“在一个人抓到你之前抓到一个人！”
Motion Performance为建筑商乔尔·罗森（Joel Rosen）的三期专业肌肉车（Phase III Speciality Muscle Cars）所做的吸引人的销售宣传总结了20世纪60年代后期不断升级的表演场景。特别版的肌肉车对保持速度至关重要。乔尔和其他独立汽车制造商（如卡罗尔·谢尔比、乔治·赫斯特、迪克·哈雷尔、诺姆先生和吉姆·旺格斯）做了工厂做不到的事情：把这辆肌肉车变成烧轮胎的怪物。
虽然庞蒂亚克GTO在1964年建立了肌肉车类别，但许多公司的安全限制限制了工厂在展厅外提供交钥匙赛车。独立汽车制造商提高了外观和性能，试图做制造商不愿做的事情。Motion performance发布了一份书面保证：第三阶段汽车将以120英里/小时的速度在四分之一英里内行驶11.5英里！
汽车史上一些最具标志性的铭牌在这个时代被应用，包括猎豹、黑豹、皇家山猫、超级拥抱者、蝠鲼、超级蛇、平分、快车道和机器。制造商们是如何在假装不认可这些特别版肌肉车的同时，偷偷地将其宣传为“光环车”的呢？当工厂吸收他们的想法时，这些创新者发生了什么？里面都有。
肌肉车历史学家邓肯·布朗（Duncan Brown）带我们参观了这些特别版的肌肉车，它们的创造者，以及将这些野兽塑造成传奇的幕后力量，这些传奇留下了持久的遗产。
Muscle Car Special Editions
“Get one before one gets you!”
Motion Performance’s catchy sales pitch for builder Joel Rosen’s Phase III Specialty Muscle Cars sums up the escalating performance scene in the late 1960s. Special edition muscle cars were essential to keep pace. Joel and other independent car builders (such as Carroll Shelby, George Hurst, Dick Harrell, Mr. Norm, and Jim Wangers) did what the factories couldn’t do: take the muscle car and turn it into a tire-burning monster.
Although the Pontiac GTO established the muscle car category in 1964, a host of corporate safety restrictions restrained factories from offering turn-key race cars off the showroom floor. Independent car builders enhanced appearance and amplified performance in an attempt to do what the manufacturers wouldn’t. Motion Performance issued a written guarantee: Phase III cars would run 11.5 at 120 mph down the quarter-mile!
Some of the most iconic nameplates in automotive history were applied in this era with names that included Cheetah, Black Panther, Royal Bobcat, Super Hugger, Manta Ray, Super Snake, Deuce, Fast Track, and The Machine. How did manufacturers stealthily promote these special edition muscle cars as “halo cars” while pretending not to endorse them? What happened to these innovators when factories assimilated their ideas? It’s all covered inside.
Muscle car historian Duncan Brown takes us through these special edition muscle cars, their creators, and the behind-the-scenes forces that shaped these wild beasts into legends that left a lasting legacy.
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