Summary

• GM brands were not widely recognized for their muscle cars during the classic era due to an arbitrary rule that limited engine size to under 400 cubic inches in non-full-size cars.
• GM finally lifted this rule in 1970, allowing their brands to create some of the most powerful muscle cars ever made.
• Some of the fastest classic GM muscle cars include the 1969 Chevrolet Nova SS, 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ 455, and 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle 454 SS. Each car had impressive power and performance capabilities.

When you think about muscle cars from the classic era, Dodge, Plymouth, and Ford immediately pop into your mind, but definitely not General Motors. That's because GM is a huge blanket corporation with several makes under its name. You know, Chevrolet and Pontiac muscle cars, plus probably Buick and Oldsmobile as well. Mopar had a great line-up of American muscle, Ford Lincoln-Mercury had a huge stable of pony cars, AMC was a serious player, but GM could hang with them all.

One of the biggest reasons why GM brands don't have as much widespread recognition as classic muscle cars is because the corporation had a ridiculous and arbitrary rule that only full-size cars could have engines bigger than 400 cubic inches. This means that while Chargers, Barracudas, and Mach 1s were tearing up the tracks, Camaros and Chevelles were tragically underpowered.

Thankfully, GM finally ditched that stupid rule in 1970 and all of its brands took advantage by making some of the most insanely powerful rides ever. Yes, Chevy had the Corvette, which seemed exempt from the rule and was the ultimate speedster on the road, but that was a two-seat sports car, not a muscle car. As the company that began the craze with the 1964 Pontiac GTO, here are the fastest classic GM muscle cars ever made.

We've looked up data from several GM brands, and reputed sites like MotorTrend and CarandDriver to bring you this list of the fastest GM Classic Muscle Cars.

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10 1969 Chevrolet Nova SS

Top speed: 127 mph

The Chevrolet Nova started life off as the Chevy II in 1962. It was designed to be the most basic form of transportation offered by the Bowtie brand, and it was completely featureless. It was offered in two-door, four-door, or station wagon configurations and was a very popular budget ride, mostly for families. They did however offer an optional 327 engine, and because it was a compact, it made for a pretty speedy car.

Power and Performance

In 1968, the car got a complete redesign and the Chevy II name was scrapped in favor of the Nova. It was still more or less a cheap family car, but Chevy created the Nova SS performance package, making it one of the smallest and fastest muscle cars to ever come out of Detroit. The 1969 Nova SS had a souped-up version of the Big Block 396, which blasted it off the line and made it one of the first sleeper cars.

9 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ 455

Top speed: 128 mph

Pontiac unveiled the Grand Prix as an all-new vehicle intended to be something between a personal luxury vehicle and a sports car. It also may have been a grand tourer, but whatever it was, it was handsomely equipped with both style and power. It was, for the remainder of the decade, the most expensive coupe Pontiac sold.

Power and Performance

The second generation, beginning in 1969, was shrunk from full-size to mid-size, but the engine options went from intermediate to "holy crap!" The 1970 Grand Prix could be equipped with the massive 455ci engine and suddenly the luxury ride was a genuine muscle car. The second-gen Grand Prix was meant to compete with the Dodge Charger, which was wishful thinking despite the newfound power.

8 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle 454 SS

Top speed: 130 mph

Few cars from the classic muscle car era are as revered or feared as the 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle 454 SS. Like the ChevyII/Nova, the Chevelle was introduced in the early '60s and could be had as a coup, sedan, station wagon, and believe it or not a pick-up, as the El Camino was part of the Chevelle line-up in 1964.

Power and Performance

Also like the Nova, there was a Super Sport performance package that produced some quick cars. In 1970, when GM's silly engine size ban was lifted, the Chevelle benefited with a 454ci monster. Having once kept the car constrained by arbitrary policies, General Motors now acknowledges the sheer awesomeness of the 1970 Chevelle 454 SS, saying, "No muscle car soared higher" adding it is the, "rarest of all 1970 Chevelles."

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7 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV

Top speed: 130 mph

In 1969, all GM cars were still under the goofball rule of no 400-plus cubic inch engines in mid-size cars, but there was another company policy that affected the GTO Judge. Equipped with the Ram Air IV 400ci engine, the 1969 GTO Judge was rated at 370 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque, but was almost certainly higher. For some reason, GM didn't want any cars advertising power that exceeded the Corvette so many in this era just rated them lower than reality.

Power and Performance

The GTO kicked off the muscle car classic era in 1964 as an affordable performance car. In the second generation, Pontiac came up with the Judge trim package as a no-frills speedster to compete with the Plymouth Road Runner. With the aforementioned Ram Air induction, as well as high-rise aluminum intake manifolds, and high-flow exhaust system, the '69 Judge squeezed every bit of power out of that 400ci engine.

6 1970 Oldsmobile 442 W30

Top speed 135 mph

The Oldsmobile 442 was a performance option package on the Cutlass that was meant to compete with the GTO. It became its own model in 1968 and produced the even higher performance special edition Hurst/Olds. In 1970, Chrysler stole the Hurst branding away, and it turned out that Oldsmobile could make a serious performer without them.

Power and Performance

The 1970 442 with the W30 performance package and a 455ci engine was much faster than any of the Hurst/Olds variants or previous 442 model years. A '68 Hurst/Olds could run a quarter-mile in 13.9 seconds, a '68 442 had the same time, but a '70 442 W30 could hit that distance in 13.7 seconds. MotorTrend simply referred to these 1970 442 W30s as "drag racing machines."

5 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Top speed: 135 mph

The 1970 Chevrolet Camaros were actually introduced to the factory in February 1970, halfway through the traditional model year, so many people call them the 1970½ Camaros. Things get even goofier because Chevy advertised a 455ci engine option, but none were ever actually made. In one more bit of trivia, 1970 Z28s used the same LT-1 engines found in Corvettes.

Power and Performance

The '70 Z28 was the best of a highly collectible half-model year and is regarded as the last great Camaro of the classic era. Though it only had a 350ci engine it was as fast or faster than many other GM muscle cars with 100 or so more cubic inches of displacement. In a retro test drive, Car and Driver said the '70 Z/28 was, "an automobile of un­common merit" that "challenges Ferrari."

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4 1970 Buick Gran Sport 455 Stage 1

Top speed: 135 mph

Like Oldsmobile, Buick is a GM brand that isn't known for high-performance rides, and yet they both produced some of the most killer muscle cars of the classic era. Buick, had the GSX and the equally impressive Gran Sport. The Gran Sport was a performance package on the Skylark and was Buick's attempt to keep up with the GTO Judge and Oldsmobile 442.

Power and Performance

The 1970 Gran Sport 455 with the Stage 1 was a low-13s factory drag car. This is another vehicle in which people with first-hand experience swear is tragically underrated in the horsepower department. Rated at 360 ponies, it's been claimed it actually made up to 500, and a dyno test of a similar 455-equipped Buick showed it made 471 horsepower.

3 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396

Top Speed: 140 mph

Speaking of cars with horsepower that has been notoriously underestimated, the 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS might be the most slept-on muscle car ever. Because of another ridiculous company policy, no car was allowed to be faster or more powerful than a Corvette. A '67 'Vette 396 made 425 horsepower, while that same engine in a '67 Camaro was rated at 325 horsepower.

Power and Performance

The '67 Corvette had a top speed of 143 mph, while the '67 Camaro maxed out at 140 mph, which is probably an indication that both of their 396 engines produced the same power. Whatever the case, the purpose of the Camaro wasn't to show up the Corvette, it was to embarrass the Ford Mustang, which it routinely did on the street and at the track.

2 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 455 Super Duty

Top speed: 155 mph

By 1973, the classic era of muscle cars was effectively over, and once mighty cars had been detuned into parodies of their former selves or discontinued altogether. Nobody mentioned this to Pontiac however because this was the year they made their most powerful Firebird ever. The 1973 Firebird Trans Am 455 Super Duty was the car Pontiac should have been making since 1967 but wasn't allowed to.

Power and Performance

While other muscle cars of the era had to meet government emissions and miles-per-gallon standards, the '73 Firebird had a weird loophole because its massive 455 engine was kind of grandfathered in. As weird as it sounds, especially considering how popular the Firebird was, only 4,550 were sold with the Super Duty package. At the time, Car and Driver was enamored with this car, saying, "The last of the fast cars comes standard with the sort of acceleration that hasn't been seen in years."

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1 1963 Pontiac Tempest Super Duty

Top Speed: 163 mph

A 1963 Pontiac Tempest was maybe a proto muscle car like a '57 Chrysler 300C or a '57 AMC Rambler Rebel, but a few special editions were made that will make people question if the '64 GTO was the first true muscle car. Exactly 12 Tempest Super Duty cars were built to compete in the NHRA Factory Experimental class, and they were rushed through production because GM wanted to ban all factory-built race cars.

Power and Performance

A one-in-six barn finds 421ci, that went up on eBay with a starting bid of only $500. The owner apparently had no idea what he had, but thankfully the car ended up selling for $226,521, and that was without the engine. Had the car been equipped with a 421 power plant, and it was eventually faithfully restored, it would have been the fastest factory production car of any GM brand ever made.