Detroit Muscle: Factory Lightweights and Purpose-Built Muscle Cars

I received this book in the mail the other day and I can't put it down. It's written by Charles Morris, who grew up in the golden age of Detroit iron and who spent a lot of time at drag strips. The earlier chapters discuss the origins of what would become the muscle car wars of the 1960's. Ford moving into the modern age with the Y block. Chevy finally joining the competition with their V8. Chrysler's ubiquitous hemi engines. The corvette, the T-Bird and racing.Apparently Detroit got bamboozled into thinking that their participation into racing, or even makings car better and faster, was somehow dangerous to the public at large. We now know that racing actually made cars safer. Seat belts and side view mirrors being just a couple of contributions. In any event, sponsoring race cars was frowned upon. Some car makers agreed to stop, except they really didn't. Some agreed to refrain and did only to have sporting minded dealers provide go fast parts.We are then taken into the 1960's when gas was cheap and America had a can do attitude. The author provides a good number of purpose built cars as examples. Lightweight cars, stripped of all creature comforts and sometimes using aluminum and fiberglass to make them even lighter. It worked pretty well if you can get the nose of a Ford Galaxie into the air on a drag strip, you're doing it right! Then Detroit figured out that stuffing a big honking motor into a mid size car would make for shorter times in the quarter mile and the muscle car was born!Then we're walked through all of the really amazing innovations of those last few years before the government, insurance companies and big oil burst our bubble. Everybody was building serious muscle cars. Even stodgy Ramber had a legitimate go fast machine by 1970. Every manufacturers accomplishments are reviewed in some detail in this book.Finally, the party appeared to be over. Compression was down. Pollution control devices strangled whatever performance was left out of our cars. Performance was later defined by stripes and go fast looking wheel packages backed up by the same sorry mills in the plain Jane versions of the mode. It looked bleak, or did it?Detroit figured out that technology could make cars run cleaner, more reliably and with less maintenance than before. Oh, and they could be fast and actually handle too! Thus the rebirth of American muscle! To illustrate his point, the author provides three great examples of the modern purpose built race car. The 351 Ford Cobra R of the mid 1990's. The Chevy COPO Camaro and the Drag PAC Challenger.I really like this book because it's the perfect blend of historical references, technical information and beautifully photographed American iron. It's a coffee table format, so the pictures are a good size. If you or someone you know is interested in what the golden age of muscle cars and drag racing was about, this book should be your go to reference.

Excellent photos, wished it had more historical background on some of the cars!!! Overall very good book and covers all makes!!!

Another book well done by a great writer and automotive historian. I am proud to say I own all the books written to date by author Charlie Morris and this latest edition did not let me down! What an era, never to repeat itself! Great job Charlie!

Pleased

Good book

totally cool

Charles Morris in his book Detroit Muscle : Factory Lightweights and Purpose-Built Muscle Cars (CarTech, Inc. ; 2017) has provided American car enthusiasts a technical, historical, and beautifully illustrated guide to one of the wonders of American manufacturing ingenuity –the high-performance production automobile.Automotive companies Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler – the 'Big Three', and others (Hudson, Nash) in the 1950s showcased their products in sanctioned stock car racing. The performance trend continued unabated until the economic recession of 1957 and the decision by the American Manufacturers Association to no longer promote racing. The shift away from sanctioned racing of production cars led to the expansion of informal, unsanctioned 'drag' racing and the so-called 'horsepower wars' among automobile manufacturers. And by the early 1970s, federal government concerns for driver safety and environmental protection of air and water, not to mention a radical increase in the price of gasoline led to the demise of the performance car, and introduced a decade or more of shoddily made, poorly performing American cars. By the mid-1980s, Mr. Morris informs us, automotive technology met the demands of government oversight (emissions, fuel efficiency, safety) and car companies returned to embracing the marketing principle that performance sells cars.Detroit Muscle has eight chapters, each of which is packed with color photographs of myriad 'muscle' cars and loads of technical details about engines, styling characteristics, engineers, designers, collectors, after-market parts manufacturers – you name it. What follows is a list of chapters with highlights:1 – The Manufacturers, Prologue to an Incredible Era1953 GM Chevrolet – 'Corvette' introduced1955 GM Chevrolet – small block V-8 engine / NASCAR Chevy wins1957 GM Pontiac 'Bonneville'1949 GM Oldsmobile 'Rocket 88'1955 Ford 'Thunderbird' introduced1955 Chrysler '300' with 'hemi' engine1954 Hudson and Nash-Kelvator merge into American Motors Corporation1956 Studebaker 'Golden Hawk' first big engine in small car concept2 – 1960-1961, Detroit Gets Back into Racing with Lightweight Parts1961 Chevrolet '409' engine1961 Pontiac 'Catalina' – lightweight aluminum body parts1960 Ford 'Starliner' swept-back body design1960 Dodge 'D-500' engine ; Plymouth 'Sonoramic Commando'3 – 1962-1963, Detroit Goes Drag Racing in a Big Way1962 Chevrolet 'Biscayne'1963 Chevrolet Z-11 engine1963 Corvette 'Stingray'1962 Pontiac Super Duty 421 engine1962 Dodge 'Dart' ; Plymouth 'Savoy' with 413 Ramcharger engine1963 Studebaker 'Avanti' fiberglass body ; cockpit-like interior4 – 1964, Change is on the Horizon, Enter Mustang and GTOChevrolet 'Malibu'Pontiac 'GTO'Ford 'Fairlane' – 'special vehicles manager' ordersFord 'Mustang'Chrysler '426 hemi' engine for Dodge and PlymouthPlymouth 'Barracuda5 – 1965-1966, Things Get 'Funny'Chevy 'Chevelle' Z-16 and L-79 Chevy II 'Nova'Oldsmobile '442' engineMercury 'Comet Cyclone'6 – 1967-1969, Focus Returns to Street PerformanceChevrolet 'Camaro' introduced re: 'Mustang' and 'Barracuda'Pontiac 'Firebird' and the 'GTO Judge'Ford 'Cobra Jet 428'Mercury 'Montego'Plymouth 'Road Runner'Dodge 'Super Bee'AMC's 'SC/Rambler' and the 'AMX'7 – 1970-1971, Before the Curtain Comes DownPontiac 'Trans Am'Buick 'GSX'Olds 'Cutlass'Ford 'Torino'Dodge 'Challenger'AMX 'Javelin'8 – Detroit Makes a Comeback in a Big Way1995 Ford 'Cobra R' and 'Cobra Jet'2012 Chevrolet COPO Camaro2009 Dodge 'Drag Pac' ChallengerDetroit Muscle, Factory Lightweights and Purpose-Built Muscle Cars is a testament to a time in the United States when automotive manufacturing was vibrant and innovative and fun for drivers.

Detroit Muscle:Factory Lightweights and Purpose Built Muscle CarsCharles Morris is passionate about this subject,I can tell by reading his book that he has done his research and put together a great book.Not only that it tells the story even predating Muscle Cars starting With Chevrolet's Small-block and the Corvette(Sports car But to me also a Muscle Car).He covers all the offerings from Detroit's three and it's smaller brethren.Legendary tuners and rarities abound,A favorite part of mine is reading about Zora Arkus-Duntov and some never-sold Chevrolet Biscayne cars he souped up.The author is right to be proud of being from this era when cars were not politically correct and were beautiful beasts.Excellent work!

Very disappointing. Thought it would be much better. Live and learn.