The most important musclecar...

Musclecar Review asked readers to write in about what they thought was the the most important musclecar of the last 50 years. Here's what I wrote. The Pontiac Trans-Am is the most important musclecar of the last 50 years. People will argue Hemi 'Cudas, LS6 Chevelles, Boss 429s, blah,blah,blah. Think back to 1974 at the height of the Arab oil embargo. By 1975 the Charger, Road Runner,'Cuda and Challenger were no more. The Javelin AMX was no more. There were no more SS Chevelles, the Z/28 was no more,and the largest engine you could get in a Corvette was a 350, and you couldn't even get a 4-speed in California. The Mustang was more Pinto / Capri than Mustang. Yet you could still get a 455 in a Trans-Am until 1976 and a 400 was available until 1979. Gee, why did T/A sales double or triple every year after 1973? Musclecar buyers didn't go away, the carmakers stopped making cars that they wanted to buy. T/A sales went from 4,800 in 1973 to 10,000 in 1974, to 23,000 in 1975 to 46,000 in 1976 and to 68,000 in 1977.  After "Smokey and the Bandit" 1978 sales went to 93,000 and 1979 sales to 117,000. Chevy realized their mistake and resurrected the Z/28 in April 1977 and '78 was a record year. But he bottom line was-if you wanted a badass musclecar in the late '70's you had one choice-a Trans-Am. Scoff at their 6 second 0-60 times and 15 second 1/4 miles. Yes I know a V6 Toyota Camry can do that now. But in the darkest days when catalytic converters were new-they were the fastest cars available. The T/A like Buford Pusser standing up to corruption in the South, stood Janus-faced against all comers while Motor Trend and Car and Driver were espousing front-drive econoboxes-Patrick Bedard won't admit it now- but he actually raved about the Chevy Citation in 1980. If it wasn't for the Trans-Am we would'nt have had "5.0" Mustangs in the '80's, Buick Gran Nationals, or LT1 or LS1 'Vettes and Camaros or Impala SS's in the '90's. And we wouldn't have 400 hp Mustangs, Challengers and Camaros now. Next time you turn on TNT thank Burt Reynolds and Pontiac for keeping the faith and bridging the gap between the '60's and the '80's. Otherwise-like the "Cat in the Hat" Movie we'd all be driving Focuses.  Mastermind