS5 454, giving the top Chevelle the highest factory horsepower rating of any muscle car. 450 big block horses and 500 pounds of twist, numbers not beaten by a factory Chevrolet until the C6 Z06 (though the L88 Corvette pumped out somewhere in the neighborhood of 550 hp, the factory only claimed 430). Which is an impressive amount in 2007 and was quite literally earth-shaking in 1970. Car Craft got the SS through the quarter-mile in 13.12 seconds @ 107 mph. Other than all the pricks at my high school driving Chevelles, I can't think of much else to add. So let's just fanaticize about a red one with black stripes. Mmmm... muscle-y.

Oldsmobile 442 W-30


The Olds 442 started life in 1964 as a quick reaction to the runaway and unexpected success of John Z Delorean's tempest in a Tempest GTO. The technical name for the $285 option package on the Cutlass was the "B09 Police Apprehender" though no one ever called it anything but 4-4-2. The moniker stood for 4-barrell carb, 4-speeds and 2 tailpipes. And while the 442 started out life in 1964 with a relatively small 330 cubic inch motor, by 1970 Olds had super-sized the engine to a very satisfying 455 cid.

Officially the largest V8 Oldsmobile ever shoehorned into a car produced 365 hp. Obviously that's not enough so an option package was created - called W-30 - that offered up 5 more horses. In reality of course, both engines generated in excess of 400 muscular horses with the W-30 mill probably hitting 420 before valve-float became an issue. Torque? An even 500 ft. pounds of screw you, stump.

Of course the W-30 option was the only way to go. Aside from the 5 horsepower - achieved through a blueprinted engine, an upgraded cam, unrestricted exhausts and forced air-induction via the functional hood scoops - W-30 gave you a weight saving fiberglass hood and plastic inner-fenders, an aluminum pumpkin and less sound deadening material.

This added muscle and lightness made the 442 W-30 good for a 0-60 sprint of 5.7 seconds and 14.2 in the quarter-mile @ 100 mph. Interesting to me, those numbers are essentially identical to a modern WRX. Though the 442 is moving faster at the end of a quarter-mile. So, the performance is adequate for today and pretty damn special back in the year your father was chasing courting your mother. 1971 saw shorter connecting rods and reduced power. We'll take our Fantasy 1970 442 W-30 in blue with white stripes. And you know what? We'll take the convertible.

Pontiac GTO 455 Judge


And finally we get to the Judge, also known as "the Humbler." If names were all that mattered, the Judge wins this one in a walk. Besides Roadmaster, I dare you to think of a better car-moniker than the Judge. Sure beats the hell out of G6. But we'll save our "Why all modern cars have stupid names" rant for another day. We're here to talk Pontiac. And in truth, to us, the Judge is the quintessential muscle car. For not only did it have the displacement (455 cubic inches), the looks (Orbit Orange, Endura nose, fender creases, hood tach) and the lineage (it's a GTO - 'nuff said), the Judge nailed the zeitgeist of not only the muscle car craze, but of first-term Nixon America.

And since muscle cars really can be boiled down to their engines, let's examine what motivated the Judge. In truth, most Judges sold came with the Ram Air III 400 cid mill. Though for a few dollars more you could get the Ram Air IV option which boosted power to 370 horses. The 455 wasn't available on the Judge until the last quarter of 1970 and is therefore quite rare. True, the 400 cubic incher made a little bit more power than the bigger engine (4 to 10 hp, depending on who you believe), the 455 had it where it really counted - 500lbs. ft. of torque. And if you think the 455 V8 actually put out just 360 hp, I have a six-figure Countach-bodied Fiero to sell you.

And let us stress how rare these uber-Judges are. Fourteen shift-it-yourself hardtops were made, and just three convertibles, all automatics. Still not convinced? A 1970 Orbit Orange 455 Judge was the car bad guy Warren Oates drove in Two-Lane Blacktop. Case closed, your honor. – Jonny Lieberman

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

[The Jalopnik Fantasy Garage appears every Tuesday. Readers vote the cars in or out. The idea is that we'll have 50 cars in our fantasy garage, the world's greatest mechanic and endless wads of cash. If you would like to nominate a car for our Fantasy Garage, email tips@jalopnik.com with the subject line "fantasy garage."]

Jalopnik Fantasy Garage, So Far:
RUF RT12
Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT
1978 Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Honda 1300 Coupe 9
1931 Daimler Double Six 50 Corsica Drophead Coupe
Ferrari 288 GTO
Volkswagen Phaeton W12

Related:
Jalopnik Fantasy Garage: Volkswagen Phaeton W12 | We'll Give You Eight Bucks: 18K Dodge Dart [Internal]

Our Flickr buddy Djivy, a photog par excellence, took some clutch shots of American muscle cars last weekend. Problem is, as a poor peasant boy from Belgium whose existance relies solely on huge waffles and pints of H egaarten, he needs help identifying the cars he shot. Won't you please donate some of your valuable time and car-recall expertise to help keep American muscle free for Europeans to ogle in beautiful slide-film cross-processed in C41 chemicals? Thank you and Godspeed. – Mike Spinelli

Project 16: Custom & Tuning Madness 2006 by Djivy [Flickr]

Related:
Hello Rusty Cars: A Flickr Gallery [internal]