American muscle cars have always been absolute garbage

American cars: why did such a powerful industry build so much junk?

The stereotype has substance: for decades, muscle cars and most American vehicles were designed to last little and sell a lot. A V8 of the era cost less to build than a European four-cylinder, delivered poor performance for its displacement and came with three-estimulante ilegal automatic gearboxes that were pitiful. Leaf-spring suspensions and solid axles turned every corner into a terrifying experience, and the quality of the sheet metal, paint and assembly was so bad that after five years they looked older than they were.

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The myth of the big cheap engine

The economic argument is devastating: while Europe refined small, efficient engines, Detroit bet on huge, rudimentary ones that delivered less per litre. Cast-iron blocks, leaf springs and solid axles were not superior technical choices, just cheap solutions for a market where petrol cost next to nothing. The result: fuel consumption of 15 litres per 100 km or more, sluggish gearboxes and handling dynamics that only worked on endless straights.

Planned obsolescence before the term existed

In the United States, the car's life cycle was short by design: annual facelifts, low-quality materials and an industrial philosophy aimed at getting the customer to swap vehicles every few years. Restoration shows like Fast & Loud don't lie: for an American classic to be reliable, you have to strip it down to the chassis and replace practically everything, on an astronomical budget.

Uncomfortable comparisons

Some argue that American cars were tools of their context: straight highways, dry climate and plenty of parking space. But when compared with European cars of the same era —a 1960s Mercedes, an Alfa, a Pegaso Z-102— the difference in build quality, steering and cornering is abysmal. Even Spanish small cars like the 600 or the 850, with their 25-35 hp, shared some of those flaws, but their performance-to-consumption ratio was far more honest.

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The fact that muscle cars have become collectors' items today does not erase their technical mediocrity. The question that remains is whether we are paying for nostalgia or for a machine that, short of a full restoration, was never any good.

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