If you’re itching for an argument, go ahead and try to definitively prove what was the first, true muscle car in a room full of gearheads. You’re going to get different answers shouted at you from all directions, with some claiming the 1949 Oldsmobile 88, with its high-compression Rocket V8, as being the first. Others are going to yell out the 1964 Pontiac GTO, as it was the first purpose-built muscle car. After all, its recipe was to have a big engine shoehorned into a mid-size car.
