All-American Muscle Car: The Birth, Death and Resurrection of Detroit's Greatest Performance Cars

by Jim Wangers, Colin Comer, Randy Leffingwell, Joe Oldham, David Newhardt (Photographer)

Overview

The birth of the muscle car, mid-sized cars with big engines making big horsepower, marked not only a revolution in performance—but also a revolution in marketing. For the first time ever, car manufacturers tailored their product to a youth audience. The genre thrived in the 60s and early 70s and was reborn in the 21st century. The All-American Muscle Car celebrates the fifty-year history of the breed through stunning modern and archival photography, and brilliant essays from today’s top muscle-car writers. Organized by themes, its chapters cover the introduction and early years of muscle; the cultural trends that made muscle cars so wildly popular; the pop culture that surrounded the cars in music, film, and television; and racing, both legal and illegal. Great rivalries are detailed—Camaro versus Mustang versus Firebird versus Challenger versus ‘Cuda, GTO versus Road Runner versus Super Bee versus Chevelle SS versus Buick Gran Sport versus Oldsmobile 4-4-2, and the like. The book also explores the illogical extremes at the end of the classic era, the Plymouth Superbirds, GTOJudges, LS6 Chevelles, Hemi ‘Cudas, W-30 Oldsmobiles, Ram Air IV Pontiacs, Stage I GSX Buicks, and 440/6 Road Runners; the dark years and the death of performance; the rebirth of the muscle car; and the modern interpretations of the breed including the new Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610587532
Publisher:	Motorbooks
Publication date:	05/26/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	102 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jim Wangers, the man behind Pontiac’s GTO, earned a reputation for high-profile marketing campaigns, placing products on television programs like The Monkees and using rock groups in advertising campaigns. Wangers also raced a Pontiac Catalina, earning Pontiac its first-ever NHRA National drag-racing title in 1960. He is the author of Glory Days, the story of the birth of the muscle car. Jim lives in Oceanside, California.

COLIN COMER is a respected authority on collector cars and a noted champion for the cars, people, and history of Shelby American. Comer’s writing is well known from his many years as editor-at-large for Sports Car Market and American Car Collector magazines, an editor for Hagerty magazine, and a contributing editor for Road & Track magazine. Comer has appeared in such diverse publications as the New York Times, Business Week, and USA Today among others. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books Million Dollar Muscle Cars, The Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles, and Shelby Cobra Fifty Years and co-author of The All-American Muscle Car. When not writing about cars, Comer enjoys maintaining his own eclectic collection of vintage cars and is an accomplished racer and pilot. He and his family live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, or, in Comer’s words, “fifty-two miles from Road America.”

Randy Leffingwell wrote his first book, American Muscle, while still on staff at the Los Angeles Times. The book examined Times’ publisher Otis Chandler’s growing collection of muscle cars. American Muscle published in September 1990, jump-started a love of book creation that ultimately led Leffingwell to leave the Times in 1995. By then, he and Motorbooks had published Porsche Legends, and six other books.
 
Since 1990, Leffingwell has authored more than 60 titles, most of them automotive-oriented. Over 30-plus years, these include a dozen Porsche titles ranging from general overviews—Porsche 75 Years: Expect the Unexpected, and The Complete Book of Porsche 911—to deeper explorations in Porsche Turbo and Porsche 911: 50 Years. During this time, he has regularly traveled to Germany to continue his research regarding Porsche’s history. To date, Leffingwell has interviewed more than 200 Porsche engineers, stylists, model makers, racers, and managers.
 
While he has tackled other subjects including John Deere tractors, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and West Coast lighthouses, Leffingwell admits he is almost addicted to the Porsche story. In addition to his book work, he is historical editor for 000 magazine and PorschePanorama. And for the past decade he has been researching and writing an encyclopedic history of Porsche’s motorsports endeavors.
 
Leffingwell lives near Santa Barbara, California.

The author of several books on muscle cars, Joe Oldham began his career in journalism in 1964 as a writer/editor for Magnum-Royal Publications, where he road-tested every muscle car for magazines such as Hi-Performance Cars, Speed & Supercar and Supercars Annual until 1976. He then spent the next thirty-two years at The Hearst Corporation, the last nineteen as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. He currently resides in La Quinta, California, with his wife, Nina.

David Newhardt has been photographing vehicles for more than three decades, including a stint at Motor Trend, authoring 17 automotive books, and supplying images to scores of books and magazines. Currently Chief Photographer at Mecum Auctions, David continues to photograph and write about everything automotive. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University, and he served eight years on nuclear submarines. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he currently lives in the Nashville, Tennessee area.

Darwin Holmstrom has written, co-written, or contributed to more than thirty books on subjects ranging from motorcycles and muscle cars to Gibson Les Paul guitars, including Indian Motorcycles, GTO: Fifty Years, Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcyclying, Top Muscle: The Rarest Cars from America's Fastest Decade, BMW Motorcycles, The Life Harley-Davidson, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles. Darwin is a former senior editor at Motorbooks and former Midwestern editor for Motorcyclist magazine.

Randy Leffingwell, MBI's best-selling author, brings a unique perspective to the subject of muscle cars. In addition to his impeccable research skills, Leffingwell lived through the tumultuous classic muscle car era. Leffingwell is the author of such best-selling titles as Porsche 911: Perfection by Design, Farmall: Eight Decades of Innovation, John Deere: A History of the Tractor, Corvette Fifty Years, and Mustang Forty Years. Darwin Holmstrom has written or co-written many books on motorcycling, including the best-selling Billy Lane Chop Fiction: It's Not a Motorcycle, Baby, It's a Chopper and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles. This is his first opportunity to write about the transportation subject he first fell in love with: muscle cars. Darwin lives in Crystal, Minnesota. David Newhardt is one of the best automobile photographers working today, with an artistic eye that views life in accord with a muscle car's sinuous lines and exaggerated curves. He is the author of such best-selling books as Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, and has provided photography for MBI's best-selling titles Corvette Fifty Years, Mustang Forty Years, Mopar Muscle, and Shelby Mustang: Racer for the Street. David lives in Pasadena, California.
Colin Comer, respected authority on collector cars, is editor-at-large for Sports Car Market and American Car Collector magazines and a contributing editor for Road & Track magazine. Colin also regularly appears in such diverse publications as the New York Times, Business Week, USA Today, among others. Comer is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed books Million-Dollar Muscle Cars, The Complete Book of Shelby Automobiles, and Shelby Cobra Fifty Years. When not writing about cars, Colin is an avid vintage racer and pilot. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with wife Cana, daughter Remington, and a herd of dogs. Official Website: www.colincomer.com
Randy Leffingwell wrote his first book, American Muscle, in 1989 while still on staff at the Los Angeles Times. Since then, he has authored another 47 titles for Motorbooks and its sister publisher Voyageur Press, including Porsche 911 50 Years, Corvette 60 Years, and The Art of the Corvette. Leffingwell is considered one of the top Porsche historians working today, and he enjoys a close working relationship with Porsche AG. He lives in southern California, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles.
The author of several books on muscle cars, Joe Oldham began his career in journalism in 1964 as a writer/editor for Magnum-Royal Publications, where he road-tested every muscle car for magazines such as Hi-Performance Cars, Speed&Supercar and Supercars Annual until 1976. He then spent the next thirty-two years at The Hearst Corporation, the last nineteen as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. He currently resides in La Quinta, California with his wife, Nina.
David Newhardt is one of the best automobile photographers working today and has provided photography for best-selling Motorbooks titles Muscle: America's Legendary Performance Cars, Corvette: Fifty Years, Mustang: Forty Years, Mopar Muscle: Fifty Years, and Shelby Mustang: Racer for the Street.
Darwin Holmstrom has written, co-written, or contributed to over thirty books on subjects ranging from motorcycles and muscle cars to Gibson Les Paul guitars, including Indian Motorcycles, GTO: Fifty Years, Let's Ride: Sonny Barger's Guide to Motorcyclying,Top Muscle: The Rarest Cars from America's Fastest Decade, BMW Motorcycles, The Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles. Darwin is the senior editor for Motorbooks. Prior to that he served as Midwestern editor for Motorcyclist magazine.

Table of Contents

Introduction
By Darwin Holmstrom

Chapter 1
GTO: The Birth of the Muscle Car
By Jim Wangers

Chapter 2
Birth of the Pony Car
By Randy Leffingwell

Chapter 3
When They Were Just Cars
By Joe Oldham

Chapter 4
Muscle Car “Enhancers”
By David Newhardt

Chapter 5
Modern Muscle Déjà Vu, Sort of
By David Newhardt

Chapter 6
Blue-Chip Muscle
By Colin Comer

Photo Credits
Index
About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

"Look at the lineup of talent that produced this book. It’s a Murderers’-Row, E-Street-Band, 1972-Miami-Dolphins teaming of muscle raconteurs. So, while most of us know the story about the gestation and rise of the modern American performance car, the tale rarely gets a telling this good. The information herein may be familiar to many of us, but still, this is a great recounting of an even better period for those who love fast American iron." - Hemmings Muscle Machines

"We really like the way it's written and the awesome photographs... If you're a fan of muscle cars in general, you definitely won’t regret adding this book to your shelf." - SuperChevy.com

From the Publisher