Five Fastest Muscle Cars of the 1990s: Can You Guess Them?

So muscle cars basically started when some genius at Oldsmobile in '49 thought "hey, what if we just throw a massive V8 in a lighter car?" The Rocket 88 happened, people went nuts, and suddenly Ford and Chevy were doing the same thing.

Then '73 rolled around and ruined everything. Gas got expensive, the government started breathing down everyone's neck about emissions, and muscle cars basically died. Took until the late '80s for things to pick back up when Buick made the GNX and reminded people why fast cars are fun.

'90s brought them back for real. Engineers finally cracked the code on making them quick without draining your bank account every time you filled up. Here's five that actually delivered.

1995 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Yeah, people argue about whether Corvettes are "real" muscle cars. Whatever, man. Big American engine, goes fast, sounds good. Close enough.

C5 came out in '96 but you had to wait forever for the Z06. So the C4 ZR1 wins for the '90s. Also they're not crazy expensive if you want one.

5.7-liter V8, 405 horsepower. That was insane back then.

1998 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 SS

Fourth-gen Camaro looked weird. People either dug it or absolutely hated it—"Catfish" wasn't exactly a compliment. But man, it was quick.

'98 was the year to get one because that's when the LS1 showed up. 320 horses, 0-60 in 5.2 seconds. Quarter-mile in the 13s. For the late '90s that was seriously fast.

1999 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra

Mustang's the only muscle car that never went away. Been making them since the '60s straight through. When Ford killed off basically everything else, Mustang stayed. Says it all, really.

SVT Cobra was the top version. After they did that New Edge redesign, the '99 was the meanest one of the decade.

4.6-liter V8, 320 hp. They made the Cobra R in 2000 that was even crazier but that's technically not the '90s.

1996 Chevrolet Impala SS

This was literally just the cop car you could buy at a dealership. Cops need stuff that's fast and bulletproof, so that's actually a good sign.

5.7-liter V8, 260 horses, tons of torque. Got to 60 in seven seconds flat. Not bad for a big four-door in '96.

1999 Ford Taurus SHO

Yeah, a Taurus. Stay with me.

SHO meant Super High Output. Started with a Yamaha V6 but the third generation got a V8. Problem was no manual transmission, which was a bummer.

3.4-liter V8, 235 hp. Not gonna win any drag races but 0-60 in 7.3 seconds for something that looked like a regular family car was pretty hilarious.

'90s muscle cars weren't the same as the old ones. Nowhere near as raw. But you could drive them every day without worrying they'd break down or cost a fortune to run. That's actually kind of nice.