A M C

Home
Cars
 Chevy
 Ford
 Pontiac
 Dodge
 Buick
Links
Credits
About

Chevy Muscle

This is a page of the American Muscle Cars web page that informs the reader about the beginnings and ends of the Chevrolet cars, including: Malibu, Chevelle, Camaro, and Nova. Chevroet became a dominating force in the car industry starting with the Malibu using the incredibly powerful 409 cubic inch V8 in the mid 60's; then later developed the Camaro Z28, a signature that meant power and performance, and also the Camaro SS 396, the super-sport tag that defined the words “raw power.”

• Malibu
• Chevelle
• Camaro
• Nova
• Comparison Table

	The Chervrolet Malibu, the first of several muscle cars designed by one of the Big Three, was originally developed with a 273 cu. in. engine that cranked out a reading of 230 hp. Sure, by todays standards this horsepower barely classifies the Malibu as a muscle car; but, being one of the ground-breaking autos in the muscle car industry it was more than sufficient.
	This year saw the explosion of the newly named "Chevelle SS 396", so named to identify it as the only engine-car combination available. However, the standard engine delivered "only" 325 bhp; considering the GTO, Shelby Mustang and sister Olds 442 competition you can understand the "only." The L-34 option offered 360 bhp and more torque, and buyers ordered more of these engine versions. The L-78 option offered even more- 375 horses, but was ordered on only 100 cars. Over 72,000 Chevelle SS 396s were sold.
	The word for '67 was CAMARO! But it came close to being called the Chevrolet Panther, the name that Chevrolet had selected before introducing the pony car model September 29, 1966 to compete with the Ford Mustang. The name was changed shortly before release to the word that in French means "comrade, friend, buddy, pal." Performance options initially were the Super Sport model (SS), with special stripes around the nose cone, fake hood air-intakes, black grill with "SS 350" logo and a 350 cu. in. engine developed exclusively for the Camaro. Modified from the popular 327 cu. in., it offered 295 bhp and came with dual resonating exhaust that produced a healthy rumble still charactaristic of Pony cars today.
	Chevrolet's answer to the budget-consious high performance Roadrunner was the Nova SS with the standard 350 cubic inch 300 bhp engine. A 396 cu. in. with 350 or 375 bhp was available but not promoted in sales brochures. Nearly 18,000 Novas were sold including 7,600 with the 396 cu. in 375 bhp engine.

© All pictures courtesy of Muscle Car Planet