British muscle cars

obi_waynne

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Can anyone think of any British muscle cars? We are not talking sports cars but good old V8 Muscle in a massive body.
 
Rover 75 V8 and MG ZT260, both run the Mustang engine so can this be classified as British muscle? Both not made anymore. Other than that we are talking about cars that are probably not made anymore. The VXR range are not exactly British either as they are Holdens rebadged.
 
Can anyone think of any British muscle cars? We are not talking sports cars but good old V8 Muscle in a massive body.
Daimler Majestic Major, from another era but well befits the above criteria.

These things were pretty special in their day, for those 'in the know'

Unlikely appearance but a peach of an engine - faster than a Mk 10 Jaguar.

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Still kicking myself for not buying a really good one when I had the chance, for cheap too, and choosing a crude Studebaker instead.
 
for me dont think there ever was a british muscle car

think the only one that has been said would be the interceptor big v8 but not a great big body like the yanks
plus the old yank muscle are not that quick stock compaired to todays motors and the power that can come from a 2.0

and plus have to have the great v8 rumble that i have never heard from a british motor
 
None of them because Muscle car is an American thing. IMO you can't get an English muscle car. It's like Cornish pasties. They ain't Cornish pasties unless they are made in cornwall.
 
It it looks like a pasty and quacks like a pasty....

I thought it would be interesting to see if we ever had anything close to a Muscle car. I thought the old Rover 3500 Sdis were close but they are a v6 if I remember rightly.
 
The Stag - you might be onto something there. A truly stunning car. Fairly expensive to run if I recall, I looked into buying a classic a few years back.

Not sure if the Aston Martins are more supercar than muscle car. I guess the older ones woul probably fit the bill.

Well thats a few suggestions of British automotive excellence.
 
It it looks like a pasty and quacks like a pasty....

I thought it would be interesting to see if we ever had anything close to a Muscle car. I thought the old Rover 3500 Sdis were close but they are a v6 if I remember rightly.


The 3500 were infact a V8, however not a British engine as it was of Buick origins. Even the AC was British until Shelby 'borrowed' the shell and shoe-horned in the Ford V8s up to a 7 litre version! Most British built 'muscle' cars, if they can be called that, had mainly American blocks, the Gordon Keeble GT and the Sunbeam Tiger are two examples.
 
I think we can let them off using an Amercian block, as long as the car is built in Britain.
 
Re the excellent Rover V8; should it be regarded as strictly an 'American block' or to hold its own identity?

Its forefather the GM BOP (Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac) 215cid alloy V8 proved difficult to manufacture in high quality at low cost. Many BOP blocks turned out to be porous and/or unstable, this problem was insurmountable for GM, and the rejection rate was too high for economic manufacture. Hence GM sold off the design rights of what they considered a 'lemon' motor to Rover.

Rover's expertise in aluminium allowed it to quickly resolve the issue; they redesigned the method of manufacture from GM's pressure-cast, to gravity-casting, and solved this previously crippling flaw.

GM built their version of this engine for only 3 years, whilst the Rover V8 was produced for a staggering 41 years. In considering the respective production lifespans, Rover's subsequent outright ownership of the design rights to this engine, and their successful re-engineering of it, and its manufacture, then it becomes more British than American imo.



Btw the BOP-Rover-Leyland V8 is a fantastic engine (my '73 Leyland P76 featured an Oz-built 4.4 litre variant) and has an amazing history.

It is:

The world's first all-aluminium engine in high-production.
The world's first turbocharged production engine.
The last 'stock block' engine to win in Formula 1.
Winner of two F1 World Championships (Repco Brabham).
Manufactured on three continents (US, UK, Australia).
Was in production for four and a half decades.


Variously used in:

sedans
sports cars
4WDs
trucks up to 8 ton capacity
industrial applications
aviation
marine
and multiple championship-winning F1 racing cars!


Has there been any other engine which possesses a comparable resume?

__________________________

ps: how's this for the ultimate iteration? Take a close look at this unraced Radial-Head Repco from 1968 - it's a DOHC (quadcam) with Lucas mechanical fuel-injection, featuring 32 tangentially-ported inlet and exhaust valves (intake and exhaust valves on both sides of the head!) ducted into sixteen inlet trumpets and sixteen exhaust pipes, via eight individual manifolds, comprising four-each for induction and exhaust! :amazed:


 
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Any more British muscle cars? It is really hard to think of any isn't it.
 
Yes, including the Vauxhall Monaro which is a coupe.

Two of the modern muscle saloon cars I can think of that are from the UK include Ford's Shelby CV525 and Vauxhall's VXR8.
 
Mgb v8?? What's going on I used capitals but it comes out lower case???
 
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Greetings SRT8dude and a Warm Welcome to our TorqueCars Forum my Friend!

Good to have you along with us :)
 
Mgb v8?? What's going on I used capitals but it gomes out lower case???


I had this myself only the other day buddy. Apparently it is programmed in as some members make a post entirely with the caps lock on, this is deemed to be shouting and is considered rude.
 
Yeah I always thought muscle cars were meant to be powerful, BUT affordable. Preferably with a V8. So that kind of rules out more expensive stuff like Astons.
 
Well aye, preferably.

I think it's about the characteristics. The classic hot hatch until very recently with all this emissions rubbish would have had a high-revving n/a engine, not much torque but lots of high-end power. Whereas your muscle car would have a large engine, yes, it would be powerful but it would be low-down torquey.
 
I had this myself only the other day buddy. Apparently it is programmed in as some members make a post entirely with the caps lock on, this is deemed to be shouting and is considered rude.

Thanks T9 but I saw your previous post and the caps worked for you :confused:
 
Thanks T9 but I saw your previous post and the caps worked for you :confused:

We are seamlessly moved in-between the .co.uk and the .com sites while upgrades are being done buddy, this happens between posts in all threads. Work will finish once Obi Waynne is happy with his efforts :)
 
Can anyone think of any British muscle cars? We are not talking sports cars but good old V8 Muscle in a massive body.

I think that the straight six layout is classic Aston Martin British muscle formula. V8 engines are an American thing. The Rover 3528cc lump is a short block Buick design.

Lotus' Esprit turbo from the mid 1980's was a 2.2 litre four cylinder unit. Yet now there are 2.0 litre four cylinder turbo diesel engines with more power.
 
Yes indeed. The SD1 Vitesse was a 190bhp 3528cc V8 with multipoint fuel injection. Pushrod valve drive and two valves per cylinder. Having said that, they were superb to drive because there is absolutely no latency at all in pedal response. Yes, my 2.0 TDi Passat (205bhp map) would outrun it in the midrange for certain but it doesn't have that Buick crossplane crank sound.
 
The 3.5 V8 in the earlier P6 only had 150bhp. Which however when it came out was a lot for the time.

And it sounded LOVELY.

Yeah, modern turbo engines would leave it dead but they have no soul, and sound like demented hairdryers.
 
No car is affordable for the average Joe really. That's a sign of the times; silly fuel prices; silly skewed economy in general.

However, I do believe that there are examples of the 1994-2003 XJR available for pocket money prices. Running costs are likely to be high but 370bhp from a supercharged 4.0 litre V8 sounds appealing.
 

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