What About Two-Seaters?

Good things come in pairs. We all know it. But two-seat muscle cars are in an awkward position.

- Tom Shaw

Debates over what is and is not a muscle car show up in columns like this one from time to time, but I find the topic stale and a waste of time. So while we might approach the subject curbside, we won’t be booking a seat on that flight.

Two-seaters have occupied their own area of muscle car limbo, with a few favorites welcomed into muscle car circles by virtue of a bit of engineering overlap, while other two-seaters are cast into a deeper limbo where sports cars and exotics dwell.

Care to guess which are the favorites? Topping the list would have to be the AMX. AMC’s celebrated X-er is more muscle car than actual roadster. It has muscle car shape and dimensions, muscle car drive trains and configuration. It’s just missing the back seat and 12 inches of wheelbase.

Next on the list, and a little less muscle car, would be the Corvette. Is there anyone that doesn’t love Chevrolet’s svelte sports car? But that’s just it, isn’t it? Did anyone have a bad reaction just now when I called it a sports car? Did you instinctively recoil thinking I should have called it a muscle car? Probably not. Though Corvette shares its spectacular power teams with Chevelle and Impala, it has its own distinct shape and identity that puts distance between it and Chevrolet’s quad- and quintcushion models. By the way, both the Corvette and AMX run at the Pure Stock Drags.