I'm surprised they didn't mention that the Jenson Interceptor had a big block 440 V8 and 4-wheel drive, well the FF model that my brother used to own did.
@@Wankdorf183That is correct. They weren't just before Audi, they were 14 years before Audi. The Jensen FF was introduced in 1966. Unfortunately the 4WD system was located where the pedal box would have been on LHD models, so it was only delivered as RHD
@@Arltratlo what does that have anything to do with looks of a car, I don't care if they are owned by Eskimos riding on golden unicorns, makes no difference to my original statement.
@@Atreusz Nope, a Ferrari is still a good car regardless of it being Italian, so I believe your coalition between poor electricals and a and a bad car is fundamentally wrong. In the super car business what you are describing they refer to as CHARACTER 😎🤣🤣🤣
And the wedge shaped V8’s had no traction control or ABS and would leave the road at the slightest hint of dampness on the surface. Proper BIG boys cars. These cars also ran a heavily modified Buick/Rover V8
@@timoliver8940 To be fair TVR were consistent.....Even that cars that had ABS and Traction control would still leave the road without a moments hesitation :)
Many of them look great until you stare at them for a while and realise a lot of them have odd proportions, like much more metal ahead of the front wheel than is between the wheel and leading edge of the door. They also seem to build cars with really tall rear quarters making the rear wheel look to small. If you look at many of the front engined cars of the world that are considered beautiful and compare you'll see what I mean.
The Rover SD1 was a badass car, they were popular with criminals as getaway cars so the UK police ended up adopting them as pursuit cars. It was just about the one police car over here that made you feel like you couldn't get away from it. You'd hear the V8 coming before you saw the car. Brutal.
@@Arltratlo The UK police held onto the SD1's for a really long time. IIRC they even near doubled the service life for them before they were replaced.
@@Arltratlo If you're being genuine they stopped using the SD1 because it left production. But they did stockpile a large portion of them meaning they were still in use a good 10 years after the car left production. As for Rover itself. It got bought out and by BMW in the mid-'90s. They wanted the Range Rovers 4x4 tech and the new Mini which they were developing at the time. This separated Rover from is subsidiaries and asset stripped it before selling it off. It was picked up by Phoenix Consortium and they are the reason the brand is gone. It turned out they had no plans to keep the company going, all funds were being sent straight to their own bank accounts making them all extremely rich and draining the company of money and resources. As soon as it reached bankruptcy they fled the country to avoid being locked up. The workers at the factory didn't even get their pensions, the whole situation was fucked. When the company was in liquidation Ford stepped in and purchased Rover reuniting it with Land Rover and Range Rover. However as they already owned Jaguar they stated there was no reason to keep producing Rovers as they'd just be competing with each other. They bought it to stop the brand ending up like MG or Lancia as it would hurt LR/RRs image. It's now owned by JLR and is still dormant.
You should take another look at the Jensen Interceptor from the rear. The enormous & heavy rear screen opens up hatchback style for loading luggage or your weekly shop. Very expensive when new, they were in Rolls Royce territory . From memory, I think they were powered by a 7 litre Chrysler engine, so they went like a scalded cat.
First a 383 6.3 litre then later some had the 440 7.2 litre option for the SP cars. All Chrysler motors. Expensive new and more expensive restoring the usual rust buckets that remain looking affordable.
ISO's most famous car is the Issetta bubble car which was licenced to various companies to manufacture, the most notable of which was BMW. The development of the Grifo was the work of Giotto Bizzarrini who later had a disagreement with ISO and ended his collaboration with them. The 5300 GT is just a later development of the ISO Grifo.
Ian, check out the AC 428 'Frua'. Built by AC Cars (the people who built Cobras for Shelby) it used a Cobra chassis extended 6", a body styled and built by Frua in Italy and was fitted with a Ford 428 V8.
Many home built muscles cars here in the UK. The kitcar scene has provided so much choice over the years. Check out the Ultima GTR, Westfield SEight etc with big V8's ! I've owned / built many Rover V8 powered cars from the standard 3.5 SD1 through to Robin Hood V8 and a Ginetta G27 with a highly tuned 3.9 V8. Great fun and amazing sound track !
I'm sorry, but Ultima, for sure, is not a muscle car. Yes, they have V8s, but really they are pure blood, mid-engine race cars, that sometimes happen to be road legal.
They also missed the Bristol Fighter (very few know about but it had Viper engine) Lotus Carlton (best known among thefts for outrunning cops), Ford Capri, Lancia Delta Integrale EVO De Tomaso Mangusta is basically European father of Pantera, BMW 625 and the mighty BMW 850, and not sure how they missed the Jaguar -E-Type & Alfa Romeo GTA & 105 GTV..
SD1 stood for Special Developments, I use to look after an Aston Martin v8 vantage , absolutely beautiful car , the engine was hand built by one person and had their name on a metal plaque on the engine .
Being european/south american this is so cool to watch never even heard of half of those, but I need to shout out the many little muscle cars from argentina and brazil, just a hand few have a proper v8, but the 6cc and even the air cooled offseries cars are just amazingly beautiful, chevrolet opala BR, ford taunus AR, chevrolet maverick BR, dodge charger BR, dodge polara AR, dodge valiant AR, Miura top sport, Puma GTB, Adamo GT, L’Automobile ventura, Santa Matilde, L’auto Craft Sabre
I think a part of a muscle car idea or culture is, that it has its roots in working class and afordable mass production. In my opinion, something similar in Europe ad its gas prices would be GTI versions of normal cars.
Cosworth? all group A(Touring Car) Mercedes 190 have the cosworth engine from the 190E 2.3 16V to the >500 build Group A EVO models. When the rules change car manufacture don´t wont build 5000 new Homologations Models instead of that, its cheaper to build the needed 500 Evo´s of the existing Model. Mercdes in den 80ern war die Rentner Karre schlecht hin mit wackel Dackel im W201 oder W123- W124.
@@mariojakel5544 YES, 190E COSWORTH. Firstly I was talking looks, so we are talking trim pack here, so 2 different ''trim packs'' can use the same engine, my friends dad had a 190E Cosworth & that was not an EVO II, if you search Mercedes Cosworth & EVO II, you get 2 different trim packs, the EVO ii model, it has wider arches and a bigger spoiler. so different trim for the same car! you can go check if you would like,,, I'll wait!
@@TriPBOOMER this i against the Group A rules, the Rule is a manufactor must build 5000 Cars for the homoglation, than you can use this car as base for a EVO version with a minimum of 500 units so you can use the EVO as Base for a Group A Racecar. The 190E 2,3 16V was sold in some countrys as a 190E2,3 16V cosworth depents on how popular cosworth is in this country.
@@mariojakel5544 so is your argument that I'm not typing ''2.3 16v'' when I called it a 190E Cosworth? & so you know I live in the UK, so which label do you think the car got here? and again this is the model the EVO II was based on, further cementing that I was right to label these models as separate, as a 190E ''2.3 16v'' EVO II might be a 190E ''2.3 16v'' Cosworth, but a 190E ''2.3 16v'' Cosworth, is not a 190E ''2.3 16v'' EVO II. Besides the AMG Hammer looks better than both of them anyways.
My 10 list: Bristol Britannia/Brigand from UK, Peugeot 504 coupe, Opel Manta, Opel Commodore, , Citroen SM, Saab 900 turbo, Fiat Dino, Fiat 130 coupe, Volvo P 1800,VW Karmann Ghia.
@@fintan9705 Monza is more a GT, Manta a pony car. Of the cars above none would be a muscle car seeing as none of them other than the Bristol had a V8 - and the Bristol was "too young".
It's not quite a muscle car and more of a super saloon, but you should check out the 1990-1992 Lotus Carlton/Omega if you haven't already done so. UK police wanted the model banned from sale, because it was so damn fast it could outrun everything the police had, including their helicopters. It was a 4 door saloon with supercar performance, fitted with a 3.6L twin turbo straight six pushing out 370+bhp and the 6 speed manual from a ZR-1, it had a 5.1 second 0-60 and a top speed of 177mph.
There are two units of the De Tomaso Longchamp here in Brazil (one in red and one in blue), and I've seen them both in person. It's a really beautiful car! It has muscle car proportions, but its styling has some clear European influences.
The pioneering ABS brakes in the FF were Dunlop Maxaret ABS originally developed and applied to aircraft landing wheels. Well before the later Mercedes ABS system.
In total, 330 Series I and 83 Series II cars were built for a total of 413 cars, 90 of which were 7-litre versions. The rarest are the Series II 5-speeds (23 built) and the Series II Targa (4 built). Due to their rarity today, Grifos are desirable collectibles. This is according to Google.
@IWrocker GM Build Cars in Switzerland from 1936 to 1975. With the FF, Jensen was the first manufacturer to install all-wheel drive and an anti-lock braking system in a series car. For me, when V8 then a Volvo S80.
Yes, they assembled Camaros in the GM factory in Biel/Bienne. I own a 1979 model from there so they must have building them for a longer period. Unfortunately there´s not a lot of information to find online. Quite bizarre to find a "Made in Switzerland" plaque inside your original US muscle car... 😁
The Ford Capri 3.0, 2.8 V8 should be on this list. It was in BTCC, and raced against the Rover SD1 ( my first car )Jag XJS-6s. Had a few Capris as well.
They could have easilly extended the list tbh, I always seen the V8 powered BMW E31 as a muscle car, think there were several Italian cars from the 70s and 80s that could fit the description too, Maserati Kayalami for example. Then you have TVR.
The E31 was more of a grand tourer, and in top spec it had a V12. Apparently, for this list it must be a V8 but no other criteria really apply. They included a couple I'd definitely consider sports cars or exotics... Also surprised that there were no M5's on the list. While the classic ones all had inline 6 (as the automotive gods intended), the E39 (98-03) had a beautiful naturally aspirated V8. It even made decent power from the factory, unlike most american V8's 😂
Actually, the AMG Hammer had a 6.0 liter 32-valve V8 producing 380 bhp. Knowing how Germans are, they probably understated the engine output, and the engine probably made more than that. I have it from a reliable source that the V8 gave out somewhere in the vicinity of 411 bhp. It gave Ferraris and Porsches a run for the money and absolutely demolished American muscle cars of the era. The article made a mistake. The MB 500E came out in 1990 while the AMG Hammer came out in 1986, several years before.
The ISO Grifo Is from the same italian company that designed the original version of what became BMW Isetta (initially Isotta). Btw in my opinion the americanesque muscle cars feel exotic in Europe, the cars occupying the same market are cars like Mercedes 190 that was in this list, and there are examples also from BMW(M6 from the 80s), Opel(Manta, Rekord, Commodore), Alfa Romeo(the "Montreal" is more Americanesque but still saw proper industrial production unlike many mentioned here, also the classic "Giulia" of the 70s or the ”75" in the 90s appealed to the same kind of common "petrolhead" customer as muscle cars do in America), even Lancia ( Fulvia coupé, Montecarlo or maybe the V8 Ferrari-engined Thema 8.32?)
Gday Ian. The De Tomaso with the 351 Cleveland at 3:20. Australian motor after about 1973 since the 351 Cleveland motors would have been sourced from Ford Australia from their Geelong engine plant. This was after Cleveland motor design US production ceased and the tooling was sent to Australia. The local Australian Cleveland was refined and made in both 351 and 302 versions. Available optionally in Falcon and Fairlane cars. Standard in the Falcon GT and was the motor used by the Mad Max car. De Tomaso were upset when Ford scrapped the tooling in 1983 without letting them know. So those later De Tomaso cars are a bit of an Australian muscle car.
I had a 68 Mustang that had the original engine replaced with another 302. The guy I bought it from said it was a Midland and there weren't any after market parts for it. I paid the low asking price and left sharply.. As it actually had an Aussie 302 with the large 4v heads.. So after I put a 4V inlet manifold with a Holly 4 barrel and long tube headers replacing the totally wrong cast iron anchors, It came alive..
The internationally renowed Automobile Year Book from Italy, user to come out every year - huge book, and listed all the car brands and models from the entire world, with additional articles on various car break throughs and research. I don't know if it is made anymore ? I have the 1981 version with the Aston Martin Bulldog on the cover.
Between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s the economy in Europe was booming. There was a lot of money and sports cars were quite popular as they were the status symbol of those who were successful; of those who "had reached the top". Given the dizzying increase in demand and the desire of the nouveau riche to stand out, there was a real proliferation of more or less small builders who launched themselves into this promising market. The best known was probably Lamborghini which, from an offshoot of its small industrial empire which produced agricultural tractors, boilers and industrial oil, created the legendary atelier which still produces its own jewels on four wheels. Not all of these new manufacturers, however, could afford the huge investments needed to develop their own engine. The cheapest alternative to putting a high-performance car into production was to develop the chassis yourself, have it dressed up by one of the many coachbuilders who were still numerous at the time and transplant a robust V8 of American origin into the bonnet. It was in this context that a plethora of brands were born and unfortunately often died, some of them really interesting, some examples of which have been shown in this video. It is not surprising that for the most part they say little to the Americans, because many of those cars were built in just a few dozen units and, although they fitted engines from the States, they could not be exported there because they did not have the necessary, and expensive, approvals. In reality, for most of these manufacturers, arriving on the American market or not made the difference between an ephemeral existence and becoming established brands. Returning to the cars seen in the video, allow me to show off a bit of my now battered Italian pride to point out how almost all of them spoke my language, from a design point of view. Let's start with the first: the De Tomaso Longchamp. A novel could be written about the volcanic Alejandro De Tomaso, an Argentinian transplanted to Emilia Romagna. In the motoring field he was a master at making fire with the wood that was there. After the legendary (indeed dangerous) Pantera, he attempted to cross over into the luxury market. Through the famous Ghia coachbuilder in Turin, which he owned, and its leading designer Tom Tjaarda, who in truth was a Dutchman born in Detroit, he ordered the design of a powerful luxury sedan to compete with the Jaguars of the time. The Deauville arrived in 1971 and was blatantly inspired by the Jaguar XJ in its design. The interior, however, screamed Italy and a Ford V8 pulsated under the hood. The 1972 Longchamp was simply the coupé version of the Deauville and if the first was born looking at the Jaguar XJ, the second had in its sights, no less, the Mercedes SLC. Once again the good Tjaarda had to submit to the diktats of the choleric De Tomaso and the inspiration from Mercedes was much more than a concept. If you look closely, the Longchamp resembles the SLC. Argentinian manufacturer but of Italian origins who had returned to Italy, bodywork designed by a Dutch American who worked in Italy looking at a German car and American engine. This Longchamp is a citizen of the world! Obviously Don Alejandro's bellicose intentions crashed against the harsh reality of the market and the energy crisis. The Deauville was built in less than 300 examples until 1988 while the Longchamp had little more luck and also ended its career in 1988 with a total of just over 400 examples, including a handful of spiders. However, these two cars had the merit of contributing to the survival of the Maserati brand up to the present day. The Modena company, in fact, after having entered the orbit of Citroen in 1968, had followed its vicissitudes until it was put into liquidation in 1975. Alejandro De Tomaso did not miss the opportunity and, thanks to public financing, he bought it. To try to revive its fortunes, he tried to expand the range with a luxury GT that would take up the baton of the defunct but unforgettable Mexico. No longer able to use the Ghia which he had in the meantime sold to Ford, De Tomaso turned to the great Pietro Frua of Turin who with a few strokes smoothed out some of the edges of the Longchamp and redesigned its front end. The Maserati V8 was transplanted into the bonnet and voilà: the Kyalami was ready. This model is little remembered and it's a shame because it carried out its task very well. Unfortunately it arrived just in time for the oil crisis and the pieces built between 1976 and 1983 were just over 200. Better fate befell the Quattroporte III which was born in 1979 from the pencil of Giorgetto Giugiaro, precisely on the basis of the unfortunate Deauville. The pieces built up to 1990 were more than 2000; a huge success for those dark years and for a car that cost a fortune and drank like a jumbo jet. From the design of the Quattroporte of 1979, derived the one of the small 1981 Biturbo. The latter was certainly a controversial car from many points of view but its design was unquestionably beautiful and, expressed in a thousand different ways, had the merit of making Maserati survived until the advent of FIAT in 1993. The Rover SD1 was, together with the previous P6, the masterpiece of the great David Bache. This one was English to the core, even in its wonderful aluminum alloy V8 which was also derived from a Buick design. Bache, who was a true English gentleman, was not ashamed to reveal his inspirations and if with the P6 he had looked at the unrivaled Citroen DS which he greatly admired, he candidly admitted that the curious front of his SD1 was a tribute to the Ferrari Daytona, another car that he loved. Let's come to Monteverdi. Peter Monteverdi was the son of the Swiss agent for numerous luxury car brands, first and foremost Ferrari. In 1965 the destinies of the Monteverdi family and Ferrari separated turbulently and, as if to replicate the famous spat between Enzo Ferrari and Ferruccio Lamborghini which would lead to the birth of Lamborghini Car, he too wanted to create his own brand. Between 1967 and 1982 he launched several models of coupes, GTs and even sedans, almost all equipped with big American V8s. For the bodywork he almost always turned to Italy, to Fissore of Savigliano, in the Province of Cuneo, which masterfully brought to life the visions of the great Turin designer Pietro Frua... always him... The '66 Jensen Interceptor descended from a noble lineage of English sports cars. Unfortunately, it was one of the last creations of this prestigious atelier, which sadly closed its doors in 1976. It was powered by a Chrysler big block V8 which had replaced the self-produced engines under the hood of numerous small British manufacturers of the time. It should be noted that this model was the first non-off-road car to be offered, in 1968, with permanent four-wheel drive designed by Ferguson. The extravagant coupé line with transparent dome tailgate was designed by Touring of Milan and then developed in Turin by the legendary Alfredo Vignale. Iso was an Italian manufacturer of scooters and motorcycles that in 1953 attempted to enter the world of mass-produced cars with the cute Isetta. The competition with 500 Fiat had soon proved impossible for the small Lombard manufacturer, so Iso sold the Isetta project with all the assembly lines to the German BMW which was in dire straits at the time, having on its list just too much expensive and large models to sell in the devastated post-war Germany. It is also thanks to this little bubble car that the Bavarian company was able to get back on track and become one of the world players that we all know. With the money received, Iso threw itself body and soul into the adventure of high performance cars and for a period was able to have its say even in comparison to sacred monsters branded Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. The models it produced were various, including a large luxury sports sedan, all equipped with strong American V8 engines, first Chevrolet and then Ford. The Grifo was undoubtedly its masterpiece. Renzo Rivolta, owner of the company, wanted a sports car that was also comfortable, spacious and reliable; a sports car that could be driven while wearing a hat: the Grifo was that, also thanks to the indestructible American engines. The creators of this marvel were high-sounding names: Giotto Bizzarrini, who had worked at Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, designed the chassis. A young Giorgetto Giugiaro, then working for Bertone in Turin, instead took care of the splendid bodywork which is still counted among his masterpieces. Some solutions, such as the cutting of the doors, even prefigured what would be seen a year later on the unrivaled Lamborghini Miura, also designed in Bertone but by another sacred monster: Marcello Gandini. A final mention of the Bizzarrini 5300. In reality this model was initially designed for Iso and those responsible were the same as Grifo. Some cars were actually produced by Iso but they were more racing cars than road cars. Renzo Rivolta, who as mentioned wanted a car that was also comfortable to drive, did not like this model. Thus it was that the paths of Iso and Giotto Bizzarrini diverged and the latter created his own car company in Livorno, putting "his" Grifo back into production with few changes, very low, very uncomfortable and very fast, with the same Chevrolet heart inside. What times... A last divertissement: the AMG Hammer is nothing more than a heavily modified Mercedes W124. Well: in those years, responsible for the design of all Mercedes Benz, including the W124, was an Italian; a Turin man named Bruno Sacco. LOL! Thanks for those who wanted to read me and forgive my poor English... Thanks to IWrocker for the great video. Jacopo
Bizzarrini worked to ISO on the grifo. He started his career in Ferrari. Ferrari wanted he leaved in 1961. So he created the Lamborghini V12, he made F1 in ATS , created Ferrari breadvan... A great man who died maybe one years ago.
I'd say the Pantera is kind of a muscle car too, it's a mid-engined Lamborghini Countach lookalike from the 70s, powered by that Ford Cleveland V8! Also, the Opel Diplomat!
The last de Tomasos used Australian made cleveland 351's when the US stopped making them. as a lad we called them geelong blocks. I think de Tomaso used aussie blocks for about 3 years before we also shut down production Also, Ford owned deTomaso at one point and they were sold from US Ford dealers
Aston Martin made one-off Victor and 110 examples of Valour which resemble the '77-'89 V8 Vantage. Both Victor and Valour are manual V12's. I would also argue that that newer 2000-2018-ish German V8 cars are also classified as Euro muscle cars. Cars such as 6.2l W204 C63, W211 E55/E63, W212/W213 E63, E39 M5, E92 M3, B8 RS5 and S5 pre-facelift that had V8, B7 and B8 RS4 and many others
Check out Jaguar XJS V12 TWR, Tom Walkinshaw drove it at Bathurst winner in 1985 ... sounds amazing .. The Rover had a Buick designed 3.5l V8 which Rover bought the rights to, that engine is Aluminium..... basically powered UK Motorsports for decades .
Most of them were expensive luxury cars back in the day. The only cars I would consider European muscle cars are the British Uren Stampede and the German Mako V8, both Capris equipped with a Ford 302 Windsor. And maybe the Mako P, an European Granada Mk2 with Porsche 928 V8 engine, but that was also more considered luxury in a sleeper package.
I saw a bloke in Melbourne the other day with a Jensen interceptor. Tools everywhere, swearing and kicking the shit out of a classic car in a random carpark🤨🤣 I said nice car and he looked at me like a scene out of 'The shining '! 🤣
Well, there IS a reason why a German saying goes something like "If you've got an old Brit - better put another one in your garage, you'll need the spare parts!". LOTUS - Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious JAGUAR - Junk Always Going Under At Repair ROVER - Reliability Optional Very Expensive Repairs
I was told that it was a fallacy born out of the confusion that it was a 440 Chrysler/Didge engine, us Brits thought that Chrysler only produced hemis at the time and not the 440cuin wedge head, triple pack Dodge engine
The SD1 Rover stands out amongst all these exotics purely for the number produced. Alas build quality, let it down and personally I hated the dashboard ! It might have had the V-8 but it was never really a muscle car. More like a practical GT hatchback.
Some very obscure brands. I have to keep with you that the Aston Martin Vantage V8 front end looks very much like a Shelby Mustang. The Monica 560 is a very nice car, and it's a proper sedan as it has a boot lid and not a hatchback. They never made a 2 door coupe version, but that should have looked even better. An original may be too valuable to use as a basis for a coupe, maybe an idea for a recreation?
Growing up my neighbour had 3(!) of those Iso Grifo's in various stages of restoration in his garage. Really cool cars, and I've never seen another one except those 3.
Ford Fiesta XR2, Ford Escort XR3, Ford Siera XR4, Ford Capri 2.8i, Ford Granada coupe Mk1 2.10 (3 liter), Jaguar XJ-6 5.3 daimler. Hot cars I had in the neighbourhood growing up in the late '70 & early '80s
We used to call them hybrids in Europe, take an American V8 and shove it in a European sports car that you would never imagine would fit one. The Sunbeam Tiger was also a nice example. Anyway today the word Hybrid has a different connotation but so has Bud Light.
When I think back to my days of childhood regarding a muscle car, the Ford Capri comes to my mind. Yea, Ford is a USA company but Ford Germany and Ford UK were very autonomous and I don't know if the Capri was released in the US at all. It has the long bonnet, has two doors and imho looks very muscular, if you take the top tier motorized versions. Yes I know, the normal Ford Capri was 2.6l V6 or max 3.0l V6 NA and then there was a 2.8L V6 turbo, but did you know there was a tuner who took the Ford Capri S and made them into Mako V8s with almost 300 hp and sold them just as normal cars? 0-100kmh (0-62mph) in 6.9s, top speed rated at 240kmh (149mph). ----- as a race car ----- A now legendary Ford Capri Turbo (by Zackspeed Racing) in 1977 and 1978 had only a 1.4l engine but due to turbo charging was able to produce up to 600hp at 23psi for a short amount of time in qualifying or for an overtake. The driver had a small wheel in the cockpit to control the boost pressure and was able to turn it up or down. At max boost the engine would not last long, so the normal hp output was around 400hp.
8:42 the Monteverdi is the best answer to the problem that was the beginning of the supercar era - the constant failures. Monteverdi saw the answer and crossed American reliability with Italian luxury vehicles.
Ian, if you want to learn more about Aussie muscle cars watch the Mark Behr (pronounced Beer) channel. He's a person who was there working for both Ford and Holden in HSV and FPV. At the present time he's doing all the Falcon models but will move onto Fairlane then Holden and Chrysler. With Falcon's he started with the XK and has recently done the BF. I never knew that there was a proposed 2 door AU Falcon. Videos appear on a weekly basis.
My favourite european "muscle car" is a rather modern car: the Jaguar F-Type. Now tbf, it also places itself in that weird middle ground of a muscle car and a sports car, but it has without doubt one of the most beautiful sounding V8 I've ever heard. Its such a cool car.
I owned a Rover SD1 3.5 v8, and I really enjoyed it. It was very comfortable with it's leather seats, and I loved the steering wheel that was not circular but almost rectangular.
No Bristol's? the 411 or the Fighter. Made by the Aircraft/aeroengine manufacture, made cars up to 2011. Asked Chrysler to improve their engines to Bristol's desired specs. Chrysler "What do you know about engine manufacture?" Bristol "The Centaurus and the Olympus" Chrysler did the mods.
Big Rover fan, looking forward to your video on them I’ve got a couple of very amateur videos of my own 825SD which you might find interesting The V8 is a legend but the other Rover engines are very interesting (insert head gasket joke here) All the evolutions of the O series, the KV6 and the VVC K series are especially so
All of those cars were produced in really small numbers. There was great interest in American muscle cars in the 1970s but then the oil crisis happened. Bottom line is, they are not practical in Europe, too bulky and using a lot of fuel. But many enthusiast are now driving American muscle cars, you see lots of them on the roads. As to real mass produced muscle cars the Ford Granada of the 1970s comes to mind. It only had engines from 2.0 V6 to 5.0 liters V8 but those were already considered excessive in Europe.
You mean John Dobbs? It was always advertised as a Spotfire engine without the blower but was indeed the Centurian tank engine. He was known to test its high speed on the German Autobahns
The John Dobbs one looks a little like a Ford Capri, on a bucket of stereoids. But there is at least one more in Britain with the Rolls-Royce V12 27-litre fitted into a Rover SD1
@@thatdudeinorange5269 IMO the John Dobbs one is Fugly even though it had all the contemporary design cues of the time, the excuse being the size of the engine but the SD1 version proves it need not be such a hinderance with a little thought.
@@clivewilliams3661 John Dodds had "The Beast"" which looked like a massive Reliant Scimitar. Charlie Broomfield owns the Rover 27 litre. Here's a video if you'd like to watch it. th-cam.com/video/f1BnhZsS8a0/w-d-xo.html
The Renault alpine gtr was the car for the Autobahn in the early seventees,as fast as a ferrari,my uncle had one and I went with him to germany in the early eighties just to drive past ferraris to wave at and piss of their drivers, such fun, check them out, good video dude, once again kicked out of the park, blessings dude, high to all the family, chau for now
Alter, einen W126 oder auch das Cuope, mit Einzelradaufhängung und einem so modernen Fahrewerk, das mechanisch teilweise besser ist als heutige, als Muscle car zu betiteln ist eine Schande! Muscle cars haben LKW Fahrwerke, zwar große Motoren aber nur 1/3 - 1/2 der Leistung, die 126er zu der Zeit hatten.
If you consider cobra as muscle car...the best european muscle cars are English roadsters with V8. As TVR, Triumph, Morgan, Daimler, Bristol...etc etc. BMW 507, Z8 or simply M5 e39...all Big V8 Mercedes, all V8 jaguars...
I liked the Jensen's, they were pretty rare even back then and had a unique look that made them stand out from the bog standard cars around in that era. 👍
I would add to the list the Opel Diplomat V8. A lot of these brands where more GTs ou luxury car brands but the Opel Diplomat was a big sedan and coupe from a "mainstream brand" that got a Corvette V8 for their top trim model. Sounds very muscle car to me and has the design to match!
Every car guy should recognise the Best Australian Muscle car from Mad Max.... The XB Falcon Coupe. (nose cone was a custom aftermarket add on - hard to find recreations these days) looks good without the nose cone, but looks better with it on.
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I'm surprised they didn't mention that the Jenson Interceptor had a big block 440 V8 and 4-wheel drive, well the FF model that my brother used to own did.
The model shown was a 2 wheel drive. Would also not have been very muscle car, a 4wd with ABS in the early 70's.
The FF and Interceptor both started with the 383 motor in 1966/67.
440 only in the Interceptor later in the seventies.
The FF was the first mass-produced car with all-wheel drive and an anti-lock braking system.
Was before the Audi Quattro.
@@Wankdorf183That is correct. They weren't just before Audi, they were 14 years before Audi. The Jensen FF was introduced in 1966. Unfortunately the 4WD system was located where the pedal box would have been on LHD models, so it was only delivered as RHD
Didn't it was mad max his car? 🤔
The De Tomaso looks like a really angry Mk5 Ford Cortina, hell of a stance on it though, wicked car.
The front gave me Ford Granada MK1 vibes. Looks badass though
@@brettwilliams5594Original Granada Mk1 headlights and turn signals on it
I had to double check for a second, I thought they were going to show us a V6 Granada and pass that off as a muscle car.
@@alastairward2774 if the mustang 2 is a muscle car then the granada can be one too same motor in them😂
Like an early Fox Body
A „coop“ is where you keep the chickens 😉.
They have no idea that the last e is actually é...... Coupé..... the US knows how to bastardise a language....
Aston Martin shows the world just how beautiful a car can be for whatever year it was designed, truly beautiful cars.
how long its been owned by Ford before sold off to Malaysia??
@@Arltratlo what does that have anything to do with looks of a car, I don't care if they are owned by Eskimos riding on golden unicorns, makes no difference to my original statement.
A car can be so beautiful... but if it constantly has electrical problems and other problems, it still remains a shit car. 🤣🤣
They all look like munted Jaguars from the early 90's
@@Atreusz Nope, a Ferrari is still a good car regardless of it being Italian, so I believe your coalition between poor electricals and a and a bad car is fundamentally wrong. In the super car business what you are describing they refer to as CHARACTER 😎🤣🤣🤣
My father owned the Jensen Interceptor MK II. Probably my favourite of the cars he owned when I was young.
Mk IV was the one to have!
I've had the pleasure of rising in the back of an FF. Albeit for 15 minutes, and just cruising, but it cemented my love for them. 👌
V8 TVRs they always win any shouting match between cars. They were crazy with their designs and the cars were brutal when you run out of talent
They were spectacular to look at but my god they wanted to kill you just for suggesting the idea of changing direction while driving them
@@lgd6619 Yep, That sounds like a muscle car to me :D
And the wedge shaped V8’s had no traction control or ABS and would leave the road at the slightest hint of dampness on the surface. Proper BIG boys cars. These cars also ran a heavily modified Buick/Rover V8
@@timoliver8940 To be fair TVR were consistent.....Even that cars that had ABS and Traction control would still leave the road without a moments hesitation :)
Yep but queality of cars suck...but modern TVR models are great.
Yellow Sagaris is soo good.
One of the things I love about 70's American muscle cars is that they often look Italian! Some are truly beautiful.
Many of them look great until you stare at them for a while and realise a lot of them have odd proportions, like much more metal ahead of the front wheel than is between the wheel and leading edge of the door. They also seem to build cars with really tall rear quarters making the rear wheel look to small.
If you look at many of the front engined cars of the world that are considered beautiful and compare you'll see what I mean.
Name one.
@@eatsmylifeYT It's a 60's car, but 1968 Chevy Camaro.
@@TTTzzzz You don't know much about cars, do you? A 1968 Camaro doesn't look in any way European.
And some italian cars (i think to FIAT 128 Coupe) looked as small american muscle cars.
My Father had an SD1. It was a beast,
sure, how much time its spend in the repair shop??
The Rover SD1 was a badass car, they were popular with criminals as getaway cars so the UK police ended up adopting them as pursuit cars.
It was just about the one police car over here that made you feel like you couldn't get away from it. You'd hear the V8 coming before you saw the car. Brutal.
the SD1 been so great, it got replaced with Volvo´s and BMW´s....
are they still building it???
btw: what is a Rover anyway??
@@Arltratlo The UK police held onto the SD1's for a really long time. IIRC they even near doubled the service life for them before they were replaced.
@@Arltratlo If you're being genuine they stopped using the SD1 because it left production. But they did stockpile a large portion of them meaning they were still in use a good 10 years after the car left production.
As for Rover itself. It got bought out and by BMW in the mid-'90s. They wanted the Range Rovers 4x4 tech and the new Mini which they were developing at the time. This separated Rover from is subsidiaries and asset stripped it before selling it off.
It was picked up by Phoenix Consortium and they are the reason the brand is gone. It turned out they had no plans to keep the company going, all funds were being sent straight to their own bank accounts making them all extremely rich and draining the company of money and resources. As soon as it reached bankruptcy they fled the country to avoid being locked up. The workers at the factory didn't even get their pensions, the whole situation was fucked.
When the company was in liquidation Ford stepped in and purchased Rover reuniting it with Land Rover and Range Rover. However as they already owned Jaguar they stated there was no reason to keep producing Rovers as they'd just be competing with each other. They bought it to stop the brand ending up like MG or Lancia as it would hurt LR/RRs image. It's now owned by JLR and is still dormant.
The SD1s and the RS2000s were some of the best police cara in the UK, some of the 3.0 senators were fairly cool aswell
@@CunningStunt92 i wonder how many Rovers they building in the UK today!
You should take another look at the Jensen Interceptor from the rear.
The enormous & heavy rear screen opens up hatchback style for loading luggage or your weekly shop.
Very expensive when new, they were in Rolls Royce territory .
From memory, I think they were powered by a 7 litre Chrysler engine, so they went like a scalded cat.
They were still less money than an Aston. And as quick if not quicker. Ginger (I'm a dickhead) Baker had one.
First a 383 6.3 litre then later some had the 440 7.2 litre option for the SP cars. All Chrysler motors.
Expensive new and more expensive restoring the usual rust buckets that remain looking affordable.
Fun list and reaction. Missing one of the most obvious ones: The Alfa Romeo Montreal!
ISO's most famous car is the Issetta bubble car which was licenced to various companies to manufacture, the most notable of which was BMW. The development of the Grifo was the work of Giotto Bizzarrini who later had a disagreement with ISO and ended his collaboration with them. The 5300 GT is just a later development of the ISO Grifo.
My Dad had 3 SD1 V8's, such a cool car plus Rover V8, is a legendary engine. Also the hood lifts forward, which I loved as a kid.
My brother had a vauxhal viva with a rover v8 in it . . Went quite well for a small car 🤣👍
Ian, check out the AC 428 'Frua'. Built by AC Cars (the people who built Cobras for Shelby) it used a Cobra chassis extended 6", a body styled and built by Frua in Italy and was fitted with a Ford 428 V8.
Many home built muscles cars here in the UK. The kitcar scene has provided so much choice over the years. Check out the Ultima GTR, Westfield SEight etc with big V8's ! I've owned / built many Rover V8 powered cars from the standard 3.5 SD1 through to Robin Hood V8 and a Ginetta G27 with a highly tuned 3.9 V8. Great fun and amazing sound track !
I'm sorry, but Ultima, for sure, is not a muscle car. Yes, they have V8s, but really they are pure blood, mid-engine race cars, that sometimes happen to be road legal.
No Facel Vega HK500 on the list? Shame, fantastic car! French car with American muscle.
They also missed the Bristol Fighter (very few know about but it had Viper engine) Lotus Carlton (best known among thefts for outrunning cops), Ford Capri, Lancia Delta Integrale EVO
De Tomaso Mangusta is basically European father of Pantera, BMW 625 and the mighty BMW 850, and not sure how they missed the Jaguar -E-Type & Alfa Romeo GTA & 105 GTV..
Its more like sedan??
Soo big.
@@joe125ful have you seen a muscle car they are gigantic
ford mustang mach one for example
@@flopjul3022 Mustang Mach is really not that big....Cadilac Eldorado for example is big muscle car if you think about big ones.
@@poplaurentiu4148 Bristol Beaufighter convertible 5.9 liter Chrysler Hemi plus supercharger 340 bhp ?
Hi Ian look at a side view of the jenson interceptor, it will all make sense the sp version came with a 440 mopar v8.
Ian You Forgot the Opel Diplomat With A Chevy V8 15:58
SD1 stood for Special Developments, I use to look after an Aston Martin v8 vantage , absolutely beautiful car , the engine was hand built by one person and had their name on a metal plaque on the engine .
Check Out the Opel Admiral V8 , the Opel Commodore V8 , the Opel Diplomat V8 ,the Bitter CD 5.4 all Germany Cars
And all of them are based on General Motors models as Opel was owned by General Motors!
@@escariol And also all not really muscle cars but more power sedans, an argument COULD be made for the Bitter though.
I saw a Longchamp recently, super cool to see in person and super rare, they only made 394 coupés and 16 convertible.
DeTomaso, famous for putting huge US V8 inside superb italian ciselled designs
Being european/south american this is so cool to watch never even heard of half of those, but I need to shout out the many little muscle cars from argentina and brazil, just a hand few have a proper v8, but the 6cc and even the air cooled offseries cars are just amazingly beautiful, chevrolet opala BR, ford taunus AR, chevrolet maverick BR, dodge charger BR, dodge polara AR, dodge valiant AR, Miura top sport, Puma GTB, Adamo GT, L’Automobile ventura, Santa Matilde, L’auto Craft Sabre
😈 Dodge Demon 🇨🇴
I think a part of a muscle car idea or culture is, that it has its roots in working class and afordable mass production. In
my opinion, something similar in Europe ad its gas prices would be GTI versions of normal cars.
Hot hatchbacks come to mind when talking about mass - produced and affordable cars for working class.6
Or the "pony cars" of the 60s/70s like Ford Capri, Opel Manta, VW Scirocco etc,
You could include the Gordon Keeble, i think you would like those. It had a 327 V8 small block.
At the end of Rover/MG there was of course the saloon and Touring versions of the Rover 75 with the 4.6ltr V8 out of the Mustang
Mercedes were so good looking in the 80's, the AMG Hammer probably my favourite Mercedes, followed closely by the 190E EVO II & 190E Cosworth.
Cosworth? all group A(Touring Car) Mercedes 190 have the cosworth engine from the 190E 2.3 16V to the >500 build Group A EVO models. When the rules change car manufacture don´t wont build 5000 new Homologations Models instead of that, its cheaper to build the needed 500 Evo´s of the existing Model. Mercdes in den 80ern war die Rentner Karre schlecht hin mit wackel Dackel im W201 oder W123- W124.
@@mariojakel5544 YES, 190E COSWORTH. Firstly I was talking looks, so we are talking trim pack here, so 2 different ''trim packs'' can use the same engine, my friends dad had a 190E Cosworth & that was not an EVO II, if you search Mercedes Cosworth & EVO II, you get 2 different trim packs, the EVO ii model, it has wider arches and a bigger spoiler. so different trim for the same car! you can go check if you would like,,, I'll wait!
@@TriPBOOMER this i against the Group A rules, the Rule is a manufactor must build 5000 Cars for the homoglation, than you can use this car as base for a EVO version with a minimum of 500 units so you can use the EVO as Base for a Group A Racecar. The 190E 2,3 16V was sold in some countrys as a 190E2,3 16V cosworth depents on how popular cosworth is in this country.
@@mariojakel5544 so is your argument that I'm not typing ''2.3 16v'' when I called it a 190E Cosworth? & so you know I live in the UK, so which label do you think the car got here? and again this is the model the EVO II was based on, further cementing that I was right to label these models as separate, as a 190E ''2.3 16v'' EVO II might be a 190E ''2.3 16v'' Cosworth, but a 190E ''2.3 16v'' Cosworth, is not a 190E ''2.3 16v'' EVO II. Besides the AMG Hammer looks better than both of them anyways.
@@TriPBOOMER no the only thing i say is the W201, W123, W124 are driven by very old People with a Hat and a bobblehead in the 80th
My 10 list: Bristol Britannia/Brigand from UK, Peugeot 504 coupe, Opel Manta, Opel Commodore, , Citroen SM, Saab 900 turbo, Fiat Dino, Fiat 130 coupe, Volvo P 1800,VW Karmann Ghia.
Don't forget the opel monza also.
@@fintan9705 Monza is more a GT, Manta a pony car. Of the cars above none would be a muscle car seeing as none of them other than the Bristol had a V8 - and the Bristol was "too young".
Surprised no TVR's
Neither Marcos.
Agreed but TVR is more like sport car instead of blocky muscle car.
@@joe125ful but probably closer to an affordable muscle car than an Aston is - also a sports/GT car with a high price tag
Now this was interesting. So many cars / models i have newer heard of.
Glad they included a Proper AMG.
It's not quite a muscle car and more of a super saloon, but you should check out the 1990-1992 Lotus Carlton/Omega if you haven't already done so. UK police wanted the model banned from sale, because it was so damn fast it could outrun everything the police had, including their helicopters.
It was a 4 door saloon with supercar performance, fitted with a 3.6L twin turbo straight six pushing out 370+bhp and the 6 speed manual from a ZR-1, it had a 5.1 second 0-60 and a top speed of 177mph.
my father had a couple of Rover SD 1's . The Jensen was made a few hundred yards from my apartment in West Bromwich, all gentrified now.
There are two units of the De Tomaso Longchamp here in Brazil (one in red and one in blue), and I've seen them both in person. It's a really beautiful car! It has muscle car proportions, but its styling has some clear European influences.
The Jensen had a variant called the Jensen FF (Ferguson Formula) , which was one of the first road cars with 4 wheel drive.
Was the first with constant all wheel drive in 1966 as opposed to the primitive off road selectable four wheel drives like Jeeps and Land Rovers etc.
And Girlock antilock brakes iirc.
The pioneering ABS brakes in the FF were Dunlop Maxaret ABS originally developed and applied to aircraft landing wheels.
Well before the later Mercedes ABS system.
Swiss Cars surprise you? Take a hard look at the Chevrolet Logo... and look up Mr. Chevrolet... 😄
In total, 330 Series I and 83 Series II cars were built for a total of 413 cars, 90 of which were 7-litre versions. The rarest are the Series II 5-speeds (23 built) and the Series II Targa (4 built). Due to their rarity today, Grifos are desirable collectibles. This is according to Google.
Any Mercedes AMG HAMMER is a win for me find some storys on TH-cam fantastic cars
These are fun, a great crossover. The ISO Grifo might be my favorite too.
Fun fact: Iso was the same company that designed the 1950s Isetta micro car, later famously built under license by BMW. 😉
Mercedes Benz 450 SLC 5.0 V8 was a great german Muscle Car
@IWrocker
GM Build Cars in Switzerland from 1936 to 1975.
With the FF, Jensen was the first manufacturer to install all-wheel drive and an anti-lock braking system in a series car.
For me, when V8 then a Volvo S80.
Yes, they assembled Camaros in the GM factory in Biel/Bienne. I own a 1979 model from there so they must have building them for a longer period. Unfortunately there´s not a lot of information to find online. Quite bizarre to find a "Made in Switzerland" plaque inside your original US muscle car... 😁
The Ford Capri 3.0, 2.8 V8 should be on this list.
It was in BTCC, and raced against the Rover SD1 ( my first car )Jag XJS-6s.
Had a few Capris as well.
I was a fan of the Capri but always felt they should have been faster.
11:56 the Aston Martin had a self-developed 4 ohc high-performance V8.
From a polish engineer Tadek Marek designed.
The best video to learn at some persons that V8 was a french invention and the first manufacturer who sold genuine V8 in his cars is french also
6:35 ah the Rover SD1 "Styled to look like a Ferrari Daytona" - Jeremy Clarkson in the Leyland Challenge
They could have easilly extended the list tbh, I always seen the V8 powered BMW E31 as a muscle car, think there were several Italian cars from the 70s and 80s that could fit the description too, Maserati Kayalami for example. Then you have TVR.
The E31 was more of a grand tourer, and in top spec it had a V12. Apparently, for this list it must be a V8 but no other criteria really apply. They included a couple I'd definitely consider sports cars or exotics...
Also surprised that there were no M5's on the list. While the classic ones all had inline 6 (as the automotive gods intended), the E39 (98-03) had a beautiful naturally aspirated V8. It even made decent power from the factory, unlike most american V8's 😂
Actually, the AMG Hammer had a 6.0 liter 32-valve V8 producing 380 bhp. Knowing how Germans are, they probably understated the engine output, and the engine probably made more than that. I have it from a reliable source that the V8 gave out somewhere in the vicinity of 411 bhp. It gave Ferraris and Porsches a run for the money and absolutely demolished American muscle cars of the era.
The article made a mistake. The MB 500E came out in 1990 while the AMG Hammer came out in 1986, several years before.
The ISO Grifo Is from the same italian company that designed the original version of what became BMW Isetta (initially Isotta).
Btw in my opinion the americanesque muscle cars feel exotic in Europe, the cars occupying the same market are cars like Mercedes 190 that was in this list, and there are examples also from BMW(M6 from the 80s), Opel(Manta, Rekord, Commodore), Alfa Romeo(the "Montreal" is more Americanesque but still saw proper industrial production unlike many mentioned here, also the classic "Giulia" of the 70s or the ”75" in the 90s appealed to the same kind of common "petrolhead" customer as muscle cars do in America), even Lancia ( Fulvia coupé, Montecarlo or maybe the V8 Ferrari-engined Thema 8.32?)
No Isotta solo Isetta
Gday Ian. The De Tomaso with the 351 Cleveland at 3:20.
Australian motor after about 1973 since the 351 Cleveland motors would have been sourced from Ford Australia from their Geelong engine plant. This was after Cleveland motor design US production ceased and the tooling was sent to Australia. The local Australian Cleveland was refined and made in both 351 and 302 versions. Available optionally in Falcon and Fairlane cars. Standard in the Falcon GT and was the motor used by the Mad Max car.
De Tomaso were upset when Ford scrapped the tooling in 1983 without letting them know.
So those later De Tomaso cars are a bit of an Australian muscle car.
I had a 68 Mustang that had the original engine replaced with another 302. The guy I bought it from said it was a Midland and there weren't any after market parts for it. I paid the low asking price and left sharply.. As it actually had an Aussie 302 with the large 4v heads.. So after I put a 4V inlet manifold with a Holly 4 barrel and long tube headers replacing the totally wrong cast iron anchors, It came alive..
The internationally renowed Automobile Year Book from Italy, user to come out every year - huge book, and listed all the car brands and models from the entire world, with additional articles on various car break throughs and research. I don't know if it is made anymore ?
I have the 1981 version with the Aston Martin Bulldog on the cover.
Between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s the economy in Europe was booming. There was a lot of money and sports cars were quite popular as they were the status symbol of those who were successful; of those who "had reached the top". Given the dizzying increase in demand and the desire of the nouveau riche to stand out, there was a real proliferation of more or less small builders who launched themselves into this promising market. The best known was probably Lamborghini which, from an offshoot of its small industrial empire which produced agricultural tractors, boilers and industrial oil, created the legendary atelier which still produces its own jewels on four wheels. Not all of these new manufacturers, however, could afford the huge investments needed to develop their own engine. The cheapest alternative to putting a high-performance car into production was to develop the chassis yourself, have it dressed up by one of the many coachbuilders who were still numerous at the time and transplant a robust V8 of American origin into the bonnet. It was in this context that a plethora of brands were born and unfortunately often died, some of them really interesting, some examples of which have been shown in this video. It is not surprising that for the most part they say little to the Americans, because many of those cars were built in just a few dozen units and, although they fitted engines from the States, they could not be exported there because they did not have the necessary, and expensive, approvals. In reality, for most of these manufacturers, arriving on the American market or not made the difference between an ephemeral existence and becoming established brands.
Returning to the cars seen in the video, allow me to show off a bit of my now battered Italian pride to point out how almost all of them spoke my language, from a design point of view. Let's start with the first: the De Tomaso Longchamp. A novel could be written about the volcanic Alejandro De Tomaso, an Argentinian transplanted to Emilia Romagna. In the motoring field he was a master at making fire with the wood that was there. After the legendary (indeed dangerous) Pantera, he attempted to cross over into the luxury market. Through the famous Ghia coachbuilder in Turin, which he owned, and its leading designer Tom Tjaarda, who in truth was a Dutchman born in Detroit, he ordered the design of a powerful luxury sedan to compete with the Jaguars of the time. The Deauville arrived in 1971 and was blatantly inspired by the Jaguar XJ in its design. The interior, however, screamed Italy and a Ford V8 pulsated under the hood. The 1972 Longchamp was simply the coupé version of the Deauville and if the first was born looking at the Jaguar XJ, the second had in its sights, no less, the Mercedes SLC. Once again the good Tjaarda had to submit to the diktats of the choleric De Tomaso and the inspiration from Mercedes was much more than a concept. If you look closely, the Longchamp resembles the SLC. Argentinian manufacturer but of Italian origins who had returned to Italy, bodywork designed by a Dutch American who worked in Italy looking at a German car and American engine. This Longchamp is a citizen of the world! Obviously Don Alejandro's bellicose intentions crashed against the harsh reality of the market and the energy crisis. The Deauville was built in less than 300 examples until 1988 while the Longchamp had little more luck and also ended its career in 1988 with a total of just over 400 examples, including a handful of spiders. However, these two cars had the merit of contributing to the survival of the Maserati brand up to the present day. The Modena company, in fact, after having entered the orbit of Citroen in 1968, had followed its vicissitudes until it was put into liquidation in 1975. Alejandro De Tomaso did not miss the opportunity and, thanks to public financing, he bought it. To try to revive its fortunes, he tried to expand the range with a luxury GT that would take up the baton of the defunct but unforgettable Mexico. No longer able to use the Ghia which he had in the meantime sold to Ford, De Tomaso turned to the great Pietro Frua of Turin who with a few strokes smoothed out some of the edges of the Longchamp and redesigned its front end. The Maserati V8 was transplanted into the bonnet and voilà: the Kyalami was ready. This model is little remembered and it's a shame because it carried out its task very well. Unfortunately it arrived just in time for the oil crisis and the pieces built between 1976 and 1983 were just over 200. Better fate befell the Quattroporte III which was born in 1979 from the pencil of Giorgetto Giugiaro, precisely on the basis of the unfortunate Deauville. The pieces built up to 1990 were more than 2000; a huge success for those dark years and for a car that cost a fortune and drank like a jumbo jet.
From the design of the Quattroporte of 1979, derived the one of the small 1981 Biturbo. The latter was certainly a controversial car from many points of view but its design was unquestionably beautiful and, expressed in a thousand different ways, had the merit of making Maserati survived until the advent of FIAT in 1993.
The Rover SD1 was, together with the previous P6, the masterpiece of the great David Bache. This one was English to the core, even in its wonderful aluminum alloy V8 which was also derived from a Buick design. Bache, who was a true English gentleman, was not ashamed to reveal his inspirations and if with the P6 he had looked at the unrivaled Citroen DS which he greatly admired, he candidly admitted that the curious front of his SD1 was a tribute to the Ferrari Daytona, another car that he loved.
Let's come to Monteverdi. Peter Monteverdi was the son of the Swiss agent for numerous luxury car brands, first and foremost Ferrari. In 1965 the destinies of the Monteverdi family and Ferrari separated turbulently and, as if to replicate the famous spat between Enzo Ferrari and Ferruccio Lamborghini which would lead to the birth of Lamborghini Car, he too wanted to create his own brand. Between 1967 and 1982 he launched several models of coupes, GTs and even sedans, almost all equipped with big American V8s. For the bodywork he almost always turned to Italy, to Fissore of Savigliano, in the Province of Cuneo, which masterfully brought to life the visions of the great Turin designer Pietro Frua... always him...
The '66 Jensen Interceptor descended from a noble lineage of English sports cars. Unfortunately, it was one of the last creations of this prestigious atelier, which sadly closed its doors in 1976. It was powered by a Chrysler big block V8 which had replaced the self-produced engines under the hood of numerous small British manufacturers of the time. It should be noted that this model was the first non-off-road car to be offered, in 1968, with permanent four-wheel drive designed by Ferguson. The extravagant coupé line with transparent dome tailgate was designed by Touring of Milan and then developed in Turin by the legendary Alfredo Vignale.
Iso was an Italian manufacturer of scooters and motorcycles that in 1953 attempted to enter the world of mass-produced cars with the cute Isetta. The competition with 500 Fiat had soon proved impossible for the small Lombard manufacturer, so Iso sold the Isetta project with all the assembly lines to the German BMW which was in dire straits at the time, having on its list just too much expensive and large models to sell in the devastated post-war Germany. It is also thanks to this little bubble car that the Bavarian company was able to get back on track and become one of the world players that we all know. With the money received, Iso threw itself body and soul into the adventure of high performance cars and for a period was able to have its say even in comparison to sacred monsters branded Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. The models it produced were various, including a large luxury sports sedan, all equipped with strong American V8 engines, first Chevrolet and then Ford. The Grifo was undoubtedly its masterpiece. Renzo Rivolta, owner of the company, wanted a sports car that was also comfortable, spacious and reliable; a sports car that could be driven while wearing a hat: the Grifo was that, also thanks to the indestructible American engines. The creators of this marvel were high-sounding names: Giotto Bizzarrini, who had worked at Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, designed the chassis. A young Giorgetto Giugiaro, then working for Bertone in Turin, instead took care of the splendid bodywork which is still counted among his masterpieces. Some solutions, such as the cutting of the doors, even prefigured what would be seen a year later on the unrivaled Lamborghini Miura, also designed in Bertone but by another sacred monster: Marcello Gandini.
A final mention of the Bizzarrini 5300. In reality this model was initially designed for Iso and those responsible were the same as Grifo. Some cars were actually produced by Iso but they were more racing cars than road cars. Renzo Rivolta, who as mentioned wanted a car that was also comfortable to drive, did not like this model. Thus it was that the paths of Iso and Giotto Bizzarrini diverged and the latter created his own car company in Livorno, putting "his" Grifo back into production with few changes, very low, very uncomfortable and very fast, with the same Chevrolet heart inside. What times...
A last divertissement: the AMG Hammer is nothing more than a heavily modified Mercedes W124. Well: in those years, responsible for the design of all Mercedes Benz, including the W124, was an Italian; a Turin man named Bruno Sacco. LOL!
Thanks for those who wanted to read me and forgive my poor English...
Thanks to IWrocker for the great video.
Jacopo
Bizzarrini worked to ISO on the grifo. He started his career in Ferrari. Ferrari wanted he leaved in 1961. So he created the Lamborghini V12, he made F1 in ATS , created Ferrari breadvan... A great man who died maybe one years ago.
I'd say the Pantera is kind of a muscle car too, it's a mid-engined Lamborghini Countach lookalike from the 70s, powered by that Ford Cleveland V8!
Also, the Opel Diplomat!
The last de Tomasos used Australian made cleveland 351's when the US stopped making them. as a lad we called them geelong blocks. I think de Tomaso used aussie blocks for about 3 years before we also shut down production
Also, Ford owned deTomaso at one point and they were sold from US Ford dealers
ISO Grifo´s back window is soooo awesome!
Aston Martin made one-off Victor and 110 examples of Valour which resemble the '77-'89 V8 Vantage. Both Victor and Valour are manual V12's.
I would also argue that that newer 2000-2018-ish German V8 cars are also classified as Euro muscle cars. Cars such as 6.2l W204 C63, W211 E55/E63, W212/W213 E63, E39 M5, E92 M3, B8 RS5 and S5 pre-facelift that had V8, B7 and B8 RS4 and many others
Check out Jaguar XJS V12 TWR, Tom Walkinshaw drove it at Bathurst winner in 1985 ... sounds amazing ..
The Rover had a Buick designed 3.5l V8 which Rover bought the rights to, that engine is Aluminium..... basically powered UK Motorsports for decades .
Letty uses a Jenson Interceptor in Fast 6, I love this car!
Even before the Pantera, I saw [ and fell in love with the DeTomaso Mangusta
🚗🙂
Was hoping to hear their engines, not just see photos. Oh well.
Most of them were expensive luxury cars back in the day. The only cars I would consider European muscle cars are the British Uren Stampede and the German Mako V8, both Capris equipped with a Ford 302 Windsor. And maybe the Mako P, an European Granada Mk2 with Porsche 928 V8 engine, but that was also more considered luxury in a sleeper package.
I saw a bloke in Melbourne the other day with a Jensen interceptor. Tools everywhere, swearing and kicking the shit out of a classic car in a random carpark🤨🤣
I said nice car and he looked at me like a scene out of 'The shining '! 🤣
Well, there IS a reason why a German saying goes something like "If you've got an old Brit - better put another one in your garage, you'll need the spare parts!".
LOTUS - Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious
JAGUAR - Junk Always Going Under At Repair
ROVER - Reliability Optional Very Expensive Repairs
The Jensen Interceptor could even be had with a Hemi 426, so it was said to be quick.
I was told that it was a fallacy born out of the confusion that it was a 440 Chrysler/Didge engine, us Brits thought that Chrysler only produced hemis at the time and not the 440cuin wedge head, triple pack Dodge engine
Also available with four wheel drive which was wild for a GT/Muscle car. Potentially the first of it's kind!
The Hammer AMG Benz V8 W124 Series
Love a good European muscle car, i personally think they are much better designed for handling options.
The SD1 Rover stands out amongst all these exotics purely for the number produced.
Alas build quality, let it down and personally I hated the dashboard !
It might have had the V-8 but it was never really a muscle car.
More like a practical GT hatchback.
2:29 you should look at the detomaso p72 and p900
you will be blown away by the design
Some very obscure brands. I have to keep with you that the Aston Martin Vantage V8 front end looks very much like a Shelby Mustang.
The Monica 560 is a very nice car, and it's a proper sedan as it has a boot lid and not a hatchback.
They never made a 2 door coupe version, but that should have looked even better. An original may be too valuable to use as a basis for a coupe, maybe an idea for a recreation?
Growing up my neighbour had 3(!) of those Iso Grifo's in various stages of restoration in his garage.
Really cool cars, and I've never seen another one except those 3.
Mercedes S600 is a real european beast
Ford Fiesta XR2, Ford Escort XR3, Ford Siera XR4, Ford Capri 2.8i, Ford Granada coupe Mk1 2.10 (3 liter), Jaguar XJ-6 5.3 daimler. Hot cars I had in the neighbourhood growing up in the late '70 & early '80s
Mercedes AMG SLS (or the AMG GT) - I think they would also qualify as European muscle cars.
We used to call them hybrids in Europe, take an American V8 and shove it in a European sports car that you would never imagine would fit one. The Sunbeam Tiger was also a nice example. Anyway today the word Hybrid has a different connotation but so has Bud Light.
11:50 The Mustang-Martin Vantage
I always called them like that ! :D
When I think back to my days of childhood regarding a muscle car, the Ford Capri comes to my mind. Yea, Ford is a USA company but Ford Germany and Ford UK were very autonomous and I don't know if the Capri was released in the US at all. It has the long bonnet, has two doors and imho looks very muscular, if you take the top tier motorized versions. Yes I know, the normal Ford Capri was 2.6l V6 or max 3.0l V6 NA and then there was a 2.8L V6 turbo, but did you know there was a tuner who took the Ford Capri S and made them into Mako V8s with almost 300 hp and sold them just as normal cars?
0-100kmh (0-62mph) in 6.9s, top speed rated at 240kmh (149mph).
----- as a race car -----
A now legendary Ford Capri Turbo (by Zackspeed Racing) in 1977 and 1978 had only a 1.4l engine but due to turbo charging was able to produce up to 600hp at 23psi for a short amount of time in qualifying or for an overtake. The driver had a small wheel in the cockpit to control the boost pressure and was able to turn it up or down. At max boost the engine would not last long, so the normal hp output was around 400hp.
Anyone who has ever wayched a Mad Max movie got to know what a Ford Falcon is and those are all aussies. They are absolutly iconic.
Reading a one year old article and looking at pictures of cars. Amazing content bro keep it up👍
Bizzarrini was a genious! 🤩
Check out the Alfa Romeo Montreal !! One of the best V8 ever❤
8:42 the Monteverdi is the best answer to the problem that was the beginning of the supercar era - the constant failures. Monteverdi saw the answer and crossed American reliability with Italian luxury vehicles.
Estonia make cars too. Yes we have two brands even. One is Estfield pure muscel car and other is electric car maker Nordauto.
Look for MARCOS Mantula V8. Perfect British muscle car.
Ian, if you want to learn more about Aussie muscle cars watch the Mark Behr (pronounced Beer) channel. He's a person who was there working for both Ford and Holden in HSV and FPV. At the present time he's doing all the Falcon models but will move onto Fairlane then Holden and Chrysler. With Falcon's he started with the XK and has recently done the BF. I never knew that there was a proposed 2 door AU Falcon. Videos appear on a weekly basis.
When US was obsessed with muscle cars, Europe concentrated on producing sports cars
My favourite european "muscle car" is a rather modern car: the Jaguar F-Type. Now tbf, it also places itself in that weird middle ground of a muscle car and a sports car, but it has without doubt one of the most beautiful sounding V8 I've ever heard. Its such a cool car.
That Iso Grifo.. it's low, but not at all small.. i mean, it needed the space for that 7 liter engine...
Got a ride in an SD1 years ago. Very quick, awesome sound and so damn comfortable!
I owned a Rover SD1 3.5 v8, and I really enjoyed it. It was very comfortable with it's leather seats, and I loved the steering wheel that was not circular but almost rectangular.
No Bristol's? the 411 or the Fighter. Made by the Aircraft/aeroengine manufacture, made cars up to 2011. Asked Chrysler to improve their engines to Bristol's desired specs. Chrysler "What do you know about engine manufacture?" Bristol "The Centaurus and the Olympus" Chrysler did the mods.
Big Rover fan, looking forward to your video on them
I’ve got a couple of very amateur videos of my own 825SD which you might find interesting
The V8 is a legend but the other Rover engines are very interesting (insert head gasket joke here)
All the evolutions of the O series, the KV6 and the VVC K series are especially so
All of those cars were produced in really small numbers. There was great interest in American muscle cars in the 1970s but then the oil crisis happened. Bottom line is, they are not practical in Europe, too bulky and using a lot of fuel. But many enthusiast are now driving American muscle cars, you see lots of them on the roads.
As to real mass produced muscle cars the Ford Granada of the 1970s comes to mind. It only had engines from 2.0 V6 to 5.0 liters V8 but those were already considered excessive in Europe.
There is an Englishman who converted his Rover with a V-12 tank engine with, I think, 27-29 liter displacement
You mean John Dobbs? It was always advertised as a Spotfire engine without the blower but was indeed the Centurian tank engine. He was known to test its high speed on the German Autobahns
The John Dobbs one looks a little like a Ford Capri, on a bucket of stereoids. But there is at least one more in Britain with the Rolls-Royce V12 27-litre fitted into a Rover SD1
@@thatdudeinorange5269 IMO the John Dobbs one is Fugly even though it had all the contemporary design cues of the time, the excuse being the size of the engine but the SD1 version proves it need not be such a hinderance with a little thought.
@@clivewilliams3661 John Dodds had "The Beast"" which looked like a massive Reliant Scimitar. Charlie Broomfield owns the Rover 27 litre. Here's a video if you'd like to watch it. th-cam.com/video/f1BnhZsS8a0/w-d-xo.html
13:35 My neighbour got one.. the hellish sound it makes when it starts, INCREDIBLE !
The Renault alpine gtr was the car for the Autobahn in the early seventees,as fast as a ferrari,my uncle had one and I went with him to germany in the early eighties just to drive past ferraris to wave at and piss of their drivers, such fun, check them out, good video dude, once again kicked out of the park, blessings dude, high to all the family, chau for now
C126 AMG Mercedes Benz as the 560 SEC V8 Widebody is a true german Musclecar
Alter, einen W126 oder auch das Cuope, mit Einzelradaufhängung und einem so modernen Fahrewerk, das mechanisch teilweise besser ist als heutige, als Muscle car zu betiteln ist eine Schande! Muscle cars haben LKW Fahrwerke, zwar große Motoren aber nur 1/3 - 1/2 der Leistung, die 126er zu der Zeit hatten.
If you consider cobra as muscle car...the best european muscle cars are English roadsters with V8. As TVR, Triumph, Morgan, Daimler, Bristol...etc etc. BMW 507, Z8 or simply M5 e39...all Big V8 Mercedes, all V8 jaguars...
I liked the Jensen's, they were pretty rare even back then and had a unique look that made them stand out from the bog standard cars around in that era. 👍
I would add to the list the Opel Diplomat V8. A lot of these brands where more GTs ou luxury car brands but the Opel Diplomat was a big sedan and coupe from a "mainstream brand" that got a Corvette V8 for their top trim model. Sounds very muscle car to me and has the design to match!
Every car guy should recognise the Best Australian Muscle car from Mad Max.... The XB Falcon Coupe. (nose cone was a custom aftermarket add on - hard to find recreations these days) looks good without the nose cone, but looks better with it on.
You see the DBS as Brett Sinclairs car in the 1971 show 'The Persuaders' and the Vantage in the latest Johnny English.