Back in the day, Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers wouldn’t be considered muscle cars. They fell into a “pony car” class all their own. Now a day though they fall firmly into the muscle car realm. This generation of Mustangs has never really left the public eye thanks to films like Gone in Sixty Seconds and John Wick and the lack of break in production felt by the other pony cars. Rare examples are fetching as much as $350,000 and more, while clean drivers’ cars are going from around $20,000 up to north of $50,000. The example shown above fetched $72,500 at a Bring a Trailer auction. The popularity has driven up prices on these cars to a point where a solid roller with 90-percent of the car covered in surface rust is fetching $7,000 and more. If you don’t have big bucks or a desire to build from a questionable start, you might just be out of luck.
3 The Alternative: First-gen Mercury Cougar
1967 through 1970 Mercury Cougars are a stunning example of inter-brand competition done the right way. Despite sharing the same basic platform as the mustangs of the ere, the Cougar really stands on its own with a slightly longer wheelbase and sheet metal all its own. It is refreshing due to that era’s propensity to change very little between their own brands. The Cougar comes off as the hot older cousin rather than the offspring of kissing cousins like seen in the Chevy Camaro and the Pontiac Firebird platform share.
2 The MVP: 1970-1974 Dodge Challenger/Plymouth Barracuda
Built on the Chrysler E body, the Challenger and Barracuda are other examples of the pony car turned muscle car phenomenon. While you might be able to find the odd E body near the $20,000 range, anything less than that will likely require at least some work. The example above though tops out the other end of the spectrum having sold for over half a million dollars in 2022. The Barracuda was just a touch smaller and had a lower level of trim but still fetches the same $20,000+ entry point for a driver example. These two iconic muscle cars represent are getting more and more difficult to find since less than 270,000 combined units were produced.
1 The Alternatives: Fourth-Gen Dodge Dart/Plymouth Duster
Inside the Chrysler family, a less expensive alternative to the Challenger can be found in the 1967-1976 Dodge Dart. Starting in 1970 and running through 1976, the Plymouth Duster joined in the fray to help fill out the production. The A-Body Dart and Duster are other popular drag racing platforms like the Chevy Novas they were built to compete with. Like many Chryslers of its day, were offered in truly unique trim levels that set them aside from the others produced by the big three. Names like Demon, Swinger, Sizzler, and Valiant Scamp really grabbed the imagination. These cars are readily available in and around the $10,000 range with a high sale showing just $80,000. These won’t see the same huge values that the Challenger and Barracuda have, but that doesn’t take away from their easy-to-attain status as an entry into the muscle car world