During the golden age of muscle, American manufacturers developed a long list of epic V8 engines. While motors like Ford's 427 "side oiler ... intermediates, pony cars, and even compacts received ...

and a low-rise version of the 427-ci "side oiler" rated at 390 hp, the 1968 Mercury Cougar GT-E 427 was one of the most impressive upscale muscle cars of the era. Oldsmobile was the quickest brand ...

On the plus side, it was relatively light at around ... One of the best things about the '60s and '70s muscle cars is that there was so much choice and so many possible configurations and setups ...

In the Modern Age of American Muscle, there has been an absolutely insane horsepower war with supercharged V-8s hitting over 1,000 horsepower, propelling cars to single-digit quarter-mile times.

They escalated things in 1967 with the introduction of the Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird, but an odd corporate decision years earlier kept all of these awesome rides out of the muscle car elite.