Power, speed and performance – those are the three major traits of a muscle car. When first produced, muscle cars were just pretty darn amazing because they combined the efficiency of a lightweight, mid-sized body with the performance of a high- power V8 engine and special design features that further increased the cars? acceleration capabilities. Because muscle cars topped all other vehicles in terms of power, speed and performance, they were ideal for racing.

Muscle cars were produced from the mid-1960s into the early 1970s, but the production of such beasts fell drastically due to a number of factors. First was the controversy over whether it was wise and responsible to make such powerful vehicles available to the general public, primarily due to road racing. Because muscle cars were often used irresponsibly, liability relating to them was pretty high which forced insurance companies to increase rates for insuring muscle cars. Emission control requirements intended to curb pollution also played into the picture making it near impossible for automakers to produce muscle cars that met the standards they had to adhere to.

Needless to say, the muscle car industry changed quickly due to these influences. Demand decreased because many ?would-be? buyers of muscle cars couldn?t fathom paying the enormous insurance rates for a high-power vehicle and automakers had to meet the challenges presented by pollution control standards.

Since muscle cars were produced for a limited number of years, they are valuable items for collectors and are still highly desirable to those who enjoy racing or desire a quick, powerful, mid-sized car. Since the decline in the production of muscle cars, some automakers have attempted to bring the muscle car era back to life by producing powerful vehicles that resemble the legendary muscle cars, but in my opinion, they don?t hold a candle to classic muscle cars like the GTO, the Road Runner or the Chevelle SS.

It will be interesting to see how the history of muscle cars plays out. Will present day automakers renew production of true muscle cars that are fast and powerful? Will there be enough demand to make muscle car production worth it to them? Or, will muscle cars continue to be limited to those classic models that were produced in the 60s and 70s?

Classic muscle cars are pretty amazing pieces of machinery. One that is restored and in cherry condition is really worth a lot of money. As time goes on, there are fewer muscle cars available which makes them even more valuable to classic car collectors and muscle car enthusiasts.

Car Chase Classics: chase.punyportal.com
Mark Mahorney
2f58 I hit my teenage years in the early 80s about the same time VCRs and independent video rental shops came to every small town in America. This was before yogurt shops and tanning booths hit, and after most of the drive-ins and arcades had faded away, though my town had all five simultaneously.

During that time I got turned on to couple of happenstance rentals now both cult classics. One was Evil Dead and another was the original
Gone in 60 Seconds.

It seems cult classic films follow a similar path as collectables. It couldn't have appeared to have any value at the time for it to have any value now. What is the return on a Franklin Mint collectable? Will Freddy vs. Jason ever be a classic? Probably not.

Friday the 13^th and A Nightmare on Elm Street are classics, no doubt, but they aren't likely to ever reach cult status. The latter, if I recall correctly, was B movie flop in the theatre, hit the ever-growing network of video rental stores where it caught the attention of kids too young to otherwise have seen it, and then was re-released into the theatres as a hit.

Gone in 60 Seconds was a little known drive-in B movie from before my time that even the rental shops couldn't bring back to life. And I suspect that the /www.gonein60seconds.com/home.htm target=_blank>http://www.gonein60seconds.com/home.htm>H.B. Halicki series of car chase classics have generated more revenue since the 2000 remake Gone in Sixty Seconds, than in the previous quarter century.

I have an affinity for guy movies that I now never find the time to watch with a wife and child. I'm talking about the kinds of movies you simply can't watch in the presence of a female. Clint Eastwood the outlaw, the brawler, or the dirty cop. Anything with Charles Bronson. Al Pacino in the Godfather series, Serpico, Scarface, Carlito's Way, or even Glengarry Glen Ross. Or Paul Newman in The Hustler, Hombre, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, or the hilarious Slapshot.

Along the same line, I'll take a good car chase movie any day. I like car chases like I like porn. Get right to the action. The better the car chase the less I care about the plot. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry would have been a whole lot better without Peter Fonda's bad acting. All I wanted to hear was the badass roar of the 440 Dodge Charger.

It is in that spirit that /chase.punyportal.com/ target=_blank>http://chase.punyportal.com/>Car Chase Classics is born and what follows is a list of some of my
all time favorite car chase, car race, and cool car movies:

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000055ZNH/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000055ZNH/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Gone in 60 Seconds - Classic must see for the car chase enthusiast.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AYK0S/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000AYK0S/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Deadline Auto Theft - Follow on to Gone in 60 Seconds

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005YWK6/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005YWK6/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
The Junkman - More great chases from H.B. Halicki. Check out the /www.gonein60seconds.com/home.htm target=_blank>http://www.gonein60seconds.com/home.htm>official site.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004Z4WR/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004Z4WR/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Gone in Sixty Seconds - A boatload of cool cars and Eleanor in a league of its own.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304698526/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6304698526/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Bullitt - The first of the big block mustangs had mega HP crammed into a fuselage that maintained much of the early mustang a pony car.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/630526130X/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/630526130X/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Eat My Dust - Ron Howard steals a Dodge Charger, king of muscle cars.

/rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=greatspeculat-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=6303471609&fc1=000000&=1&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000<1=_blank&IS2=1&f=ifr&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr target=_blank>http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=greatspeculat-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=6303471609&fc1=000000&=1&lc1=0000ff&bc1=000000<1=_blank&IS2=1&f=ifr&bg1=ffffff&f=ifr>
Return to Macon County - Nick Nolte, Don Johnson and hot Chevy.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000ING1/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000ING1/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Bonnie and Clyde - Lots of great classic cars in this film.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RHGK/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RHGK/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Jeepers Creepers - The demon powered '41 Chevy COE couldn't be any more ominous.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0783114893/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0783114893/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
The Hitcher - Great combination of semi and suspense.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007UDC8K/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007UDC8K/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Black Cadillac - Cool old Cadillac Limousine doing the chasing.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00029RTAI/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00029RTAI/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Dazed and Confused - Chock full of cool cars. Lots of tire spinning and chase with Chevy PU. This movie epitomizes my teen years.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008MZ0N/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008MZ0N/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
The Fast and the Furious - Another Dodge Charger in this one.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JM4Z/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005JM4Z/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
2 Fast 2 Furious - Lot's of muscle car action.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767849981/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767849981/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
The Hollywood Knights - The original rat rods.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000YEEUS/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000YEEUS/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Roadhouse 66 - Bad movie with some cool cars racing.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000ILF2/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000ILF2/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Red Line - Exotic muscle.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305972370/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305972370/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Two Lane Blacktop - Classic road film.

/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00013RC8O/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2 target=_blank>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00013RC8O/greatspeculat-20/002-3960751-6772027?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=2025&link%5Fcode=xm2>
Vanishing Point - Challenger pushed to max.


/us.imdb.com/title/tt0071424/ target=_blank>http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0071424/>Dirty Mary Crazy Larry - Yet another Charger movie.

About the Author

Mark Mahorney
/chase.punyportal.com target=_blank>http://chase.punyportal.com>Car Chase Classics

2c
http://www.aaarticles.com/article25641.html