The Ultimate Guide to Muscle Cars by Jim Glastonbury, Chartwell Books (441 pages, $28)
The concept was reasonably simple.
Take a small to mid-size car body and cram the biggest possible engine under the hood, beef up the look with some big tires and you've got a muscle car. The mid-1960s kicked off an era of readily available performance cars and the Pontiac GTO is often considered to be the first.
All of Detroit's designers were quick to follow suit with their own powerhouses and in short order Chargers, Camaros, Challengers, Novas, Road Runners, Firebirds and many more rumbled up to traffic lights and left in a cloud of burnt rubber. Author Jim Glastonbury offers an overview of the era before focusing in on detailed examinations of many of the iconic muscle cars. Filled with photographs of these cars and the models that lead up to their creation — along with those variations that followed — there are pictures of all the important members of this club of thrill seekers.
By the early '70s the tide was turning. Gas prices were rising, critics were demanding greater safety features for all cars, and the car makers were ending their racing programs. In terms of automotive history the muscle cars were a short-lived party, but one everyone remembers and many yearn to relive.
