Take a relatively lightweight two-door midsize or compact car and stuff a big V8 under the hood — this formula was born in Detroit in the mid-1960s, and it defined the classic muscle car era for about a decade. While a handful of muscle cars were never sold in America, this category is a uniquely American contribution to automotive culture, creating some hot-selling models like the 1966 Pontiac GTO, which moved almost 97,000 units. Yet the worst-selling muscle cars of all time fell far short of this.
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When determining muscle car sales figures, the first challenge involves deciding which cars belong in this category. The definition above is very general, and if you ask an enthusiast for the specific years of the muscle car era the answer will probably be 1964 — when the first GTO was introduced — through 1973 when new emissions controls and the OPEC oil shocks brought the era to an end. Still, the formula fits some cars made before 1964. Some experts even believe the Oldsmobile 88 was one of the first muscle cars way back in 1949.
Therefore it’s fair to include models from earlier than 1964, although 1973 remains a hard cut-off. Next, when considering which models were poor-selling, we need to consider expectations for each model. For instance, several models were built specifically for drag racing teams and sold only a few dozen units. Those wouldn’t be considered sales failures. However, other models targeted at mainstream drivers fell far short of expected sales, even if those sales were in the tens of thousands. These cars will make this list.
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With all that in mind, here are ten poor-selling muscle cars arranged roughly in reverse order of their sales figures.
