Graph of the Week: The 10 Most Searched Classic American Muscle Cars
American muscle cars make up a huge portion (about 10 percent) of the collector car market, and people are buying and selling them constantly. The overall muscle car market took a sizable dip in price during 2008, but it’s rebounded significantly over the past two years and interest in them will always be strong thanks to the large number of examples available as well as the big performance numbers that have defined them and made them so desirable for so many enthusiasts.
When examining Hagerty Valuation Tools search traffic so far this year, many of the overall most searched vehicles by year, make and model are Corvettes and pony cars (Mustangs, Camaros and Cudas), along with the occasional Porsche 911. American muscle cars, though, largely make up the rest of the top searches and these are the 10 most searched.
Not counting the Chevelle that has dominated search traffic, it’s an even split across the Big Three with three cars each for Ford, GM and Chrysler. As for the Chevelle, it’s arguably the quintessential American muscle car and an enormous amount of them were made (about half a million Chevelles were built in 1969 vs about 90,000 Dodge Chargers) in body styles that ranged from convertibles to four-door station wagons.
In addition to large production numbers and relative affordability for many models, muscle cars appeal to Baby Boomers in particular because they were new during that generation’s youth and because their performance was so huge compared to both the cars that preceded them and many of the smog-choked cars that followed them in the later 1970s and 1980s. Baby Boomers also make up a huge portion of the classic car hobby, and these are the muscle cars that seem to be resonating most with them.
