The 11 Fastest Muscle Cars Of The 1970s, Ranked By Speed

The 1970s were a disastrous time for American muscle cars. The Clean Air Act of 1970 took full effect, and with it came stringent emissions standards. As a result, American automakers were forced to back off from the high displacement engines they had been using to that point in favor of smaller, more efficient motors. Even so, the death of the American muscle car didn't take place over night and for at least for a few years in the 1970s, American muscle was still roaring. 

All the usual suspects were there, including Dodge, Ford, Chevy, and GM's other brands. By this point, automakers were putting the finishing touches on engines that were already great. For example, the one Ford to make the list used a 429 cubic inch V8 instead of the famous 428 Cobra Jet from the prior decade. Thus, cars in the 1970s were about as quick as the fastest cars in the 1960s.

While today's sports cars and EVs are much faster than the muscle cars of yesteryear, the 1970s brought an end to a special era in automotive history. After all, there's nothing quite like a piece of American muscle. Here are some of the cars that helped make that history by going fast. 

Let's start with the lone Ford on the list, the 1970 Ford Torino Cobra. It came out a few years before the "Malaise Era" started and was faster than comparable Mustangs from the early 1970s. Ford was making larger cars around this size and indeed, the Torino was one of the biggest in its segment. Powering the larger midsize car was Ford's 429 cubic-inch V8 that replaced the legendary 428. All models came with this engine, but the Cobra edition got a beefed-up version that could hit 370 hp. 

As a result, the Torino Cobra was pretty quick. It cleared 60 MPH in roughly 5.8 seconds and the quarter mile in 14 seconds flat. That's not half bad for a car of that era. It would've been neat to see how much faster it would've gone if it weren't much larger than the outgoing Torino. Size aside, the car was competitive for its era, and quick enough to make it on the list.

The Torino was popular enough that it motivated Ford to cancel the Fairline badge in favor of it, but the emissions rules would eventually kill off the Torino. Ford discontinued the badge in 1976.

The 1972 Jaguar E-Type Series III isn't the first car that comes to mind when a person thinks of a good old fashioned American muscle car. However, this car had as beefy of an engine as any and it was pretty quick too. The Jaguar E-Type was one of the most sought-after performance cars of the 1960s, called "the most beautiful automobile in the world" by none other than Enzo Ferrari. The E-Type Series III was introduced in the 1971, and it has as much muscle as any muscle car on the list. 

The E-Type Series II was indeed pretty quick with a zero to 60 MPH time of 5.7 seconds and a quarter mile time of 14.2 seconds. These times vary depending on who you ask, so we went with the fastest we could find. Powering the Jaguar was a monstrous 5.7-liter V12 engine that may not have been the fastest at drag racing, but it could reach 145 MPH top speed, which was quite a lot in those day. 

Jaguar would produce the Series III until 1975, which will become a theme in this article. Once the Series III went under, Jaguar would move on to other pursuits and never made another E-Type car. 

The 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Hemi has all the earmarks of a classic American muscle car. It was big, reasonably fast, and it certainly looked the part. Tucked inside was one of the best engines Dodge ever built, the Chrysler 426 Hemi V8. The 426 Hemi gifted the Road Runner with 425 hp and 490 lb.-ft of torque, making it one of the strongest cars of its era. Fun fact, the air scroop on the hood was powered, which could be engaged from the cabin.

With Dodge's powerful 426 Hemi V8, it's no surprise that this car made the list. Reports are that it went zero to 60 MPH in around 5.5 to 5.6 seconds and cleared a quarter mile in 13.5 to 13.6 seconds, depending on the source. Unfortunately, the governor limited the car so top speed specs are difficult to find. However, it has similar specs to the base engine equipped Plymouth Road Runner Superbird, which could do 142 MPH unrestricted.

The Road Runner — named for the famous bird from "Looney Tunes" — was a hit for Plymouth in the late 60s and early 70s. However, as the muscle car era wound down, so too did the Road Runner. Its final year was 1980. 

Speaking of the Plymouth Superbird, it was also one of the fastest cars of the 1970s. It was similar in specs to the Plymouth Road Runner Hemi but has some notable differences. Plymouth only made this car for one year and only produced 1,935 examples. That makes it one of the rarest muscle cars of the decade. This car was reportedly a marriage between the Road Runner and the Dodge Charger Daytona, hence the massive rear spoiler. This car came with three engine options, which were the 426 Hemi like the Road Runner and two 440 cubic inch V8 options that were a little more powerful. 

You'd expect something with a spoiler that ridiculous to go pretty fast, and the Superbird didn't disappoint. It reached 60 MPH in a scant 5.5 seconds while finishing a quarter mile run in 13.5 seconds. While similar to the Road Runner, it was definitely a bit faster, especially in the quarter mile depending on the engine option. The real name of the game was speed, as this car could go upwards of 200 MPH. It was built for racing. 

Unfortunately, NASCAR put new rules into effect for cars like the Superbird, and Plymouth stopped producing the car a year later. 

Buick wasn't the biggest purveyor of muscle cars but did have a gem or two up its sleeve. The 1970 Buick GSX Stage-1 was one such vehicle. It looked right at home with other muscle cars of the 1970s and it was equipped similarly as well. Buick stuffed a 455 cubic inch V8 into the car, which produced 360 hp and 510 lb.-ft of torque. That torque would come in handy if you ever got one of these and wanted to drag race it. 

The Buick GSX Stage-1 ties the Plymouth Road Runner and Super with a 5.5 second sprint to 60 MPH. However, it could clear the quarter mile slightly faster at 13.38 seconds. That torque would come in handy. Those numbers come from an issue of Overdrive Magazine from way back in the day, so take them for what you will. Some other estimates say the car is a little slower but not by much. 

It is important to note that all the above numbers are for the automatic transmission version of the car. The manual transmission added a few tenths of a second to both scores. So, if you wanted the fastest possible Buick GSX Stage-1, you needed the automatic transmission. 

Not to be outdone by its more upscale stablemate, Chevy also had some pretty fast cars in the 1970s. The Chevelle SS 454 is a good example. As the name implies, the car came with Chevy's excellent LS6 V8, which boasted 454 cubes and could make 450-horsepower when stuffed into a Chevelle. It had two other engine options but if you wanted speed, the 454 was the way to go. Like most automakers, Chevy was enjoying the last few years of the American muscle car. 

With such a good engine, the Chevelle was definitely swift. It went from 0 to 60 MPH in 5.4 seconds and the best quarter mile (at the time) was registered as 13.44 seconds by driver John Dianna. Per Motortrend, Dianna was able to replicate something close to those results consistently, so we're happy with saying it could go that fast. However, to be fair, Motortrend did admit that some minor modifications were made, such as removing the air filter element. 

The Chevelle would suffer a long death at the hands of the Clean Air Act. Chevy stopped producing the car in 1977. By then, it was running a measly 145 hp and was a shell of its former self in terms of performance.

The 1970 Pontiac Trans Am was the fastest Pontiac model we could dig up from the 1970s. Finding accurate numbers for this one was a bit of a trip. It had two reasonably good engine options and the speed times between them wasn't massive. One option was a 400 cubic inch Ram V8, which produced 345 horsepower and reasonable drag strip times. However, only 88 of those models housed the Ram Air IV, a stronger engine that produced 370 hp.

Both engines were quick, but the Ram Air IV was quicker. Most reports show that a Trans Am with one could get to 60 MPH in roughly 5.4 seconds and clear a quarter mile in 13.9 seconds. These numbers are mostly estimates as some car authorities say that the car was capable of sub-six second 60 MPH times and sub-14 second quarter miles but few give concrete numbers. At worst, the quarter mile time might be 14.1 seconds. 

Unlike most automakers, which gave up on their muscle cars during the 70s, Pontiac would continue the Trans Am lineup for a few more decades before finally putting it to rest in 2002. Its final generation brought back some of that muscle car flair for one last hurrah before retirement.

It just wouldn't be a muscle car list unless there was a Corvette around here somewhere, and towards the top of the list is where it belongs. For this section, we'll talk about two Corvettes, the LS5 and the LS6. The major difference between them was the engines. The LS5 received Chevy's 454 cubic-inch LS5 V8 that pumped out 365 hp. The LS6 upped the ante to the brand's 454 cubic-inch V8 that put out an even more impressive 425 horses. 

The twins could duke it out just about everywhere but the LS6 was clearly faster. The LS5 could sprint to 60 MPH in 5.3 seconds and a quarter mile in around 14.1 seconds. That is 0.3 seconds slower than the LS6's 5-second zero to 60 MPH time and its faster 13.72 second quarter mile time. That same car lightly modified could reach sub-13 second quarter miles without too much effort. It's true that the LS6 should be higher up on the list, but since the two are otherwise so similar, it made sense to list them together. 

Of all the cars on the list, the gas-powered Corvette is one of the few nameplates still around today. Contemporary variants are way more powerful, though.

Two of the final three muscle cars on the list are made by Dodge, which should give you an idea which brand had the fastest muscle cars in the 1970s. For this car, we see the return of Dodge's intense 426 Hemi V8 but this time in a slightly different form factor from the Plymouth models we talked about earlier. There was another engine, the 440 cubic inch Six Pack V8 that output 385 hp. For today, though, we'll be checking out the version that had the legendary 426 Hemi.

That car was wicked fast. It could do zero to 60 MPH in 5.2 seconds with a quarter mile time of approximately 13.3 seconds. We did find some sources that said that the car could do zero to 60 MPH in 5 seconds flat, but we were unable to verify if that particular model was modified or not. In any case, the Challenger could muscle its way past just about any other car in the segment.

The Challenger would make it through the lean years and return to glory during the 2000s and 2010s. However, Dodge finally put the Challenger down in 2023. It was replaced by the Charger, which now comes in 2-door and 4-door variants.

The 1971 De Tomaso Pantera was unique among muscle cars. The brand is technically from Italy so it's not an American muscle car per say. However, Ford purchased 84% of the company and had it construct a Ford-powered muscle car known as the Pantera. It housed Ford's 351 cubic-inch Cleveland V8, which Ford was touting at the time as its "Italian" V8. It output 326 hp and 344 ft.-lb of torque, which doesn't seem like a lot, but the Pantera was also only around 3,131 pounds. That's nearly 700 pounds less than the Dodge Challenger above.

As a result, this car was quick. It could put up anywhere from 5.0 to 5.5 seconds going zero to 60 MPH. It also did quite well in the quarter mile, hitting the mark in around 13.3 seconds, give or take a few tenths of a second. Unlike most cars, the Pantera was a mid-engine car, which is more indicative of a sports car than a muscle car. So, while it was powered by American muscle, it was also a technically a sports car.

De Tomaso continued to make the Pantera until the company and Ford split ways in 1974. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy before being sold to China's Ideal TeamVenture in 2015.

The 1970 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T was truly one of a kind. It was built for racing, so speed was the name of its game, and its massive spoiler left no allusions to the contrary. Like the Challenger, it was also powered by the 426 Hemi, adding to the legend of the engine a little bit more. Only 503 or so models were ever produced, making it among the rarest cars on the list as well. 

So, let's get to the brass tacks. This thing did zero to 60 MPH in about 5.1 seconds while clearing a quarter mile in the mid-13 second range. So, it would compete on the drag strip although it wasn't always the fastest there. Where the Daytona really excelled was on the racetrack. Buddy Baker set a record by going over 200 MPH at the Alabama International Motor Speedway, breaking the 200 MPH barrier for the first time at the Indianapolis 500. It was also 30 MPH faster than any other car on the track that day. 

NASCAR would go on to rewrite its rulebook to ban aero cars like the Daytona and the aforementioned Superbird. Thus, both brands ceased their aero car productions by 1971. For a little while though, this thing could fly.

With emissions standards what they were, the big V8 engine was in big trouble. Automakers tried to make it work but by the end of the decade, they were putting out cars with under 150 hp. It would be another decade before they could recover. Meanwhile, the sports car scene started taking over. These autos were using smaller, more efficient engines and the fastest among them were adding turbochargers. Pair that with absurdly low curb weights and you had cars that could pick up where the muscle car left off. 

The best example we could find was the 1978 Porsche 930 Turbo. The car weighed 2,800 pounds, included a 261-horsepower turbocharged flat-6 that put out 291 lb.-ft of torque, and a four-speed manual transmission. The car could scoot to 60 MPH in 4.9 seconds and hit the quarter mile in 13.7 seconds at 104 MPH. So, while the Chevelles of the world were making do with 150 hp V8s, the sports cars showed the world how it would be done decades later. 

Today, there are tons of turbocharged four-cylinder engines that make about the same amount of power the Porches from the 1970s. Heck, my own Honda Accord 2.0t sports similar horsepower and torque figures while clearing a quarter mile in 5.5 seconds. Not bad for an everyday car with an upgraded engine. 

For this list, we looked primarily at drag racing. It was a popular thing to do among auto enthusiasts in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and we've all seen movie scenes from that era of people street racing. From there, it was fairly clear that both zero to 60 MPH times and quarter mile times were the easiest metrics to find, so that's how we judged the list. For the most part, the cars above had the fastest zero to 60 MPH times we could find. Any tiebreakers were done with quarter mile times and top speeds where applicable. 

We sourced times from wherever we could, keeping in mind things like driver skill, elevation, and even outside temperature can affect all performance. A car at sea level during a 70-degree day is simply going to put up a different time than one several thousand feet above sea level on a colder day. In general, we went with the fastest times we could find.

The only exception was the Dodge Charger Daytona R/T. We stuck that sucker at the top of the list because even though its drag race numbers were quite good, its penchant for going really fast in longer races was undeniable. We couldn't put a record holder at number two or three.