muscle car

English

Etymology

From muscle +‎ car.

Noun

muscle car (plural muscle cars)

1. Any of a variety of automobiles, especially American sedans from the 1960s and early 1970s, that are modified to look and perform like race cars and equipped with large, powerful V8 engines that allow for quick acceleration to high speeds; but still designed for travel on regular highways.
   • 2011, Kat Martin, A Song for My Mother, Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 200:

     In his senior year, he had run across an old '66 Chevy Super Sport headed for the junkyard, bought it for a song, and overhauled it with his dad's help, turning it into the big red muscle car it was back in its day.

   • 2017, Finbarr O'Reilly, Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War, Viking, →ISBN, page 10:

     During high school he'd spent four years working as a breakfast cook and dishwasher in Sal's calzone restaurant, saving up enough money to buy himself a muscle car, a maroon 1973 Mercury Cougar XR-7, which he painted black.

Coordinate terms

• pony car
• sportscar
• supercar
• hot rod

Translations

variety of automobile

• Finnish: muskeliauto (fi)
• German: Muscle-Car n