Monday, May 31, 2010

American cars of the ‘70 years.

Number 10: Mercury Cougar, 1967

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This was the first muscle car of the producer called Mercury, the engine went up from 200hp to 335hp. This cougar’s category it was between Ford Mustang and Ford Thunderbird. Mercury wanted to give it an European look. Mercury Cougar won the award for the best car of the year 1967 from the Motor Trend magazine.

Number 9: Pontiac Firebird 1968

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Pontiac Firebird had the same platform as Chevrolet Camaro. It had different motorizations, the most powerful version had 350 HP at an engine of 5,7 liters.

Number 8: Pontiac GTO – The Judge 1969

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It was considered as the first true muscle car. It had a very powerful engine of 370HP at 5000 RPM. It touched the speed of 100 km/h in 5,5 seconds.

Number 7: Dodge Dart-Swinger 1970

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Based on the model from Plymouth (number 6), it was hard to drive this car and it had an inefficient braking system. If you watch Bundy Family, you will recognize this car.

Number 6: Plymouth Duster 1971

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It was on the factor that lowered the Barracuda model selling (see number 4). This model had a great success, so the people from Dodge order too a same model and the parents from Chrysler delivered them one: Dodge Dart-Demon (see number 7). The model appeared in movies like Dazed and Confused, Beavis and Butthead and The Simspons.

Number 5: Mercury Cyclone GT 1970

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This model was built from 1964 up to 1972, at the beginning it was a model for Mercury Comet. Under the bonnet it had a V8 engine of 240HP and 4000 RPM.

Number 4: Plymouth Cuda 1970

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This day, this is the most expensive muscle car. This model was produced in only 50617 exemplars. It had V6 motorizations and V8 but many exemplars had a motorization in 8 cylinders. It was difficult to drive this car and the breaking system wasn’t so good. Chrysler decided to reborn Barracuda in 2009 beside the reborn Dodge Challanger, Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro.

Number 3: Chevrolet Camaro 1968

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This model saw the light of day on the date of 26 September 1966, at it was created to be a rival for Ford Mustang. It shars the same platform with Pontiac Firebird, introduced in 1967. Chevrolet Camaro was the official car at International Race of Championship in 1979 till 1989.

Number 2: Buick Riviera, 1963

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It touched 100 km/h in 8 seconds and the maximum speed of 200 km/h. Under the bonnet it had a V8 engine with 360HP. The car it was light and it had the suspensions modified a little. You could drive this car very easy. This model was sold in 120.000 exemplars, it was a real rival for Ford Thunderbird.

The winner: Ford Mustang 350 GT 1965

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On 9 march 1964 the first Mustang was leaving the Ford’s brand in Michigan. Ford Mustang appeared in the movie called Goldfinger from the James Bond series in the same year. In the movie produced in 1968, with Steve Mcqueen, Bullit, Mustang showed the whole world its real power. In 18 months there were sold more than 1 million Mustangs. The car was equipped with a V8 engine of 225 HP. Ford Mustang won the prize for the year’s car in 1974 and 1994. It won five times the prize for the best car in 1983,1987,1988,2005 and 2006.