10 FASTEST CLASSIC MOPAR MUSCLE CARS

AMC, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford, Mercury, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac all made great muscle cars in the classic era, but Mopar muscle from Dodge and Plymouth were some of the very best. The most distinctive models, most memorable trim packages, and even the most creative paint codes all belonged to Mopar. Most importantly, the Dodge and Plymouth muscle cars were the fastest things to roll out of Detroit or down a straight track.

AMC made some really fun cars in the late 1960s and early 70s, but they never equipped them with an engine bigger than a 390 V-8 and couldn't crack the 14-second quarter-mile barrier. Chevy and Pontiac were under an arbitrary GM rule for most of the classic era that forbade them from putting more than 400 cubic inches in mid-sized cars, which limited their competitiveness. Ford and Mercury had some big V-8s, but for whatever reason never really figured out how to maximize the horsepower output of the 428s and 429s.

Mopar on the other hand was packing 440s and 426 Hemis that made their cars jump off the line and gave competitors a nice view of their tail lights. Dodge and Plymouth muscle cars weren't just the coolest and fastest, they were icons that defined the classic muscle era. In the interest of science, here's a look at the fastest of the fast classic Mopar muscle cars.

RELATED: The 10 Best Mopar Classic Cars Ever Made

1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda

Top Speed: 117 mph

It seems kind of weird that the 1971 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda has the slowest top speed here considering it could smoke every production muscle car including the rest of the Mopars on this list in the quarter-mile. It was rated at 117 mph.

Power and Performance

In any case, nobody ever lined up against the fearsome Hemi 'Cuda and felt good about their chances. The third-generation Barracuda was re-styled on the Dodge Challenger E-body platform but didn't share any sheet metal with its Mopar cousin. Of course, power ran in the family and no car better utilized the 426 Hemi's impressive horsepower and torque.

1969 Plymouth Barracuda

Top Speed: 118 mph

There's a 100 percent chance that nobody would have needed more than 118 mph in a quarter-mile race back in the day, but it's almost comical that Plymouth capped the Barracudas in this range. Muscle car love owners to brag about things their rides will never do and having a 160 mph speedometer would have been a source of pride.

Power and Performance

With a 118 mph top speed rating, the second generation 1969 Plymouth Barracuda was fast as hell and did it with a 440 Super Commando, as the 426 Hemi wasn't yet available for the model. 1969 was the last year the Barracuda would bear any resemblance to the Plymouth Valiant from which it was born and the first year that the high-performance 'Cuda package was available.

1964 Plymouth Sport Fury

Top Speed: 126 mph

The 1964 Pontiac GTO is largely credited with starting the classic muscle car craze, as well as having a reputation for being a fast ride. The truth however is that the 1964 Plymouth Sport Fury had a lot more muscle and ate GTOs for lunch. It even had a faster name as "Fury" sounds like it will punch you in the face after taking your pink slip in a race, while "Gran Turismo Omologato" could have been a Puccini opera or an archaic surgical procedure.

Power and Performance

The '64 GTO had a 389ci V-8 and crawled a quarter-mile in 15.8 seconds. The '64 Sport Fury came with a Max Wedge 426 engine and blazed the quarter-mile in 13.5 seconds. There were plenty of lesser-known muscle cars from all the American automakers, before 1964, but in a just world, the Plymouth Sport Fury would get more credit for kicking off the classic era.

RELATED: These Two Pristine Plymouth Cudas Could Be Worth More Than Some Classic Exotics

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T

Top Speed: 134 mph

Six years after Ford introduced the Mustang, Dodge finally got around to producing their own car with the 1970 Challenger. They packed it with way more ponies, however, creating one of the fastest muscle cars ever built. The Challenger was supposed to be a luxury vehicle and came with an insane number of trims, options, and possibly configurations, but they all added up to a kickass ride.

Power and Performance

The performance trim was the R/T, which had 383, 440, 440 Sixpack, and 426 Hemi engine options. The Hemi was the one to get for any serious street racer and in fact, the legendary "Black Ghost" was packing the 426. For those who may find themselves in the world's most obscure automotive trivia contest, the first use of the Challenger name was with the "Silver Challenger" trim package on the 1959 Coronet. Top speed was rated at 134 mph.

1969 Plymouth Road Runner

Top Speed: 137 mph

Unlike the luxe Challenger, the Plymouth Road Runner was meant to be a bare-bones ride for people who cared more about speed than comfort. Unbelievably, some of the early models didn't even have carpets and came with a bench front seat. Nobody ever won a street race because they had the worst carpet, but plenty of people with no-frills Road Runners did.

Power and Performance

A 1969 Road Runner with a 426 Hemi could be picked up for under $3,000, which was substantially cheaper than fancy elite rides of the day. It was also considerably faster, with some of the best performance numbers of the classic muscle car era. Plus, it had a cool Road Runner "meep meep" horn to counter the stuffy sophistication of more expensive vehicles.

1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee

Top Speed: 142 mph

Only 22 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bees were equipped with the 426 Hemi engine, making it one of the rarest classic production Mopars ever. The 1969 Charger Daytona was left off this list because it was such a limited production model, but the 426 Super Bee made it because it was an engine option. Everyone who bought a '71 could have ordered the Hemi, but only 22 visionaries did so.

Power and Performance

1971 is when the Super Bee trim was moved from the Coronet to the third-gen Charger platform. It was still a B-body, so it made a lot more sense than the Mexican A-body Super Bees or the rebooted LX platform 2007 ones. Scat Pack cars have the Bumblebee logo and were spread across all Dodge body platforms, but a Super Bee is supposed to be a Super B-body car like the '71.

RELATED: 10 Best Models For Getting Into Old Muscle Cars

1969 Dodge Dart GTS

Top Speed: 146 mph

In 1969 Dodge shipped 80 Darts off to Hurst Performance for speed upgrades and the result was the Hemi Dart. Intended for track use only, and devoid of a warranty, these 426-equipped beasts were stripped-down drag cars. In 1969, Dodge decided they'd build a factory drag car themselves with the Dart GTS 440.

Power and Performance

Unlike Coronets and Chargers, which were large-end mid-size rides, the Dart was compact, so shoehorning the massive 440ci V-8 into one came with some sacrifices. The '69 Dart 440 was designed to go fast in a straight line, so maybe turning and stopping weren't priorities.

1966 Plymouth Belvedere Satellite

Top Speed: 148 mph

The Road Runner was descended from the Belvedere and the GTX evolved from the Satellite, so perhaps the 1966 Plymouth Belvedere Satellite is the shared-ancestor Mopar missing link. One thing it wasn't missing was power as the '66 had all Mopar V-8s available, including the mighty 426 Hemi.

Power and Performance

The early 1966 Belvedere Satellites came with a mysterious "HP2" fender emblem, which has been interpreted in many ways. Some say it stands for "Hemi Powered Plymouth" with the 2 meaning squared as if it was HPP. Others believe it's "Hemi Powered 2 (four-barrel carbs). It was eventually replaced with an unambiguous "426" emblem.

1967 Dodge Coronet R/T

Top Speed: 150 mph

A coronet is a crown and the Dodge Coronet started as Mopar royalty in 1959 as the division's top-level luxury full-size model. Over the generations, the Coronet lost its throne and was relegated to the lowest trim mid-size. In the fifth generation, however, the former king found it was more suited for battle and the Coronet became Dodge's mightiest muscle car.

Power and Performance

1966 was the first year Chrysler made the 426ci Hemi available for regular production vehicles, so conceivably someone bought a '66 Coronet station wagon with a monster under the hood. In 1967, Chrysler decided that the Hemi should only go on their badged muscle cars, so for that year the Coronet R/T was king of Dodge performance. It was sadly a short-lived reign because the next year the second-gen Charger usurped its throne.

RELATED: 10 Outlandish Things You Need To Know About The Dodge Coronet

1968 Dodge Charger R/T

Top Speed: 156 mph

There is no car more associated with the classic muscle car era than the second-generation Dodge Charger. After a rocky introduction in 1966 with a rather goofy-looking fastback, the redesigned 1968 wasn't just a hit, it was an icon. With aggressive styling and scary-powerful engine options, it became the archetype of what a muscle car is.

Power and Performance

Dodge had planned on making around 35,000 new '68 Chargers but ended up selling nearly 100,000 because it was the car every Speed Demon had to have. The R/T was the top performance trim for 1968, and when equipped with the optional 426 Hemi, was the most unbeatable thing on the streets. It was also the fastest classic Mopar muscle car and a true legend of the era, making it the best of the best.

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