The 3 American Muscle Cars You Brits Want Badly

This is a guest post by Luke Edwards from American car blog Automoblog.net.

People of Britain: you have one of the best car cultures in the world. But you're missing something. Where are your working man’s, affordable British sports cars?

See over here in 'Merica, you have a few to choose from. The problem as a young or middle-aged human here though, is that you have to be a douche who wears his hat backwards and drives with one hand on top of the steering wheel to pull off the look. A bit like our pal Dom from the Fast and Furious franchise. The European, auto-douche equivalent would of course be the stereotypical Audi cock.

No matter, though. America is the land of the affordable sports car and if you're willing to not take yourself too seriously, these cars can provide the most fun for the best price!

Chevrolet Camaro 1LS

This is the base model Camaro. It's also the Camaro least likely to cause douche-baggery. This car just screams "Graduation Gift from Mommy and Daddy", so if you’re the high school football captain who’s overcompensating then this is the car for you!

But is it possible for "brah" to have even a little fun in the Camaro? Hell yeah. With a 3.6-litre V6 putting 323 horsepower to the rear wheels, you can always do donuts in an empty mall parking lot.

Not too shabby there for only $23,345 (currently about £14,850). And if you must have 426hp and a V8, you'll still only be handing over $32,635 (£20,760) for the Camaro SS.

Dodge Challenger R/T

The Dodge boasts the most affordable V8 in America, and since their base model is 27 grand (we’re just going to talk in $USD from here on) and you have a less powerful 3.6-litre V6 with only 306 hp, we might as well look at the R/T. $31,090 gives you a 5.7-litre HEMI V8 that punches out 375 hp, and you can have a 6-speed manual.

Now, I have a sneaking suspicion that you’ll be paying mostly for the retro looks, and not the performance. Driving around in one of these is like a 40-year-old man wearing embroidered jeans and T-shirt sprinkled with Swarovski crystals.

Ford Mustang

Cougars drive Ford Mustangs. Well that’s not entirely accurate; their sons borrow them from time to time as well. For some strange reason, this car has claimed many a female mid life crisis, and I see more 50+ women driving these base model Mustangs than ever before. But if you aren’t a middle-aged woman trying to attract younger men, is the car still fun? Well it does have 305hp from a V6 block, and a 6-speed transmission. It also has a limited slip diff for the sideways stuff... all for $22,200!

The styling is the best from the three; the perfect combination of old school influence on a modern frame. For more rear tyre destruction, there’s the GT which has 420 rubber-shredding ponies in a rumbling 5.0-litre V8. That’ll cost you $30,750. Compared to other sports cars, that's hard to pass on.

So what sporty options are there from the UK, without the need for a lawyer's yearly salary? Give me your best in the comments.

Luke Edwards is a Features Editor for Automoblog.net. He’s an avid kart racer, motorsports junkie, an opinionated voice for the automotive enthusiast, and obsessed with all things performance motoring. Automoblog.net is your source for the latest car news, car reviews, and a fun place for car enthusiasts to mouth off to one another.