Imagine a Musclecar Hall of Fame: GTO, 4-4-2, Chevelle SS, Road Runner, Mustang Mach I, and Hemi 'Cuda are on display--they're the Johnny Unitas, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschke, Mean Joe Greene, and Joe Namath of American muscle. But what about the players that made an impression for just a season or two? The Buick GSX Stage I, Mercury Cyclone Spoiler GT, Plymouth GTX, and American Motors Rebel Machine, the too often forgotten clinch players with badges made of ephemera that wait out the balloting, year after year? These are four quick rides with names and faces that'll confound all but the most committed enthusiast at the local cruise-in--but that doesn't mean they don't deserve to play.
The GTX is by far the most popular, but, by its second year on the market, it played second fiddle to the lighter/faster/cheaper/cuter-named Road Runner. The Spoiler is the top banana in a Merc musclecar troika, with more content and spoilers than the Cyclone and Cyclone GT, but it doesn't ring bells like the Cougar Eliminator. Kids might confuse the GSX's name with GNX, the latter a street-legal Buick Grand National racer from the 1980s. The Machine is a single-year musclecar from American Motors. Its maker's own AMX and Mark Donohue-inspired Trans-Am Javelins overshadowed the juiced-up family coupe. AM (later AMC) built the Machine only for 1970, the first 1000 in white, with red and blue stripes. Its nameplate was truly ephemeral in the form of stickers applied to various body parts.
All the hardware pictured here was born in 1970. Smog controls had begun to kick in, but not to the point of choking off America's big-displacement V-8s, as they would by the time "All in the Family" spun off "The Jeffersons." Horsepower and torque were still measured in SAE gross, not net, numbers, and insurance and premium gas for these beasts were still affordable. Now, on the precipice of the musclecar movement, every non-luxury brand had to have a halo.
Inflation was another cause of doom for the big-block intermediates. These four were priced well into the mid-$3000 range on up, too steep for many young buyers.
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