If there’s anything that you understood a muscle car by, it was its performance in terms of speed and power that set it apart from the traditional vehicles that were used. The common denominator between these muscle cars was the powerful V8 engines that it used.
If that wasn’t enough, most of these cars also possessed unique features that contributed to their acceleration capability, and with the lightweight body, were the perfect cars for racing.
However, the golden age of muscle cars quickly faced a sharp decline after the 1960s and 70s for several reasons. Probable the most obvious of them all was whether it was a good idea to produce such powerful vehicles for the general public, thanks to the number of incidents that showed irresponsibility on the part of these muscle car drivers.
Insurance rates hit the roof in insuring these cars, thanks to the aforementioned irresponsible driving, and which was the reason why insurance companies found these vehicles (and their drivers) to be such a liability. These high insurance rates made it very difficult for enthusiasts to be able to own one of these vehicles especially if they weren’t that well off.
Another important reason for the decline of the ‘muscle car’ era was due to the efforts of lawmakers to control pollution standards. Unfortunately, the cars and their manufacturers could not meet with such high emission control standards and with the high insurance rates, these two factors led to the decline of the ‘muscle car’ era altogether.
Of course, you can find auto manufacturers attempting to bring this era back but most of their models give enthusiasts enough and more reasons to reminisce about the classic cars of the 60s and 70s.