mark viii muscle car, how is it not??

I'm just gonna say, after thinking about it for a while, the Mark VIII fits the general description of a luxury grand turismo far more closely than it does musclecar. However, musclecars aren't what they used to be. Back when a "musclecar" actually fit its own description, the Mark VIII would not even be in the same category. Today, however, the definition of musclecar and GT car have merged somewhat into a new category all its own. It all reality, true "musclecars" don't exist anymore. Few if any car buyers these days would purchase a stripped down, bare bones car, no matter how big and powerful the engine was. I know I wouldn't. I have grown accustomed to my "bells and whistles". As far as I'm concerned, I'll never "crank" down a window again as long as I live. So, given the 21st century criteria, the Mark VIII falls into the "Luxury Grand Touring Musclecar" category. It's technically the best of both worlds, in my opinion. It's not a true musclecar, but it's not all grand tourer either. It's a combination of both. And I love it!
 
Luxury Grand Touring Coupe or Muscle Car it doesn't matter I love the car and can be built to run like a muscle car.

That and just about everyone I know still over look it and rather talk about my mustang.

How about Undercover Muscle Car?
 
AVEY10 said:
you can fit 3 grown men in your trunk?? i can barely fit my three ten inch subwoofers in the trunk. and how you fittin 4 6 foot tall people in your car? im 6'5" and my sister who is 5'6" cant even sit in the back seat behind me.
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I just got my mark a little over a month ago, and I am just a little over 6'4 so I feel your pain! The problem is that my seat track motors in my Mark are fried, and when I bought the car the seats were in a position good enough for the guy I bought it from (who was 5'8) and I was forced to drive with my knees up against the panel just under the steering wheel for almost 2 weeks. I fixed an electrical problem and regained use of my windows (bad wire, and door handle cable getting caught in the regulator), locks, power mirror adjustment switch totally shorted, all seat functions (except back and forth), computer buttons, etc... Radio and CD changer were non functional but I dont mind since I have a custom built stereo (with amp racks and 3 amps, 2 x 12" Kicker comp subs, cooling fans and fits like a glove) from my Tbird going into my mark as soon as I get caught up with the important things and maintenance on the car.

After fixing most of the the electrical problems, I pressed my feet into the firewall just around the side of the pedals, and pushed against the back of the seat as hard as I could while holding the reverse switch for the seat, and I got the seat to reverse all the way - woohoo!! I did the same with the passenger seat as well. I definitely have to get those seat motors fixed. I thought it was a short in the seat memory switch like I had in my Tbird when in swapped Mark 8 seats into that car, but it wasnt the case. The forward/reverse motors are bad in both seats. When you hit forward or reverse on both seats, they want to move but die immediately even when I hook the motors directly to 12v power source.

The interior is large and comfortable, but the back seat is a little cramped for feet and legs if you have tall people in the front seats.

I guess what I am getting at, is that the Mark is definitely a GT. I have never been able to comfortably fit my size 16 feet in a sports car, muscle car, and I had to cut away at part of the dash in my Prelude years ago to have room for my foot over the clutch pedal (considered a sports coupe). A GT is supposed to be at least relatively comfortable, and while the performance isnt overwhelming its still quite excellent!

My Tbird would always get thumbs up and comments from people relating it to a muscle car. While I took it as a compliment, and it was sporty with a 347ci motor, it was certainly no muscle car either (even though being faster than some) and that car was certainly plenty faster than my Mark which is a beast as it is (picture attached to this thread if it works!) Sports cars and Muscle cars certainly dont have all these features that we are used to in our Marks.


LaserSVT said:
photo_movieMatrix-quoteSpoon.jpg
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This along with the baby (not happy being spoon fed) in the hub swap and wheels thread pretty much made my day - I have been chuckling to myself now for the past hour! :)

TbirdLX_347.jpg
 
It's about 100 horse short.

I owned a couple of muscle cars with my 69 Cutlass with a 502 crate mill being my best one, 475 horse and 560 ft/lbs.

You really don't have to worry about losing the Mark when passing in the less than perfect traction conditions. The Olds was a handful at WOT, but very rewarding.

I dream about crate motors sometimes, this has been in my latest ones;

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=11829
 
One issue I have with some peeps info is....The term pony car was not coined in the 80s. It was used in ads for thr 64 mustang. Automotive journalist used it in a review of the mustang in 1964 and it stuck. Also, the first pony car was the barracuda, not the mustang as many think. I also still think if your mark is modded, then it is a hot rod. If not then it is just a luxo barge.
 
philly0420 said:
Also, the first pony car was the barracuda, not the mustang as many think.
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:confused: The term "ponycar" was used specifically to describe the Mustang. The car was named after a horse. So automotive journalists used that to come up with a neat nickname. Hence the term "Ponycar". Just because it came out less than a year earlier than the Mustang doesn't make the 'Cuda the "first" ponycar. The term wasn't coined until after the Mustang was introduced. The 'Cuda was grandfathered into the ponycar family after the nickname had been created. If the 'Cuda had originated its own descriptive term, it probably would have been something like "Fishycar" or maybe "Guppycar":lol:
 
I know the term was used to decribe the mustang, but the first production pony car was the barracuda which came out a few months before the mustang. It didn't sell well but it was still the first pony car. Google that :q:q:q:q.
 
philly0420 said:
I know the term was used to decribe the mustang, but the first production pony car was the barracuda which came out a few months before the mustang. It didn't sell well but it was still the first pony car. Google that :q:q:q:q.
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Actually, the Barracuda debuted about two weeks before the 'Stang. And it was introduced as a competitor of the Mustang.

From Wikipedia (yeah, I know:rolleyes:):

"However, the Mustang, unlike the Barracuda, featured a completely unique body style from the car on which it was based (the Ford Falcon), making it the first true pony car."

Google's nice:D
 
right you are thaywood

myself i think of it as a sports coupe - 15 seconds isn't muscle in my opinion --

- The Plymouth Barracuda was the first pony car, debuting two weeks before the Ford Mustang. It was quickly eclipsed by the Mustang and the Camaro/Firebird due, but would make a name for itself in 1970 when it was available with an engine its competition could only dream of, the Hemi.

4639.gif
 
You do realize that the hemispherical engine was not invented by Chrysler right.
Look up welch it was purchased by GM so Chrysler copied GM
 
And the term pony car came about cause the mustang.
what idiot in 63 saw a barracuda and said ponycar that makes no sense.
Ask Dennis Shattuk where the term came from
 
philly0420 said:
I never said anyone called the cuda a pony car first. The term was used to describe the stang, but the barracuda was first and that is a fact.
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But that would make the mustang the first pony cac being that is where the name came. from and without the mustang there would be no such thing ergo mustang was the first pony car otherwise you could say the futura sprint was the first pony car
 
In the classic car community the barracuda is known as the first pony car. As much as I want to just ignore all that and agree with you......I can't. Just because a journalist used it to describe the stang don't mean the stang was the first pony car. If that never happened, there still would have been some term used for these cars. And guess what....the cuda would still be the first one.
 
slowmkviii said:
But that would make the mustang the first pony car being that is where the name came from and without the mustang there would be no such thing ergo mustang was the first pony car otherwise you could say the futura sprint was the first pony car
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Hmmm...

philly0420 said:
In the classic car community the barracuda is known as the first pony car. As much as I want to just ignore all that and agree with you......I can't. Just because a journalist used it to describe the stang don't mean the stang was the first pony car. If that never happened, there still would have been some term used for these cars. And guess what....the cuda would still be the first one.
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Technically, the Falcon Futura Sprint probably should be considered the first ponycar. It fits the category having a compact (for the time) 2-door body, V-8, RWD, bucket seats, console, and floor mounted shifter. And it came out before the Barracuda. And I used to be a part of the classic car community having owned several 1960's cars and conversing with crowds of other classic car owners. And honestly, this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone thinking the Barracuda was considered the first ponycar (admittedly, that was 20-odd years ago and I may be out of the loop nowadays with these new fangled notions the younguns have). The 'Cuda is considered a ponycar, but as far as I've heard, not the first. That would be the Mustang because that was the car that literally started the ponycar craze. The 'Cuda was grandfathered into the category apparently because it shared certain aspects of the ponycar class (and because the term "Fishycar" is just not as cool as "Ponycar":D). It was not as unique as the Mustang, Camaro, Firebird etc. But it fits the category.

However, we could debate this topic endlessly. One could also consider the Corvair Monza to be the first. Or the Studebaker Avanti. Or even the Pontiac Tempest. There were several compact sporty cars that were introduced before the Mustang that could fit the "Ponycar" category. However, it doesn't matter because the Mustang originated the class and the term. Therefore, no matter how many sporty cars came before the Mustang, the Mustang is and will always be the first car to wear the "Ponycar" moniker.
 
i cant believe someone brought this discussion up again.with everyones ability to use google, websters, wickepedia, and encyclopedia if you go by definition of the word and i dont give a :q:q:q:q what label is on it even though the clincher is in lsc (sport coupe) which is in the definition, not gt, gs, ss, gtp, gtx,gto, which all were on muscle cars of the 60's, it is by definition a muscle car of its time its 290 hp was by far the highest in its class besides pony cars which were made for gt racing and muscle cars for 1/4 mile, the old chevelle, monte carlo, gto fairlaine all were built to go fast in the 1/4 and be sold with options on the street. sue you could get them bare with non carpet,but there was only one that was sold like that on the street, completely bare i believe it was a dodge i cant remember and im done googling. for its time the lsc carried the highest hp around and there werent any competitors besides the cadillac, and now with a 550hp cts-v nodody considers cadillac a muscle car, because its DEAD. it died in 73 there is a revival that started in 98 with higher hp going in cars 300 was considered 'o my god thats alot' now you see v6 with 300 hp and a hyundai with 425 hp. were coming again to the end of a hp era where soon epa is going 'green' oil is skyrocketing just a different style than 73 and this thread is about musclecar not ponycar which have the highest hp levels ever seen in production BASE models. stick with what it is a Luxury Sport Coupe, its in the name.:repost:
 
we can talk pony cars vs musclecars that would sort of be feasable, i was just saying with all the search engines the word is the word if it fits the description it is what it is. id love to see the rebirth of the chevelle,pontiac is dead but they were the only company not to go retro with the gto which i like, but with the $ id get this
http://transamdepot.com/
its totally nasty bring them a ss camaro andthey convert it into the smokey and the bandit style t/a, they'll even install t tops check it out. pricey because you still have to buy the ss and then depending on the options, supercharger good for 750 hp another 30k
look at it its cool,they even have an 1100hp model white with blue stripes
showroom_5.jpg
 
A lot of pony cars were not muscle cars. A sub 300 horse sled like our Marks are definitely not muscle cars.

Get in something strong enough to be a problem in any WOT situation and you will see the difference.

That is my opinion. ;)
 
opinions are like well you know, this is based on fact, read thread from start and you'll see the facts from the world wide web!NO PONY CARS were or are musclecars period ,because they're named different, hence the name ponycar/musclecar because aswas stated they were built for different purposes. and for a while 50's musclecars were sub 300 and so were some 60's until the big blocks started coming out.
 
Wikipedia is simply the opinion of the guy who last edits the page.

Miriam Webster
: any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving

So a 2 door coupe with a powerful engine is really what a 'muscle car is.

If you call 300 horse in a 3800 lb car powerful, then I guess you are right.

I do not, I have had much stronger cars. Some of then were muscle cars, including one 65 Widcat, that was more like a Mark then the rest ... but stronger.
 
PenGun said:
Wikipedia is simply the opinion of the guy who last edits the page.

Miriam Webster
: any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving

So a 2 door coupe with a powerful engine is really what a 'muscle car is.

If you call 300 horse in a 3800 lb car powerful, then I guess you are right.

I do not, I have had much stronger cars. Some of then were muscle cars, including one 65 Widcat, that was more like a Mark then the rest ... but stronger.
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if you look closer at wickepedia they check to verify facts, askn for more info on a particular item and then state has yet to be verified. its not a list of opinion.but magazines webster encyclopedia etc all say the same.
but for argument,ok its fun but really musclecars died in 73.
 
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