Okay everyone, I think I understand what a pony vs muscle car is, but need clarification. As I read Mustangs Monthly, and other mustang publications, I've heard pony car refered to them a number of times. Then I heard a camaro refered to as a pony car and got confused. A muscle car would be any of our cars with a big engine in it... what classifies something as a big engine? 351 or bigger?

I have a 70 coupe, with a 302... is this considered a muscle or pony?

 

As I understand the rules a pony car is either a Mustang (hence the term) or a car that was created to compete with the Mustang such as a Camaro, Firebird, Javelin, etc... A muscle car is an intermediate (Torino, Road Runner, Chevelle, etc....) that had a larger engine, usually over 400cu.
So any Mustang, Camaro, etc...is a pony car, but only those with larger engines are considered muscle cars.I think today the line should be drawn at hp instead of cubic inches becauseof the amount of horsepoweryou can squeeze from a small block nowadays.If your 302 is stock you've got a pony car, but if you have 400hp it's moved into muscle car territory.

 

It's never been clearly defined by "they" as in they call it a muscle/pony car. But generally, yeah, an intermediate with a larger engine makes for a good dividing line. I imagine power should have something to do with it, many of us have Mustangs that would have put the biggest and baddest of the muscle cars to shame.

 

Maybe pony car is what some say but I won't refer mine to a pony car. It is american Muscle. Never liked the term pony car.

 

I'll call mine a pony car, and it looks like a beater. But then when it whips the new Hemi vehicles from Chrysler it leaves folks scratching their heads.

 

A Pony car is characterised by body styling. It was the first true blend of a sports car and a 2 door sedan.

A true sports car has 2 doors or no doors. It has only 1 or 2 seats. The body has a long hood and a short deck(trunk lid) or no deck.

The Mustang has sports car characteristics but also has four seats. So it was a blend that created a new class of car they called pony cars. Any car that has styling cues similar to Mustangs are Pony cars - including muscle cars, cheby or whatever.

Aside from that, some Pony cars could also be called muscle cars based on engine size ect, but are still Pony cars if the basic body style is like a Mustang.

Don't forget that the early Mustangs were economy cars that had great styling. That is what they were all about.

 

I would say that "technically" they are pony cars, but I still think they fall under the muscle car category. If that makes sense... its like a square is a square, but its still falls under the rectangle category...

that is my stab at a simile for the day. enjoy.

 

Forgot to mention, not all muscle cars are pony cars. There are exampels of muscle cars before Mustangs. These were light weight 2 door sedans with big motors.

So what is a muscle car? A muscle car is a light weight car with a big motor.
For example a lincoln continental that weights 2 tons with some 390 or bigger motor is just not a muscle car. Its just too much car.
A Rambler 2 door sedan that is small and wieghts 1 ton with a big block could well be considered a muscle car, but in no way a pony car.

Why do chicken coups have 2 doors?
Because if they had 4 doors it would be a chicken sedan.

 

A Pony car is defined as a car that was inspired by the Ford Mustang. The automotive press coined the term "pony car" because a Mustang is also a horse and horses=pony's. Camaro's and Firebirds arepony cars but Road Runners and Chevelles aren't.

 

Basically anything that competed with the mustang is a pony car. If look at the list of cars that ran the trans am circuit in 69 and 70 would be a good list of pony cars. Mustang, camaro, trans-am/firebird, cuda, challenger, javalin,etc. I always think of it as if it was meant to go fast in a straight line its a muscle car. If its fast and has good handling (for its time) its a pony car. I have owned several muscle cars mopar and gm and believe me you don't want to send your GTO, chevelle, or roadrunner into a corner to fast.