Bobby Rahal’s five greatest muscle cars: Motoramic Experts

Bobby Rahal is a three-time PPG Indy Car World Series champion and winner of the 1986 Indianapolis 500, as well as co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, which competes in the IndyCar and American Le Mans series. To inaugurate our Motoramic Experts series, we asked him for his list of the top five — and only five — muscle cars. - Ed.

The ‘60s were a magical era. When you look at that 10-year period, there’s never been a percentage increase, in terms of performance, to rival that decade. The most powerful racing car in 1960 had maybe 300 hp, but ten years later, some race cars boasted in excess of 1,000 hp.

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“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” That saying derived from the success the major automobile manufacturers had on the racetracks and drag strips, and how that related to sales in the dealerships. In terms of performance, what was being offered to the public was mindboggling. When you look at the '50s, the approach taken remained conservative. But in the ‘60s, all hell broke loose. I consider myself very fortunate to have witnessed — and lived — that era. Muscle cars became an integral part of my fascination with the automobile.

Ranking these cars, however, is tough, especially when narrowing it down to just five. There will always be opinions as to whether you’re right or wrong, and invariably you’re going to anger somebody. But for me, these are my five greatest muscle cars:

#5:

1964 Pontiac GTO: This was the car that truly ignited the muscle car era. John DeLorean became infamous for many things later in life, but at the time, he was in charge of the Pontiac division and came up with the crazy idea of shoehorning a high-performance engine into a Pontiac Tempest — calling it the GTO. Immediately, you had what appeared to be an everyday car with an incredibly powerful engine. Songs like Ronny and the Daytonas’ “Little GTO,” celebrated “three deuces and a four speed." It was the spark that bred life to that whole magical era. It has to be placed in my top five.

#4:

1965 Shelby GT350 Mustang: While everybody liked the original Mustang, Ford needed to up its image. They approached Carroll Shelby and asked him to turn this pleasant car into a fire-breathing monster. The ’65 GT350 was built specifically to qualify for entry into sports car races. So from a street-driving standpoint, they were pretty crude. They had no backseat, uprated Koni shocks and a Detroit locker rear-end. The exhaust came out of the side, making it excessively loud. It was built to race, at the detriment of build quality and ride. But at around 305 hp, it elevated the status of the Mustang to a true muscle car.