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Today's Muscle Cars Ripe for Collectors

Vanishing V-8 Muscle Cars

Whether current market and political pressures will ultimately succeed in eliminating powerful American pickups, SUVs and V-8-powered cars from showrooms and roadways entirely or just significantly shrink their number, enthusiasts could soon find their high-horsepower American vehicles of choice relegated to car museums and collectors' garages.The disappearance of the V-8 is unlikely, says Ken Gross, who was director of the Petersen Museum, a world-class automotive collection in Los Angeles. But
Photo: Matchity

Whether current market and political pressures will ultimately succeed in eliminating powerful American pickups, SUVs and V-8-powered cars from showrooms and roadways entirely or just significantly shrink their number, enthusiasts could soon find their high-horsepower American vehicles of choice relegated to car museums and collectors' garages.

The disappearance of the V-8 is unlikely, says Ken Gross, who was director of the Petersen Museum, a world-class automotive collection in Los Angeles. But he lists a few V-8-powered American automobiles enthusiasts might consider purchasing while the selection is still relatively substantial.

Click ahead to see a handful of today's V-8 muscle soon-to-be collectibles.

By Bankrate.com
Posted 11 August 2009

2010 Shelby GT500

Ford's Special Vehicle Team, or SVT, worked its voodoo to produce a Mustang capable of sprinting from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in just over four seconds. It uses a 5.4-liter V-8 to generate 540 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed manual transmission hustles engine output to the rear wheels.Base price: coupe $47,175; convertible $52,175» » »
Photo: Shelby Automobiles

Ford's Special Vehicle Team, or SVT, worked its voodoo to produce a Mustang capable of sprinting from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in just over four seconds. It uses a 5.4-liter V-8 to generate 540 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque. A six-speed manual transmission hustles engine output to the rear wheels.

Base price: coupe $47,175; convertible $52,175

» How far can you go on a tank of gas?
» 10 biggest gas guzzlers
» New cars and trucks for 2010

2009 Pontiac G8 GXP

With Pontiac going the way of Oldsmobile, the G8 GXP is already an endangered species. GM ran a fire sale on Pontiacs for the first few days of July, and we can probably expect additional discounts. The GXP can gallop from zero to 60 miles per hour in just over five seconds using a version of the Corvette's 6.2-liter V-8. In the GXP, that power plant delivers 402 horsepower and 402 pound-feet of torque. Transmission is either a six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual.Base price: $40,060» » »
Photo: Pontiac

With Pontiac going the way of Oldsmobile, the G8 GXP is already an endangered species. GM ran a fire sale on Pontiacs for the first few days of July, and we can probably expect additional discounts. The GXP can gallop from zero to 60 miles per hour in just over five seconds using a version of the Corvette's 6.2-liter V-8. In the GXP, that power plant delivers 402 horsepower and 402 pound-feet of torque. Transmission is either a six-speed automatic or a six-speed manual.

Base price: $40,060

» How far can you go on a tank of gas?
» 10 biggest gas guzzlers
» New cars and trucks for 2010

2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8

Because it looks as though the 2010 Challenger SRT10 is on the back burner for a while, the SRT8 remains at the top of the Challenger performance heap. An everyday driver, it packs a 425-horsepower, 6.1-liter V-8 that also develops 420 pound-feet of torque. It uses either a five-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission to turn the rear wheels, which it can do with enthusiasm sufficient to reach 60 miles per hour from a standstill in about five seconds.Base price: $42,645» » »
Photo: Dodge

Because it looks as though the 2010 Challenger SRT10 is on the back burner for a while, the SRT8 remains at the top of the Challenger performance heap. An everyday driver, it packs a 425-horsepower, 6.1-liter V-8 that also develops 420 pound-feet of torque. It uses either a five-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission to turn the rear wheels, which it can do with enthusiasm sufficient to reach 60 miles per hour from a standstill in about five seconds.

Base price: $42,645

» How far can you go on a tank of gas?
» 10 biggest gas guzzlers
» New cars and trucks for 2010

2010 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

An exercise in "What if?" the Corvette ZR1 is the product of engineers and product planners run amok. It's roughly akin to what would happen if you let 10-year-olds loose in a fireworks store. Powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8, the ZR1 churns out 638 horsepower and 604 pound-feet of torque funneled to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. It screams to 60 miles per hour from a stop in just over three seconds.Base price: $108,625» » »
Photo: Chevrolet

An exercise in "What if?" the Corvette ZR1 is the product of engineers and product planners run amok. It's roughly akin to what would happen if you let 10-year-olds loose in a fireworks store. Powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8, the ZR1 churns out 638 horsepower and 604 pound-feet of torque funneled to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. It screams to 60 miles per hour from a stop in just over three seconds.

Base price: $108,625

» How far can you go on a tank of gas?
» 10 biggest gas guzzlers
» New cars and trucks for 2010

2008 Dodge Magnum SRT8

The only wagon of this group, the Magnum SRT8 went out of production at the end of 2008. Under the hood is a 425-horsepower, 6.1-liter V-8 that also generates 420 pound-feet of peak torque. It ushers engine production to the rear wheels via a five-speed automatic transmission. Like the Challenger SRT8, it gets to 60 miles per hour in about five seconds.Base price: $38,805» » »
Photo: Dodge

The only wagon of this group, the Magnum SRT8 went out of production at the end of 2008. Under the hood is a 425-horsepower, 6.1-liter V-8 that also generates 420 pound-feet of peak torque. It ushers engine production to the rear wheels via a five-speed automatic transmission. Like the Challenger SRT8, it gets to 60 miles per hour in about five seconds.

Base price: $38,805

» How far can you go on a tank of gas?
» 10 biggest gas guzzlers
» New cars and trucks for 2010

2009 Cadillac CTS-V

Cram the Corvette ZR1's supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 into the engine bay of the already-fun-to-drive Cadillac CTS decked out with a number of extra bells and whistles, and you have an iron missile that will launch from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds. Its 556 horsepower and 551 pound-feet of torque deliver hair-on-fire acceleration wrapped in a handsome, taut-handling package. A real BMW M5 slayer.Base price: $60,700» » »
Photo: GM

Cram the Corvette ZR1's supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 into the engine bay of the already-fun-to-drive Cadillac CTS decked out with a number of extra bells and whistles, and you have an iron missile that will launch from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds. Its 556 horsepower and 551 pound-feet of torque deliver hair-on-fire acceleration wrapped in a handsome, taut-handling package. A real BMW M5 slayer.

Base price: $60,700

» How far can you go on a tank of gas?
» 10 biggest gas guzzlers
» New cars and trucks for 2010

2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS

An icon of the muscle-car era, the widely anticipated, reborn Camaro finally arrived in showrooms this spring. With the less-pricey V-6 Camaro able to make the zero-to-60 leap in six seconds, the V-8 powered SS might seem superfluous; however, the 426-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 with its 420 pound-feet of torque trims a second or more from the V-6's zero-to-60 time. Either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic feeds engine output to the rear wheels. You can harness all this wow for a remarkabl
Photo: Jonathan Li for CNBC.com

An icon of the muscle-car era, the widely anticipated, reborn Camaro finally arrived in showrooms this spring. With the less-pricey V-6 Camaro able to make the zero-to-60 leap in six seconds, the V-8 powered SS might seem superfluous; however, the 426-horsepower, 6.2-liter V-8 with its 420 pound-feet of torque trims a second or more from the V-6's zero-to-60 time. Either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic feeds engine output to the rear wheels. You can harness all this wow for a remarkably low price.

Base price: a remarkably low $31,040.