Just for fun, I went back to the muscle car list in the OP, and looked at how some of today’s cars would stack up.
Here’s a list of new cars, and where they would fit in the muscle car list:
Car Muscle Car Rank 1/4 mile time
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Corvette Z06 #1 11.5s
Dodge Viper SRT10 #1 11.78s
Mercedes CL55 AMG #2 12.38s
Audi RS6 #2 12.63
Ford Mustang GT500 #2 12.7
Cadillac XLR-V #4 13.0
Subaru WRX Sti #4 13.0
Mitsubishi Lancer EvoRS #4 13.1
Cadillac CTS-V #4 13.1
Dodge Magnum SRT8 #4 13.1
Acura NSX #7 13.18
Dodge Ram SRT-10 #7 13.19
Chrysler 300C SRT8 #7 13.2
Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 #7 13.2
Pontiac GTO #7 13.3
Chrysler Crossfire SRT6 #7 13.3
So there’s a whole bunch of modern cars that would fit into the top-10 all time muscle cars. I didn’t include any of the exotics, and I’m pretty sure there are a bunch missing - the list I was using was just a compendium of road test times from various car magazines, so lots of vehicles missed the list - like the Charger SRT8 for example. Note that the list includes a bleemin SUV and a giant station wagon.
Here’s how cheaper, average cars would stack up on the list of muscle cars:
Car Muscle Car Rank 1/4 mile time
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Nissan 350Z #29 13.77
Subaru Forester 2.5XT #32 13.8
Dodge Neon SRT-4 #43 13.89
Mazdaspeed 6 #50 14.0
Note that a Subaru Forester, a small SUV, goes as fast as a 1967 Corvette 427.
Just slightly above these times you run into dozens of every day vehicles, like the Infiniti G35, Honda Accord, Pontiac Grand Prix GXP, Inifniti Q45, Subaru WRX, All of the GM ‘SS’ vehicles like the Impala SS, etc. They all run the 1/4 mile in under 15 seconds, and most of your typical muscle cars from the 60’s were 14 to 15 second cars. The ones on the top 10 list were the rarest of the rare, limited production vehicles. For example, the '67 Camaro SS-350, a common muscle car of the time, ran the 1/4 mile in 15.4 seconds. A Nissan Altima will spank it.
