King of the Muscle Cars
 

Ok, I had a lively discussion with a gentleman here a little bit ago. We were discussing what is the "King of the original Muscle Cars". Lets say 1964-1974 to be all the way fair.

He was steadfast that the 70 Chevelle LS6 was the King of the Muscle Cars and had been proclaimed that by numerous magazines and it is just known as the King.

I took a more rounded approach saying there can be many Kings. Top HP, Top Torque, Best ride, etc... But I had never heard the LS6 proclaimed as "The King" anywhere for anything. Not in Magazines or in person at events such as MCACN or Woodward, etc...

I agree that the LS6 Chevelle is awesome, it is my favorite Chevelle and an all around great car.

What think you guys?!

This is the car that started all this. A 70 Chevelle SS 454 LS5 4-speed Convertible with A/C I found rotting in a farmers front yard.

https://www.facebook.com/TheAutoArch...1746707516185/

I don't think there is a king. Perhaps the 1968 Hemi Super Stock Darts? That's the only thing I can think of that was pretty much the fastest in the day.

This is something that has been debated for years; some will declare the street Hemis as the king or the LS6 Chevelles or the 1970 Stage 1 Buicks. I think each manufacturer has their "King" and on any given day each one could be the overall king.
In the end, does it really matter?

There are a lot of rare & desirable cars - 71 Hemi Cuda, 69 RA IV Judge, 69 440 6-pack Road Runner, 69 Boss 429, 69 RA IV TA, 70 AMX 69 Z28, 70 RA IV TA, 68 RA II GTO or Bird - 70 LS6 Chevelle is just another one in the pack.

If there were to be a King...IMO there'd be one in each brand, and although the LS6 Chevelle would be held in high regard, it would not be king among my GM pick. My order might be something like;

Chevrolet = ZL1 (undoubtedly King)
Mopar = Hemi Cuda/Challenger (draw perhaps)
Ford = GT500 Shelby

I'm sure we could go into others lines like Buick, Pontiac etc. where each lineage holds it's own "King" but I'll leave that for another day as the list would no doubt be long.

There are a few collectors around who hold each of these in their collection. :worship:

can be a lot of opinions on this as there were many great muscle cars

the LS6 450 HP was a high rating for the 60s and 70s

there was one article back in the day that called the 454 Motion Super Vega ‘King Kong'

it was advertised as a 9sec street car

I think one also has to take into an account availability. LS6 Chevelles were somewhat plentiful when compared to a 68 Hemi Dart or a 69 ZL1 as these could be extremely hard to come by unless you had unlimited funds. If you are including 1964 than the Thunderbolt should rank up there but were no picnic to drive or stop. A 427 Cobra would hold it's own as well but we should talk regular production (500 or more) vs limited or hand built. Besides that the 68 Hemi Darts were not street legal so they should not be included though no one doubts they were absolute brutes. I have always been under the impression that the 70 455 Stage 1 was the top dog in this fight followed by the LS6 and then maybe the 440 Cuda. Hemi cars were fast but they needed to get some speed behind them to show their real potential and they rode, drove and stopped like crap when compared to a Buick or Chevelle. I am obviously biased to an LS6 Chevelle but think with all things considered the Buick would be the winner in that game. Like it has been said a couple of times, pretty much every manufacturer out there had their own "King" that should be well respected and could be the top dog. No one will ever win this argument that has been going on for some 40 years.

i think a guy could isolate year by year and find a winner PER YEAR...but to throw it all together...theres too much to consider


wasnt there a road test where the 70 GS stage one beat everything in its class?..and a corvette isnt in the same class..so that wont wash...

then, what do you do with ringers? like 421 powered GTOs that where passed around the media and where presented as show room stock? and theres others...a super stock dodge or t-bolt..is that a muscle car or a race car? who sets the standard and how do you match it all up? isnt a Royal Bobcat a tuner car? could it be considered the ultimate gen 1 GTO? so is a bob cat a factory car or a dealer modified super car?

yeah then theres super cars...where do they fit in? i dunno..

weight per horse power? then what about an L79 Nova..

i heard a guy tell me the 63 K-code fairlane started the whole muscle car era, and everyone on the planet owes that hat tip to ford..all i could do to not laff and kick him in the balls real good..but, i just smiled and moved on...

..but isnt a muscle car a big motor, light body..wasnt the the way it was conceived and translated in the 80s?(yeah..i was around and had GTOs..a bunch of them)...

like said, a 40 year argument that no one can win...

Just my opinion..but Chrysler Winged cars and the Boss 429s are probably the two most significant muscle cars ever built. The Boss Nine was built to sanction the motor for NASCAR racing. Moreover, everyone knows that the cars were built at Kar Kraft, where the entire front end was modified and in large part, hand-fabricated. For me, these two facts are the reasons why Boss 429s are so collectible and historically significant. At a time when the baddest muscle cars were built on the same line as their more mundane brethren, the Boss 429s and the Winged Warriors from Mopar were sent to Kar Kraft and Creative Industries respectively for extensive modification and final assembly. Consequently, the Boss 429s and the winged cars are as close to a "hand-built" muscle car as you can get.

L78 novas
 

The l78 novas were very strong ,competitive runners back in the day!