|
From the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition:
muscle car
n. A high-performance automobile, often with flashy, sporty styling.
A lot of cars meet the criteria that aren't often thought of as true muscle cars.
Technically speaking, one could refer to a boxer as a gladiator. However, the term invokes images of ancient rome and is seldom used to describe modern day pugilists.
In my opinion, the term muscle car is similar. It is a pop culture reference from an era that has since passed. As such, it should be relegated to the culture that spawned the term. When someone says muscle car, nothing produced in the modern era springs to mind. What springs to mind are images of cars from a bygone time, classics from the 60's and early 70's.
I would humbly submit that people who refer to modern cars as muscle cars share motivations with people who would refer to boxers as gladiators. The intent is to enhance the reputation by using an outdated term to reference past glories.
I prefer to think of modern cars like the 5th Gen Camaro as performance coupes.
|