Performance has always been a staple of automobiles. From the beginning, people worked at getting more power and performance from their vehicles. But it was in 1949 when Oldsmobile introduced the Eighty-Eight, a car flush with a 303-horsepower V 8 engine that they called the Rocket V 8. This was a street legal car with racing aspirations. By the mid-1960s, American car magazines had coined the term "muscle car" and an era of high performance was born. This high-performance muscle car era was recently celebrated at the Cincinnati Concours d'Elegance with the American Performance class. This group included a 1967 Oldsmobile W-30 442 coupe. With a 425 cubic inch V 8 "Ram Air" engine that generates 450 horsepower, this is a higher performance version of an already high-performance car. This particular car has been in the same family for 46 years.Central Office Production Order or COPO designation on a Chevrolet meant that this was the most power packed performance version of a car. Here is a 1968 Nova SS COPO. These cars were built to compete in NHRA drag racing. With a 396 cubic inch V 8 engine that puts out 375 horsepower, this is essentially a street legal dragster. This is number 15 of 50 such cars ever built.Carroll Shelby had a habit of taking cars to the next level of performance. He famously did so to the AC Cobra but also to the Ford Mustang. This is a 1965 Shelby American GT 350. It started with the standard Ford 289 cubic inch V 8 engine that Shelby tweaked to 306 horsepower. Only 562 of these were produced in 1965.Back in the 1960s, a number of manufacturers were creating racing versions of their standard cars. For the Chevrolet Camaro, that was the Z/28. Created to spec for SCCA Trans-Am racing, these Camaros, like the 1969 seen here, has a 302 cubic inch V 8 that makes 290 horsepower.Here is a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS or Super Sport. The SS designation indicated a higher performance model. Originally made as a mid-sized family car, Chevelle soon became a staple in the muscle car scene. This model has a 396 cubic inch V 8 engine that fires out 325 horsepower.For much of its early life, Pontiac was a lower level "family" brand for General Motors. That is until a guy named John DeLorean showed up. He managed to wedge high power engines into family cars and helped usher in the muscle car era. Perhaps Pontiac's most famed muscle car was the GTO. This 1965 model has a special option 389 cubic inch V 8 engine the cranks out 360 horsepower. It also has a "Tri-Power" special option which gives it three two-barrel carburetors.Carroll Shelby didn't stop with the GT350. In 1967 he wedged Ford's new "Cobra Jet" 428 cubic inch V 8 into a Mustang, enhancing it to give it 355 horsepower. The GT 500 was born. With some re-designed body work, these helped Shelby American sales increase six times over.Often called a "gentleman's muscle car," this 1967Plymouth GTX convertible is one of only 680 ever produced in that year. With a 440 cubic inch V 8 engine, this car turns out 375 horsepower.
