Anatomy of the Musclecar

Editor's Note: Co-creator of the Pontiac GTO and several other Pontiac specialty cars, Jim Wangers, also known as the "Godfather of the GTO," helped establish the "musclecar" of the Sixties to its rightful niche in the history of American car marketing. As Pontiac's marketing man, Wangers was there, helping to steer Pontiac down the road of success during American musclecar glory days of the '60s and '70s.


He first found work in the automotive field with Campbell Ewald, the advertising agency servicing Chevrolet. Jim's personal career theme was then as it is now: "If you want to be perceived as a winner by the public, you have to beat somebody." This concept has guided his career to this day. With his award-winning book "Glory Days" recounting more than 40 years in the auto industry, Wangers is more excited about Pontiac than he's ever been and continues to be actively involved within the automotive industry. Jim is the former publisher of "Pontiac Enthusiast Magazine" as well as founder of Automotive Marketing Consultants Inc. (AMCI), an automotive testing and marketing firm. He recently wrote and published another book, "Pontiac Pizazz," which recollects his favorite Pontiacs throughout his career.

Real Muscle
I was asked by the director of a very prestigious classic-car group, The Newport Beach Concours d'Elegance, to help select the top local musclecars for a display at their classic-car gathering at The Oaks Polo Field in San Juan Capistrano, California. Their selections included several "Goats" and Firebirds, so it became obvious that some folks really don't know exactly what a musclecar is.


"I don't know what to say about these things," the director exclaimed, "What actually makes a car a musclecar—" I quickly framed an answer, inviting him to use my explanation in any communication he needed. I would like to share my definition here. I call it "The Anatomy of the Musclecar."


Too many of us rattle off the term musclecar as if we really understand what it actually means. All musclecars are high-performance cars, but not all high-performance cars are musclecars!


Sound confusing? Actually it's really very simple. In the early 1960s, Detroit got locked into a very competitive horsepower race. Most of the manufacturers were building "really big" 4,000-pound full-size cars and putting "really big" 400 cubic-inch (6.6-liter) engines in them. At the same time, these manufacturers were looking down the road to where the future of the American car was headed.