In 2005 a "retro-inspired" version of the pony car Ford Mustang went on sale, which drew various design cues from collector muscle cars Mustangs of the mid to late 1960s and early-1970s. The Falcons were re-badged as Fairmonts because of to the bad reputation of the American Falcons at the time. Ford continued to release faster models, culminating in the Ford muscle car t shirts Falcon GTHO Phase III of 1971, which was powered by a factory modified 351 Cleveland.

In this car the engine was practically the entire story." With four-speed manual transmission, the car "could spring from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 6.4 seconds..." In Nerad's view the car "somehow, someway deserves to be considered among the Greatest Cars of All Time."[31] A post-2005 muscle car powerblock Mopar Muscle magazine article said, diecast muscle cars "But by far the most stunning thing for a car with this level of performance and standard equipment was the sticker of just US$3,475."[32] In 1970, Hot Rod magazine wrote: "Here's a car that lists for $3500 at collector muscle cars the starting point, but lacks an appealing interior, feels way too big (and is) to be a handler, and is marked with more identity than Peter Fonda's two wheeler,[33] with about the same taste. These were 200,000-mile (320,000 km) cars."[27] Hot Rod rated the Duster "one of the best, if not the best, dollar buy in a performance car" in 1970.[26] "The Machine": factory-modified 1970 AMC Rebel ran 14.4-second quarter mile in stock trim American Motors' mid-sized 1970 Rebel Machine, developed in consultation with Hurst Performance, was also built for normal street use. Although the detuned 1966 version (the factory rating underestimated it at 425 bhp (317 kW) ) has been criticized for poor brakes and cornering, Car and Driver described it as "the best combination of brute performance and tractable street manners we've ever driven." The collector muscle cars car's understated appearance belied its "ultra-supercar" collector muscle cars performance: it could run a 13.8-second quarter mile at 104 mph (167 km/h).

The car was given lightweight Plexiglass windows, and early versions had fiberglass collector muscle cars front body panels and bumpers, later changed to aluminum to meet NHRA regulations.[18] Base price was US$3,780.[17] 111 Thunderbolts were built, and Ford contracted Dearborn Steel Tubing to help with assembly. (Ford claimed 0-60 in less than 6 seconds for the similarly-powered 1966 Galaxie 500XL 427.)[7] Road-legal drag racer: with 427 V8 in lightened midsize Ford Fairlane body Another Ford lightweight was the 1964 Ford Thunderbolt that utilized the mid-size Fairlane body. An interesting sideline here is that we got more miles per hour in the quarter mile with the Red Lines, while we got better elapsed time with huge drag racing slicks.

The managing editor, for instance, was cruising through a pitch black Florida night on a road that skirted the Atlantic. Fore and aft adjustment-the power assisted system limits travel enough to preclude any kind of straight-arm driving technique for would-be heroes. Our choice would be to swap the tach and speedometer locations, substituting a Sun SST (270 degree) tach for the factory's $53.80 optional tach. The transmission level is nicely placed immediately next to the driver's thigh.

The distributor is modified to limit centrifugal advance to 7 degrees 914 crankshaft degrees) and initial advance is set at a whopping 20-22 degrees (total advance, 34-36 degrees, is reached at 3600 rpm). Royal is run by a man named Ace Wilson, who must be what regional sales managers ask Santa Claus to bring them for Christmas. .