Classic American Muscle Cars

Big engines in midsize bodies, sold to anyone with a down payment: that was the muscle car formula, and Detroit ran it hard from 1964 until insurance rates, emissions rules and the fuel crisis shut it down in the early 1970s. This gallery shows one well-kept example of each defining model, in roughly the order they arrived, from the Pontiac GTO that started the craze to the late Trans Am that kept it alive. Each caption names the year, the engine and the detail that lets you spot it across a parking lot. Pony cars make the cut when they carried a true big-block or a race-bred special; European sports cars, TV cars and concepts do not.