Here are five that broke the muscle car mold.<\/span><\/p>\n 1986\u201387 Buick Grand National<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The Buick\u2019s extraordinary big bad Grand National is forever cemented into muscle car history, but when it was new, there were those who sneered at its \u201csmall\u201d turbocharged V-6. Muscle purists just couldn’t get on board with a computerized six-banger taking the place of a hulking V-8.<\/span><\/p>\n The GN\u2019s high-13\/low-14-second quarter-mile times, in stock form, changed a lot of minds. And for those who preferred their muscle with stealth, Buick also offered the GN\u2019s \u201cplain clothes\u201d sibling, the Regal T-Type.<\/span><\/p>\n Stock output of the Buick\u2019s intercooled 3.8-liter turbo V-6 was 245 net horsepower and 355 pound-feet of torque. (By comparison, the 1986 Corvette\u2019s V-8 made 230 horsepower and 330 pound-feet). The turbo Buicks crushed the preconception that \u201ccomputer cars\u201d could not be tuned for even higher performance. It turns out, that was pretty easy.<\/span><\/p>\n Buick ended the Grand National\u2019s run with the<\/span> 1987 GNX<\/a><\/strong>, a pinnacle muscle machine with a McLaren\/ASC-tuned turbo V-6 making 300 horsepower and a stonking 420 pound-feet of torque. Buick made just 547 GNXs, and one with 362 original miles sold for $165,000 at Barrett-Jackson\u2019s 2015 Palm Beach auction.<\/span><\/p>\n 1988\u201392 Lincoln Mk VII LSC<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The \u201chot rod Lincoln\u201d was in many ways a muscle car for the country club set. The sleek design blended Euro sophistication with pure American swagger.<\/span><\/p>\n Lincoln boldly pitched the Mk VII as a competitor to the Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC coupe, which cost nearly three times the Mk VII LSC\u2019s $27,000 price. Starting in mid-1987, when it gained the Mustang\u2019s 5.0-liter H.O. V-8 with 225 horses and 300 pound-feet of torque, the Mk VII LSC (for Luxury Sports Coupe) essentially matched the big Benz\u2019s power (238 hp, 287 lb-ft).<\/span><\/p>\n The Mk VII LSC\u2019s mid-15-second quarter-mile times were right there with Trans-Ams and IROC Camaros of the day, along with numerous classic muscle cars. Based on the Thunderbird platform \u2014 itself a version of the Ford Fairmont\u2019s Fox chassis \u2014 the Mk VII rode on a longer, 108-inch wheelbase. It was a roomy midsize coupe and pretty close in concept to classic muscle cars in that regard. Air suspension made the Mk VII a cushy yet agile cruiser. Too bad Lincoln has nothing like it today.<\/span><\/p>\n 1989\u201391 Ford Taurus SHO<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The Ford Taurus SHO stretches the definition of \u201cmuscle car,\u201d but a speedy four-door held strong appeal for gearheads who needed a family hauler. The $20,000 price was reasonable, too. SHO stood for \u201cSuper High Output,\u201d from a Yamaha-built version of Ford\u2019s 3.0-liter Vulcan V-6. The high-winding V-6 made 220 horsepower and 200 pound-feet of torque, and the SHO came only with a five-speed stick until 1992.<\/span><\/p>\n The aluminum SHO V-6 used the day\u2019s best engine tech: double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder and a variable intake manifold, with the coolest looking set of intake runners outside of an Italian exotic. While front-wheel drive might seem to disqualify the SHO as a muscle car, the SHO was just a few ticks off a 5.0-liter Mustang\u2019s quarter-mile time, according to Car and Driver<\/em>. From there, the Taurus SHO pulled away from the Mustang to a 143-mph top speed, making it the fastest sedan available for under $60,000.<\/span><\/p>\n Ford Taurus SHO<\/p><\/div>\n 1992\u201393 GMC Typhoon<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n After building the shocker of the year with the 1991 Syclone pickup, GMC put the freakishly fast pickup\u2019s mechanical package into the more versatile Jimmy sport-utility to create the 1992 Typhoon. With the same 280-horsepower turbocharged 4.3-liter V-6 and full-time all-wheel-drive system as the Syclone, the Typhoon offered about the same performance, including 14-second quarter-mile times. But it had room for five and their luggage, which broadened its market.<\/span><\/p>\n Handling was good but not great. Remember, this thing still had a pickup truck frame and solid rear axle on leaf springs. The $30,000 price was an obstacle, but GMC still built about 4,700 Typhoons. The Typhoon was well ahead of its time; a quarter-century later, the hot models from luxury brands are hot rod SUVs.<\/span><\/p>\n GMC Typhoon (photo courtesy of GM Media)<\/p><\/div>\n 1994\u201396 Chevrolet Impala SS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n By the early 1990s, GM\u2019s big rear-drive coupes were history. So Chevy did something crazy by building a four-door muscle car. The 1994\u201396 Impala SS followed in the tire tracks of the 1960s Impala SS models, but it was even quicker.<\/span><\/p>\n The 1994\u201396 Impala SS was essentially a Caprice with most of the 9C1 police package chassis hardware, plus 17-inch aluminum wheels, black paint and trim and a leather-swathed cabin. Other colors were offered later. The LT1 5.7-liter small-block\u2019s 260 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque could hurl the big boat down the quarter-mile in 15 seconds flat, according to Car and Driver<\/em>. (As a comparison, Car Life<\/em> magazine had clocked a 1967 Impala SS427 at 15.7 seconds.) The 1994\u201396 Impala SS was also a surprisingly good back road handler, far better than its ancestors and comparable to some European sport sedans.<\/span><\/p>\n Chevy made just over 70,000 of the big muscle machines before putting its old rear-driver out to pasture after 1996. The Impala SS left a lasting impact, however, opening the doors, so to speak, for future muscle four-doors, including today\u2019s Chevrolet SS and the Dodge Charger R\/T.<\/span><\/p>\n 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS (photo courtesy of GM Media)<\/p><\/div>\n This article has been reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder, Hagerty. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Click here for more<\/span>\u00a0<\/i>classic car stories<\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from Hagerty, or here for more information on<\/span> the next Pomona Swap Meet & Classic Car Show<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":8799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[4702,4705,4703,4708,3979,4713,4714,4716,4717,4719,4720,4721,903,2998,15,4706,2742,1711,590,1667,4722,4711,4712,135,227,593,885,4309,4704,4715,4707,4710,4709,4699,4701,35,343,4718,4700],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/USE-FOR-HAGERTY-BLOG-ONLY-1987-Buick-GNX-GMMedia.jpg?fit=1200%2C881&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9nnZN-2hU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8798"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8868,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8798\/revisions\/8868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Ford](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pomonaswapmeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/USE-FOR-HAGERTY-BLOG-ONLY-Ford_Taurus_SHO.jpg?resize=800%2C475\")
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