American Reacts to 10 Of The BEST European Muscle Cars
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- Опубліковано 12 тра 2024
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I'm surprised they didn't mention that the Jenson Interceptor had a big block 440 V8 and 4-wheel drive, well the FF model that my brother used to own did.
The model shown was a 2 wheel drive. Would also not have been very muscle car, a 4wd with ABS in the early 70's.
The FF and Interceptor both started with the 383 motor in 1966/67.
440 only in the Interceptor later in the seventies.
The FF was the first mass-produced car with all-wheel drive and an anti-lock braking system.
Was before the Audi Quattro.
@@Wankdorf183That is correct. They weren't just before Audi, they were 14 years before Audi. The Jensen FF was introduced in 1966. Unfortunately the 4WD system was located where the pedal box would have been on LHD models, so it was only delivered as RHD
Didn't it was mad max his car? 🤔
The De Tomaso looks like a really angry Mk5 Ford Cortina, hell of a stance on it though, wicked car.
The front gave me Ford Granada MK1 vibes. Looks badass though
@@brettwilliams5594Original Granada Mk1 headlights and turn signals on it
I had to double check for a second, I thought they were going to show us a V6 Granada and pass that off as a muscle car.
@@alastairward2774 if the mustang 2 is a muscle car then the granada can be one too same motor in them😂
Like an early Fox Body
Aston Martin shows the world just how beautiful a car can be for whatever year it was designed, truly beautiful cars.
how long its been owned by Ford before sold off to Malaysia??
@@Arltratlo what does that have anything to do with looks of a car, I don't care if they are owned by Eskimos riding on golden unicorns, makes no difference to my original statement.
A car can be so beautiful... but if it constantly has electrical problems and other problems, it still remains a shit car. 🤣🤣
They all look like munted Jaguars from the early 90's
@@Atreusz Nope, a Ferrari is still a good car regardless of it being Italian, so I believe your coalition between poor electricals and a and a bad car is fundamentally wrong. In the super car business what you are describing they refer to as CHARACTER 😎🤣🤣🤣
A „coop“ is where you keep the chickens 😉.
They have no idea that the last e is actually é...... Coupé..... the US knows how to bastardise a language....
My father owned the Jensen Interceptor MK II. Probably my favourite of the cars he owned when I was young.
Mk IV was the one to have!
I've had the pleasure of rising in the back of an FF. Albeit for 15 minutes, and just cruising, but it cemented my love for them. 👌
V8 TVRs they always win any shouting match between cars. They were crazy with their designs and the cars were brutal when you run out of talent
They were spectacular to look at but my god they wanted to kill you just for suggesting the idea of changing direction while driving them
@@lgd6619 Yep, That sounds like a muscle car to me :D
And the wedge shaped V8’s had no traction control or ABS and would leave the road at the slightest hint of dampness on the surface. Proper BIG boys cars. These cars also ran a heavily modified Buick/Rover V8
@@timoliver8940 To be fair TVR were consistent.....Even that cars that had ABS and Traction control would still leave the road without a moments hesitation :)
Yep but queality of cars suck...but modern TVR models are great.
Yellow Sagaris is soo good.
One of the things I love about 70's American muscle cars is that they often look Italian! Some are truly beautiful.
Many of them look great until you stare at them for a while and realise a lot of them have odd proportions, like much more metal ahead of the front wheel than is between the wheel and leading edge of the door. They also seem to build cars with really tall rear quarters making the rear wheel look to small.
If you look at many of the front engined cars of the world that are considered beautiful and compare you'll see what I mean.
Name one.
@@eatsmylifeYT It's a 60's car, but 1968 Chevy Camaro.
@@TTTzzzz You don't know much about cars, do you? A 1968 Camaro doesn't look in any way European.
And some italian cars (i think to FIAT 128 Coupe) looked as small american muscle cars.
My Father had an SD1. It was a beast,
sure, how much time its spend in the repair shop??
You should take another look at the Jensen Interceptor from the rear.
The enormous & heavy rear screen opens up hatchback style for loading luggage or your weekly shop.
Very expensive when new, they were in Rolls Royce territory .
From memory, I think they were powered by a 7 litre Chrysler engine, so they went like a scalded cat.
They were still less money than an Aston. And as quick if not quicker. Ginger (I'm a dickhead) Baker had one.
First a 383 6.3 litre then later some had the 440 7.2 litre option for the SP cars. All Chrysler motors.
Expensive new and more expensive restoring the usual rust buckets that remain looking affordable.
DeTomaso, famous for putting huge US V8 inside superb italian ciselled designs
My Dad had 3 SD1 V8's, such a cool car plus Rover V8, is a legendary engine. Also the hood lifts forward, which I loved as a kid.
My brother had a vauxhal viva with a rover v8 in it . . Went quite well for a small car 🤣👍
ISO's most famous car is the Issetta bubble car which was licenced to various companies to manufacture, the most notable of which was BMW. The development of the Grifo was the work of Giotto Bizzarrini who later had a disagreement with ISO and ended his collaboration with them. The 5300 GT is just a later development of the ISO Grifo.
The Rover SD1 was a badass car, they were popular with criminals as getaway cars so the UK police ended up adopting them as pursuit cars.
It was just about the one police car over here that made you feel like you couldn't get away from it. You'd hear the V8 coming before you saw the car. Brutal.
the SD1 been so great, it got replaced with Volvo´s and BMW´s....
are they still building it???
btw: what is a Rover anyway??
@@Arltratlo The UK police held onto the SD1's for a really long time. IIRC they even near doubled the service life for them before they were replaced.
@@Arltratlo If you're being genuine they stopped using the SD1 because it left production. But they did stockpile a large portion of them meaning they were still in use a good 10 years after the car left production.
As for Rover itself. It got bought out and by BMW in the mid-'90s. They wanted the Range Rovers 4x4 tech and the new Mini which they were developing at the time. This separated Rover from is subsidiaries and asset stripped it before selling it off.
It was picked up by Phoenix Consortium and they are the reason the brand is gone. It turned out they had no plans to keep the company going, all funds were being sent straight to their own bank accounts making them all extremely rich and draining the company of money and resources. As soon as it reached bankruptcy they fled the country to avoid being locked up. The workers at the factory didn't even get their pensions, the whole situation was fucked.
When the company was in liquidation Ford stepped in and purchased Rover reuniting it with Land Rover and Range Rover. However as they already owned Jaguar they stated there was no reason to keep producing Rovers as they'd just be competing with each other. They bought it to stop the brand ending up like MG or Lancia as it would hurt LR/RRs image. It's now owned by JLR and is still dormant.
The SD1s and the RS2000s were some of the best police cara in the UK, some of the 3.0 senators were fairly cool aswell
@@CunningStunt92 i wonder how many Rovers they building in the UK today!
Gday Ian. The De Tomaso with the 351 Cleveland at 3:20.
Australian motor after about 1973 since the 351 Cleveland motors would have been sourced from Ford Australia from their Geelong engine plant. This was after Cleveland motor design US production ceased and the tooling was sent to Australia. The local Australian Cleveland was refined and made in both 351 and 302 versions. Available optionally in Falcon and Fairlane cars. Standard in the Falcon GT and was the motor used by the Mad Max car.
De Tomaso were upset when Ford scrapped the tooling in 1983 without letting them know.
So those later De Tomaso cars are a bit of an Australian muscle car.
I had a 68 Mustang that had the original engine replaced with another 302. The guy I bought it from said it was a Midland and there weren't any after market parts for it. I paid the low asking price and left sharply.. As it actually had an Aussie 302 with the large 4v heads.. So after I put a 4V inlet manifold with a Holly 4 barrel and long tube headers replacing the totally wrong cast iron anchors, It came alive..
Being european/south american this is so cool to watch never even heard of half of those, but I need to shout out the many little muscle cars from argentina and brazil, just a hand few have a proper v8, but the 6cc and even the air cooled offseries cars are just amazingly beautiful, chevrolet opala BR, ford taunus AR, chevrolet maverick BR, dodge charger BR, dodge polara AR, dodge valiant AR, Miura top sport, Puma GTB, Adamo GT, L’Automobile ventura, Santa Matilde, L’auto Craft Sabre
😈 Dodge Demon 🇨🇴
Fun list and reaction. Missing one of the most obvious ones: The Alfa Romeo Montreal!
No Facel Vega HK500 on the list? Shame, fantastic car! French car with American muscle.
They also missed the Bristol Fighter (very few know about but it had Viper engine) Lotus Carlton (best known among thefts for outrunning cops), Ford Capri, Lancia Delta Integrale EVO
De Tomaso Mangusta is basically European father of Pantera, BMW 625 and the mighty BMW 850, and not sure how they missed the Jaguar -E-Type & Alfa Romeo GTA & 105 GTV..
Its more like sedan??
Soo big.
@@joe125ful have you seen a muscle car they are gigantic
ford mustang mach one for example
@@flopjul3022 Mustang Mach is really not that big....Cadilac Eldorado for example is big muscle car if you think about big ones.
@@poplaurentiu4148 Bristol Beaufighter convertible 5.9 liter Chrysler Hemi plus supercharger 340 bhp ?
Many home built muscles cars here in the UK. The kitcar scene has provided so much choice over the years. Check out the Ultima GTR, Westfield SEight etc with big V8's ! I've owned / built many Rover V8 powered cars from the standard 3.5 SD1 through to Robin Hood V8 and a Ginetta G27 with a highly tuned 3.9 V8. Great fun and amazing sound track !
I'm sorry, but Ultima, for sure, is not a muscle car. Yes, they have V8s, but really they are pure blood, mid-engine race cars, that sometimes happen to be road legal.
I saw a Longchamp recently, super cool to see in person and super rare, they only made 394 coupés and 16 convertible.
Hi Ian look at a side view of the jenson interceptor, it will all make sense the sp version came with a 440 mopar v8.
SD1 stood for Special Developments, I use to look after an Aston Martin v8 vantage , absolutely beautiful car , the engine was hand built by one person and had their name on a metal plaque on the engine .
My 10 list: Bristol Britannia/Brigand from UK, Peugeot 504 coupe, Opel Manta, Opel Commodore, , Citroen SM, Saab 900 turbo, Fiat Dino, Fiat 130 coupe, Volvo P 1800,VW Karmann Ghia.
Don't forget the opel monza also.
@@fintan9705 Monza is more a GT, Manta a pony car. Of the cars above none would be a muscle car seeing as none of them other than the Bristol had a V8 - and the Bristol was "too young".
I think a part of a muscle car idea or culture is, that it has its roots in working class and afordable mass production. In
my opinion, something similar in Europe ad its gas prices would be GTI versions of normal cars.
Hot hatchbacks come to mind when talking about mass - produced and affordable cars for working class.6
Or the "pony cars" of the 60s/70s like Ford Capri, Opel Manta, VW Scirocco etc,
Mercedes were so good looking in the 80's, the AMG Hammer probably my favourite Mercedes, followed closely by the 190E EVO II & 190E Cosworth.
Cosworth? all group A(Touring Car) Mercedes 190 have the cosworth engine from the 190E 2.3 16V to the >500 build Group A EVO models. When the rules change car manufacture don´t wont build 5000 new Homologations Models instead of that, its cheaper to build the needed 500 Evo´s of the existing Model. Mercdes in den 80ern war die Rentner Karre schlecht hin mit wackel Dackel im W201 oder W123- W124.
@@mariojakel5544 YES, 190E COSWORTH. Firstly I was talking looks, so we are talking trim pack here, so 2 different ''trim packs'' can use the same engine, my friends dad had a 190E Cosworth & that was not an EVO II, if you search Mercedes Cosworth & EVO II, you get 2 different trim packs, the EVO ii model, it has wider arches and a bigger spoiler. so different trim for the same car! you can go check if you would like,,, I'll wait!
@@TriPBOOMER this i against the Group A rules, the Rule is a manufactor must build 5000 Cars for the homoglation, than you can use this car as base for a EVO version with a minimum of 500 units so you can use the EVO as Base for a Group A Racecar. The 190E 2,3 16V was sold in some countrys as a 190E2,3 16V cosworth depents on how popular cosworth is in this country.
@@mariojakel5544 so is your argument that I'm not typing ''2.3 16v'' when I called it a 190E Cosworth? & so you know I live in the UK, so which label do you think the car got here? and again this is the model the EVO II was based on, further cementing that I was right to label these models as separate, as a 190E ''2.3 16v'' EVO II might be a 190E ''2.3 16v'' Cosworth, but a 190E ''2.3 16v'' Cosworth, is not a 190E ''2.3 16v'' EVO II. Besides the AMG Hammer looks better than both of them anyways.
@@TriPBOOMER no the only thing i say is the W201, W123, W124 are driven by very old People with a Hat and a bobblehead in the 80th
The biggest difference between US & European muscle cars is the European ones are all better looking and can go around corners.
Not always better looking, but they could take corners.
@@TTTzzzzthe english ones fall apart orr catch firebefore getting to a corner . The trans am cars and Aussie muscle cars handled well
they produce way more power by liters and aren't dump truck heavy
@@pikminologueraisin2139 ah that old ricer quote. who cares. at least they dont look feminine
@@JohnSmith-rw8uh like that's a bad thing
Check Out the Opel Admiral V8 , the Opel Commodore V8 , the Opel Diplomat V8 ,the Bitter CD 5.4 all Germany Cars
And all of them are based on General Motors models as Opel was owned by General Motors!
@@escariol And also all not really muscle cars but more power sedans, an argument COULD be made for the Bitter though.
It's not quite a muscle car and more of a super saloon, but you should check out the 1990-1992 Lotus Carlton/Omega if you haven't already done so. UK police wanted the model banned from sale, because it was so damn fast it could outrun everything the police had, including their helicopters.
It was a 4 door saloon with supercar performance, fitted with a 3.6L twin turbo straight six pushing out 370+bhp and the 6 speed manual from a ZR-1, it had a 5.1 second 0-60 and a top speed of 177mph.
Surprised no TVR's
Neither Marcos.
Agreed but TVR is more like sport car instead of blocky muscle car.
@@joe125ful but probably closer to an affordable muscle car than an Aston is - also a sports/GT car with a high price tag
The Jensen had a variant called the Jensen FF (Ferguson Formula) , which was one of the first road cars with 4 wheel drive.
Was the first with constant all wheel drive in 1966 as opposed to the primitive off road selectable four wheel drives like Jeeps and Land Rovers etc.
And Girlock antilock brakes iirc.
The pioneering ABS brakes in the FF were Dunlop Maxaret ABS originally developed and applied to aircraft landing wheels.
Well before the later Mercedes ABS system.
Ian, check out the AC 428 'Frua'. Built by AC Cars (the people who built Cobras for Shelby) it used a Cobra chassis extended 6", a body styled and built by Frua in Italy and was fitted with a Ford 428 V8.
Now this was interesting. So many cars / models i have newer heard of.
Glad they included a Proper AMG.
Actually, the AMG Hammer had a 6.0 liter 32-valve V8 producing 380 bhp. Knowing how Germans are, they probably understated the engine output, and the engine probably made more than that. I have it from a reliable source that the V8 gave out somewhere in the vicinity of 411 bhp. It gave Ferraris and Porsches a run for the money and absolutely demolished American muscle cars of the era.
The article made a mistake. The MB 500E came out in 1990 while the AMG Hammer came out in 1986, several years before.
my father had a couple of Rover SD 1's . The Jensen was made a few hundred yards from my apartment in West Bromwich, all gentrified now.
Fun fact: Iso was the same company that designed the 1950s Isetta micro car, later famously built under license by BMW. 😉
In total, 330 Series I and 83 Series II cars were built for a total of 413 cars, 90 of which were 7-litre versions. The rarest are the Series II 5-speeds (23 built) and the Series II Targa (4 built). Due to their rarity today, Grifos are desirable collectibles. This is according to Google.
There are two units of the De Tomaso Longchamp here in Brazil (one in red and one in blue), and I've seen them both in person. It's a really beautiful car! It has muscle car proportions, but its styling has some clear European influences.
@IWrocker
GM Build Cars in Switzerland from 1936 to 1975.
With the FF, Jensen was the first manufacturer to install all-wheel drive and an anti-lock braking system in a series car.
For me, when V8 then a Volvo S80.
Yes, they assembled Camaros in the GM factory in Biel/Bienne. I own a 1979 model from there so they must have building them for a longer period. Unfortunately there´s not a lot of information to find online. Quite bizarre to find a "Made in Switzerland" plaque inside your original US muscle car... 😁
The best video to learn at some persons that V8 was a french invention and the first manufacturer who sold genuine V8 in his cars is french also
Aston Martin made one-off Victor and 110 examples of Valour which resemble the '77-'89 V8 Vantage. Both Victor and Valour are manual V12's.
I would also argue that that newer 2000-2018-ish German V8 cars are also classified as Euro muscle cars. Cars such as 6.2l W204 C63, W211 E55/E63, W212/W213 E63, E39 M5, E92 M3, B8 RS5 and S5 pre-facelift that had V8, B7 and B8 RS4 and many others
Any Mercedes AMG HAMMER is a win for me find some storys on UA-cam fantastic cars
Swiss Cars surprise you? Take a hard look at the Chevrolet Logo... and look up Mr. Chevrolet... 😄
The ISO Grifo Is from the same italian company that designed the original version of what became BMW Isetta (initially Isotta).
Btw in my opinion the americanesque muscle cars feel exotic in Europe, the cars occupying the same market are cars like Mercedes 190 that was in this list, and there are examples also from BMW(M6 from the 80s), Opel(Manta, Rekord, Commodore), Alfa Romeo(the "Montreal" is more Americanesque but still saw proper industrial production unlike many mentioned here, also the classic "Giulia" of the 70s or the ”75" in the 90s appealed to the same kind of common "petrolhead" customer as muscle cars do in America), even Lancia ( Fulvia coupé, Montecarlo or maybe the V8 Ferrari-engined Thema 8.32?)
No Isotta solo Isetta
I'd say the Pantera is kind of a muscle car too, it's a mid-engined Lamborghini Countach lookalike from the 70s, powered by that Ford Cleveland V8!
Also, the Opel Diplomat!
They could have easilly extended the list tbh, I always seen the V8 powered BMW E31 as a muscle car, think there were several Italian cars from the 70s and 80s that could fit the description too, Maserati Kayalami for example. Then you have TVR.
The E31 was more of a grand tourer, and in top spec it had a V12. Apparently, for this list it must be a V8 but no other criteria really apply. They included a couple I'd definitely consider sports cars or exotics...
Also surprised that there were no M5's on the list. While the classic ones all had inline 6 (as the automotive gods intended), the E39 (98-03) had a beautiful naturally aspirated V8. It even made decent power from the factory, unlike most american V8's 😂
These are fun, a great crossover. The ISO Grifo might be my favorite too.
The Ford Capri 3.0, 2.8 V8 should be on this list.
It was in BTCC, and raced against the Rover SD1 ( my first car )Jag XJS-6s.
Had a few Capris as well.
I was a fan of the Capri but always felt they should have been faster.
6:35 ah the Rover SD1 "Styled to look like a Ferrari Daytona" - Jeremy Clarkson in the Leyland Challenge
Bizzarrini worked to ISO on the grifo. He started his career in Ferrari. Ferrari wanted he leaved in 1961. So he created the Lamborghini V12, he made F1 in ATS , created Ferrari breadvan... A great man who died maybe one years ago.
Letty uses a Jenson Interceptor in Fast 6, I love this car!
The internationally renowed Automobile Year Book from Italy, user to come out every year - huge book, and listed all the car brands and models from the entire world, with additional articles on various car break throughs and research. I don't know if it is made anymore ?
I have the 1981 version with the Aston Martin Bulldog on the cover.
Most of them were expensive luxury cars back in the day. The only cars I would consider European muscle cars are the British Uren Stampede and the German Mako V8, both Capris equipped with a Ford 302 Windsor. And maybe the Mako P, an European Granada Mk2 with Porsche 928 V8 engine, but that was also more considered luxury in a sleeper package.
At the end of Rover/MG there was of course the saloon and Touring versions of the Rover 75 with the 4.6ltr V8 out of the Mustang
Love a good European muscle car, i personally think they are much better designed for handling options.
I saw a bloke in Melbourne the other day with a Jensen interceptor. Tools everywhere, swearing and kicking the shit out of a classic car in a random carpark🤨🤣
I said nice car and he looked at me like a scene out of 'The shining '! 🤣
Well, there IS a reason why a German saying goes something like "If you've got an old Brit - better put another one in your garage, you'll need the spare parts!".
LOTUS - Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious
JAGUAR - Junk Always Going Under At Repair
ROVER - Reliability Optional Very Expensive Repairs
The Jensen Interceptor could even be had with a Hemi 426, so it was said to be quick.
I was told that it was a fallacy born out of the confusion that it was a 440 Chrysler/Didge engine, us Brits thought that Chrysler only produced hemis at the time and not the 440cuin wedge head, triple pack Dodge engine
Also available with four wheel drive which was wild for a GT/Muscle car. Potentially the first of it's kind!
The SD1 Rover stands out amongst all these exotics purely for the number produced.
Alas build quality, let it down and personally I hated the dashboard !
It might have had the V-8 but it was never really a muscle car.
More like a practical GT hatchback.
Growing up my neighbour had 3(!) of those Iso Grifo's in various stages of restoration in his garage.
Really cool cars, and I've never seen another one except those 3.
Even before the Pantera, I saw [ and fell in love with the DeTomaso Mangusta
🚗🙂
2:29 you should look at the detomaso p72 and p900
you will be blown away by the design
Ian You Forgot the Opel Diplomat With A Chevy V8 15:58
Mercedes S600 is a real european beast
ISO Grifo´s back window is soooo awesome!
You could include the Gordon Keeble, i think you would like those. It had a 327 V8 small block.
Was hoping to hear their engines, not just see photos. Oh well.
Some very obscure brands. I have to keep with you that the Aston Martin Vantage V8 front end looks very much like a Shelby Mustang.
The Monica 560 is a very nice car, and it's a proper sedan as it has a boot lid and not a hatchback.
They never made a 2 door coupe version, but that should have looked even better. An original may be too valuable to use as a basis for a coupe, maybe an idea for a recreation?
Ford Fiesta XR2, Ford Escort XR3, Ford Siera XR4, Ford Capri 2.8i, Ford Granada coupe Mk1 2.10 (3 liter), Jaguar XJ-6 5.3 daimler. Hot cars I had in the neighbourhood growing up in the late '70 & early '80s
When US was obsessed with muscle cars, Europe concentrated on producing sports cars
When I think back to my days of childhood regarding a muscle car, the Ford Capri comes to my mind. Yea, Ford is a USA company but Ford Germany and Ford UK were very autonomous and I don't know if the Capri was released in the US at all. It has the long bonnet, has two doors and imho looks very muscular, if you take the top tier motorized versions. Yes I know, the normal Ford Capri was 2.6l V6 or max 3.0l V6 NA and then there was a 2.8L V6 turbo, but did you know there was a tuner who took the Ford Capri S and made them into Mako V8s with almost 300 hp and sold them just as normal cars?
0-100kmh (0-62mph) in 6.9s, top speed rated at 240kmh (149mph).
----- as a race car -----
A now legendary Ford Capri Turbo (by Zackspeed Racing) in 1977 and 1978 had only a 1.4l engine but due to turbo charging was able to produce up to 600hp at 23psi for a short amount of time in qualifying or for an overtake. The driver had a small wheel in the cockpit to control the boost pressure and was able to turn it up or down. At max boost the engine would not last long, so the normal hp output was around 400hp.
Anyone who has ever wayched a Mad Max movie got to know what a Ford Falcon is and those are all aussies. They are absolutly iconic.
We used to call them hybrids in Europe, take an American V8 and shove it in a European sports car that you would never imagine would fit one. The Sunbeam Tiger was also a nice example. Anyway today the word Hybrid has a different connotation but so has Bud Light.
11:50 The Mustang-Martin Vantage
I always called them like that ! :D
Mercedes AMG SLS (or the AMG GT) - I think they would also qualify as European muscle cars.
All of those cars were produced in really small numbers. There was great interest in American muscle cars in the 1970s but then the oil crisis happened. Bottom line is, they are not practical in Europe, too bulky and using a lot of fuel. But many enthusiast are now driving American muscle cars, you see lots of them on the roads.
As to real mass produced muscle cars the Ford Granada of the 1970s comes to mind. It only had engines from 2.0 V6 to 5.0 liters V8 but those were already considered excessive in Europe.
Look for MARCOS Mantula V8. Perfect British muscle car.
Got a ride in an SD1 years ago. Very quick, awesome sound and so damn comfortable!
Check out the Alfa Romeo Montreal !! One of the best V8 ever❤
The Hammer AMG Benz V8 W124 Series
Estonia make cars too. Yes we have two brands even. One is Estfield pure muscel car and other is electric car maker Nordauto.
Mercedes Benz 450 SLC 5.0 V8 was a great german Muscle Car
If you consider cobra as muscle car...the best european muscle cars are English roadsters with V8. As TVR, Triumph, Morgan, Daimler, Bristol...etc etc. BMW 507, Z8 or simply M5 e39...all Big V8 Mercedes, all V8 jaguars...
Check out Jaguar XJS V12 TWR, Tom Walkinshaw drove it at Bathurst winner in 1985 ... sounds amazing ..
The Rover had a Buick designed 3.5l V8 which Rover bought the rights to, that engine is Aluminium..... basically powered UK Motorsports for decades .
The last de Tomasos used Australian made cleveland 351's when the US stopped making them. as a lad we called them geelong blocks. I think de Tomaso used aussie blocks for about 3 years before we also shut down production
No Bristol's? the 411 or the Fighter. Made by the Aircraft/aeroengine manufacture, made cars up to 2011. Asked Chrysler to improve their engines to Bristol's desired specs. Chrysler "What do you know about engine manufacture?" Bristol "The Centaurus and the Olympus" Chrysler did the mods.
Bizzarrini was a genious! 🤩
Ian, if you want to learn more about Aussie muscle cars watch the Mark Behr (pronounced Beer) channel. He's a person who was there working for both Ford and Holden in HSV and FPV. At the present time he's doing all the Falcon models but will move onto Fairlane then Holden and Chrysler. With Falcon's he started with the XK and has recently done the BF. I never knew that there was a proposed 2 door AU Falcon. Videos appear on a weekly basis.
C126 AMG Mercedes Benz as the 560 SEC V8 Widebody is a true german Musclecar
Alter, einen W126 oder auch das Cuope, mit Einzelradaufhängung und einem so modernen Fahrewerk, das mechanisch teilweise besser ist als heutige, als Muscle car zu betiteln ist eine Schande! Muscle cars haben LKW Fahrwerke, zwar große Motoren aber nur 1/3 - 1/2 der Leistung, die 126er zu der Zeit hatten.
most people must learn what a muscle car is. In the US was a unwritten rule for the biggest and strongest top engines are exclusiv for the Full Size Cars. Pontiac changed it and put the Engine in a mid Size or small Size Car thats the birth of the Muscle Car. With other Words a Ford Mustang was and is not a mucle Car or was there a 427 Mustang?
My favourite european "muscle car" is a rather modern car: the Jaguar F-Type. Now tbf, it also places itself in that weird middle ground of a muscle car and a sports car, but it has without doubt one of the most beautiful sounding V8 I've ever heard. Its such a cool car.
There is an Englishman who converted his Rover with a V-12 tank engine with, I think, 27-29 liter displacement
You mean John Dobbs? It was always advertised as a Spotfire engine without the blower but was indeed the Centurian tank engine. He was known to test its high speed on the German Autobahns
The John Dobbs one looks a little like a Ford Capri, on a bucket of stereoids. But there is at least one more in Britain with the Rolls-Royce V12 27-litre fitted into a Rover SD1
@@thatdudeinorange5269 IMO the John Dobbs one is Fugly even though it had all the contemporary design cues of the time, the excuse being the size of the engine but the SD1 version proves it need not be such a hinderance with a little thought.
@@clivewilliams3661 John Dodds had "The Beast"" which looked like a massive Reliant Scimitar. Charlie Broomfield owns the Rover 27 litre. Here's a video if you'd like to watch it. ua-cam.com/video/f1BnhZsS8a0/v-deo.html
When Ford Australia, discontinued its V8's during the XE Falcon, around 1983 ( to return later, with the EA/EB Falcon in Coyote ? form around 1990 ? ), they had a stack of Cleveland and/or Windsor V8's left over in 4.9 / 5.8 litre form. So they actually sold them to De Tomaso. I'm not to sure which model used them, perhaps both the Pantera and Longchamp. If you came across one of that era, you should be able to see a stamping, somewhere on it.
8:42 the Monteverdi is the best answer to the problem that was the beginning of the supercar era - the constant failures. Monteverdi saw the answer and crossed American reliability with Italian luxury vehicles.
The best "european" muscle car to me is not exactly european but was designed and built by the european ford division: the Capri. It was somewhat rare but it was an actual commercial model by a popular auto maker, in contrast to the many "boutique" and exotic cars listed in the video.
I am from Finland in northern Europe and I love American cars and big Mercedeses, basically all cars I have owned are American V8 sedans and coupes and a few Mercedes E classes. My first car was a 97 VW Passat with a 1.8l 4 cylinder motor and a manual transmission, I came pretty fast to the conclusion that it is my last car with a manual transmission, fwd and a 4 cylinder motor.
I dont get it why no European car company can make a affordable V8 and a normal V8, not a high tech motor just a simple V8...
For the last 15 years my daily driver has been V8 powered.
That Iso Grifo.. it's low, but not at all small.. i mean, it needed the space for that 7 liter engine...
I owned a Rover SD1 3.5 v8, and I really enjoyed it. It was very comfortable with it's leather seats, and I loved the steering wheel that was not circular but almost rectangular.
I would add to the list the Opel Diplomat V8. A lot of these brands where more GTs ou luxury car brands but the Opel Diplomat was a big sedan and coupe from a "mainstream brand" that got a Corvette V8 for their top trim model. Sounds very muscle car to me and has the design to match!
For Mercedes I would add the 1968 300sel 6.3. The story of that car is to good. An engineer stuffing a 6.3 from a 600 in a 300sel and getting caught by management and they were so impressed that they put it in production. The basic recipe: shoving the biggest engine you have in a much ‘smaller’ car.
Every car guy should recognise the Best Australian Muscle car from Mad Max.... The XB Falcon Coupe. (nose cone was a custom aftermarket add on - hard to find recreations these days) looks good without the nose cone, but looks better with it on.
You should check out South African unique Muscle and Sports cars of the 60's, 70's and 80's, a mixture of German and American muscle.
Chevrolet Firenze CanAm V8
Chevrolet SS
Ford Granada Perana V8
Ford Capri Perana V8
Ford Cortina XR-6 Interceptor
Ford Fairmont GT
Ford Sierra XR-8
Valiant Barracuda
Valiant Charger
BMW E23 745i M88
BMW E12 530 MLE
BMW E30 333i
Opel Kadett Superboss
Alfa Romeo GTV6 3.0
You see the DBS as Brett Sinclairs car in the 1971 show 'The Persuaders' and the Vantage in the latest Johnny English.