1. Rambler Rebel V8
This one is an interesting early muscle car born by chance. Squeezing a 327 V8 engine from the Nash Ambassador into the small, compact, and light Rambler body created one seriously fast-yet-unassuming muscle machine. The 327 V8 delivered 255 HP, which wasn’t that much, but in the compact Rambler body it was enough for a 0 to 60 mph time of just seven seconds.
And to make things even more interesting, only the expensive fuel-injected Chevrolet Corvette could beat the small Rambler in 1957. However, the powerful engine option raised the price of an affordable Rambler. So, there were just a few buyers ready to pay extra for the privilege of outrunning anything else on the road. And for that reason, Rambler only built 1,500 of them.