Muscle car is a description according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The Britannica Dictionary describes these as "an American-made two-door sports car with a powerful engine."
Pony car is an American car classification for affordable, compact, highly styled coupés or convertibles with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image. Common characteristics include rear-wheel drive, a long hood, a short decklid, a wide range of options to individualize each car and use of mass-produced parts shared with other models. The popularity of pony cars is largely due to the launch of the Ford Mustang in 1964.
The Trans-Am Series presented by Pirelli is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types including road courses and street circuits. Trans-Am is split into the TA and TA2 classes for silhouette racing cars, while its production classes are the GT, SGT, and XGT.
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive director of SCCA, and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France Sr. of NASCAR. Beginning in 2014, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series resulting from the merger of Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series. IMSA is owned by NASCAR, as a division of the company.
Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) of the automobile aftermarket was formed in 1963 by Paul Schiefer, Roy Richter, Ed Iskenderian, Els Lohn, Willie Garner, Bob Hedman, Robert E. Wyman, John Bartlett, Phil Weiand Jr, Al Segal, Dean Moon, and Vic Edelbrock Jr. and now consists of 6,383 companies worldwide, bringing together aftermarket manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), media, car dealers, specialty equipment distributors, installers, retailers, and restoration specialists.
Grand American was a NASCAR sanctioned series of pony car stock cars. The series ran from 1968 until 1972. The series was called "Grand Touring" from 1968 to 1969.
An opera window is a small fixed window usually behind the rear side window of an automobile. They are typically mounted in the C-pillar of some cars. The design feature was popular during the 1970s and early 1980s and adopted by domestic U.S. manufacturers, most often with a vinyl roof.
IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States and occasionally in Canada.
Grand Touring Over (GTO) is the name of a former classification designated to grand touring cars competing in sports car racing, originally by IMSA in the IMSA GT Championship, and later by Grand-Am in the Rolex Sports Car Series. IMSA used the class between 1971 and 1991, and Grand-Am used the class for a single season in 2000. The class had its origins in the original "TO" class used by the SCCA in the Trans-Am series, and was also similarly modeled to the FIA's Group 4 and Group 5 racing classes, but eventually evolved over time into its own category. The class specified an engine displacement of more than 2.5 L (150 cu in), with engine design and number of cylinders being unrestricted. turbocharging and supercharging was allowed on engines up to a size of 6.0 L (370 cu in). Engines over 6.0 L (370 cu in) were required to be naturally aspirated. The original class became known as Grand Touring Supreme (GTS) in 1992.
Grand Touring Under (GTU) is the name of a former classification designated to grand touring cars competing in sports car racing, originally used by IMSA in the IMSA GT Championship, and later by Grand-Am in the Rolex Sports Car Series. IMSA used the class between 1971 and 1994, and Grand-Am used the class for a single season in 2000. The original class rules specified an engine displacement of under 2.5 L (150 cu in), natural aspiration, and was the secondary class below the top tier class, GTO. The class later became known as GTS-2 in 1995, then GTS-3 between 1996 and 1997, and eventually evolved into the GT3 class for 1998.
American Muscle Car is a weekly television show on Speed, produced by Restoration Productions LLC., about muscle cars. Original release was in 2003. Each episode provides a timeline of each vehicle's history beginning with its first year of production to its most recent year of production. The show was initially designed to showcase traditional muscle cars such as the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang, and Dodge Charger. It eventually added other performance vehicles such as the Shelby Cobra and the, and even began to focus on specific eras such as the (disambiguation)|. In 2006 season, the show's focus was expanded to include designers and engineers of muscle car era.
In the context of the automobile industry, downsizing is a practice used to transition vehicles from one size segment to another. Commenced during the Malaise era, downsizing is done in response to consumer and government demands influencing vehicle design. As vehicle product lines completed their model cycles, automobile manufacturers developed the next generation of a vehicle with a smaller exterior footprint to allow for weight reduction and increased fuel economy, using a shortened wheelbase and body length.
The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) is an American automobile club and sanctioning body that supports vintage racing in the United States. The organization was founded in 1981, and is regarded as the premier vintage racing organization in the U.S.
This article documents the events that occurred in motorsports in the 1960s.
This is a list of automobiles produced for the general public in the North American market. They are listed in chronological order from when each model began its model year. If a model did not have continuous production, it is listed again on the model year production resumed. Concept cars and submodels are not listed unless they are themselves notable.
Trans-Am production cars were factory-built pony cars based on vehicles raced in the Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am Series. These cars were used largely for homologation purposes, but also as promotional tools for the series. The first Trans-Am street car was Chevrolet's Z/28 Camaro, which entered production in 1967. By 1970 six makes were producing street cars based on their racing vehicles. Due to their low production numbers and high performance, these vehicles are highly collectible today.
The new millennium saw many changes for motorsport. Not only were there technological developments, but also historic ones like NASCAR's severing of ties with the tobacco industry.
Grand Touring Experimental (GTX) is a former classification and set of regulations designated to grand touring cars and sports prototypes in sports car racing competing in the IMSA GT Championship, maintained by IMSA between 1977 and 1982. Some cars were based on FIA Group 5 rules; such as the Porsche 935, and some cars were based on FIA Group 6 regulations, such as the Lola T600. Like the original GTO class, the class rules specified turbocharging and supercharging was allowed on engines up to a size of 6.0 L (370 cu in); with engine design and number of cylinders being free and unrestricted. Engines over 6.0 L (370 cu in) were required to be naturally-aspirated.
