Top 10 European Muscle Cars

Muscle Cars are a quintessential American thing. Low price, good looks, big engine, big noise and more horsepower than the car can handle. Who cares how fast it goes around the track, or if it’s using the latest space age materials, it’s all about burning that rubber before it catapults you straight to the horizon.

Europeans simply don’t have such cars, but there are some that come very close, some that share the same spirit no matter the price tag or shape they come in.

Welcome to TopCars TV, as we unveil the top 10 European Muscle Cars.

10 - Ford Focus RS

And just like that, hot hatches are a European thing. These Swiss army knives of auto-industry have been taking kids to school and carving up the mountain passes for decades, sometimes all at once, but were always somewhat low on power. Until now!

This latest Focus RS gets a 350hp EcoBoost engine from Mustang, an excessive body kit, spoiler, fisting exhausts and a tricked up 4-wheel-drive system with a Drift mode. At a press of a button, this car turns into a circus act that’s going sideways, spiting flames and laying rubber on the road. You completely forget that you were just sent to buy some milk.

9 - Jensen Interceptor

Mustang! Camaro! Challenger! Interceptor! There’s no denying, it’s a proper muscle car name. And it comes in a proper shape, with an American 440 V8 TNT up front, and a rear wheel drive. All traits of a true muscle car, except this one was hand built in Britain. That made it very pricey and far form just a cheap thrill, since it was trading blows with the best of supercars, like Porsche 911 or Jag E-Type.

When the recession struck, Jensen struggled to survive by selling more sensible detuned versions, but no one cared for that and finally, in 1976, the last ever Interceptor was made. Hey, that’s a great name for a movie – The Last Interceptor!

8 - Ford Capri

After selling 1 million Mustangs in 2 years, Ford realized what kind of golden mine they were sitting on and quickly made plans to sell the same idea in Europe. They called it the Capri, and it followed the same principle: free spirited, cheap thrill, rubber burning coupe. It didn’t have a big rumbling V8, but that didn’t stop it from becoming a true, blue collar, workers hero of the 70s.

Sadly with the introduction of hot hatches, Capri went out of production never to return again. But the fact remains: until 2015 and the sixth gen Mustang that was offered globally, this was Ford’s official idea of European Muscle Car.

7 - Aston Martin V12 Vantage

Here’s one right out of the ‘How-to-American-Muscle-car’ book. Take the smallest car you make and shove in the biggest engine you’ve got. One such example is Aston Martin’s Vantage V12 which is a perfect example of a modern Hot Rod. Well, not so modern, because Vantage was introduced in 2005, back when phones still had buttons, and girls had word ‘Juicy’ written over their buts. And yet Vantage soldiered on for another 12 years, seemingly introducing another variation every so often – like the muscle cars from 70s. It wasn’t the cutting edge, but who cares; it had the power, the noise, the looks and the name. Job well done!

6 - Mercedes AMG 300E 6.0 Hammer

I love the Hammer. It’s a squared off, 3 box design that looks so menacing despite trying hard to hide the power bursting from within. Just slightly flared arches, small lip spoiler, blacked out details and yet, it’s not the one you would want to take on. Huge, AMG tuned, 6 liter V8 was pushing this four door saloon up to 186mph, which in 1984 was faster than the fastest Lamborghini! It’s because of this car that AMG became the official in-house tuner for Mercedes; Because of a car so notorious that it was nicknamed the Hammer!

What it really is is a German hotrod, a crude blunt smashing tool, and the first true king of the Autobahn!

5 - Aston Martin AMV8 / Vantage

Between the sumptuous DB6 and DB7, Aston Martin was seemingly lost for almost 30 years making variations of the same car over and over again. They didn’t really have that gentleman’s charm, but hey, what was a loss for Lord Byron Scrotumballs, it was a definite gain for all of us, because, just look at it! It’s as close to Mustang Fastback as you can get, plus the hand-built mahogany interior and an engine closely tied to the one raced around Le Mans circuit.

And even thou it weighed as much as two tons of rocks, it still had enough grunt to keep pace with the supercars… while carrying 2 extra passengers, and their luggage.

4 - Jaguar F-Type R

The call it a muscle car with PhD, and for good reason. While it has all the design cues from the majestic E-Type, this one has a rude attitude. Out those quad pipes comes a thundering, backfiring, dirty, cursing, trash-talking, noise. As if it’s mad at the whole world. And that supercharged V8 engine is so unhinged they had to come up with a four-wheel-drive variation just to stop it from shredding its tires every time you try to pull out of your garage.

Such anger management issue with a doze of class make it a perfect car for the ultimate British supervillain. O yes, it’s good to be bad.

3 - De Tomaso Pantera

Don’t be fooled by the looks; this is not a supercar. Yes it’s Italian and yes it’s mid-engined, but that’s as far as it goes. The grunt came from Fords 351 cubic inches pushrod V8 muscle, and every other mechanical piece had Ford number-part on it. In fact, in the USA, Ford treated and services this car as one of their own.

Such simple and crude engineering meant that driving Pantera on European winding roads was less of a fluid dance and more about manhandling the wild beast into submission. Even the looks, while undeniably Italian, are not very Bella Machina. More like Butch Machina!

2- Mercedes AMG SLS

How is this for a Butch design? Ugly from every angle but somehow still very likable, and it’s a muscle car through and through.

However, the true beauty is hidden under that infinitely long hood – a 6.2 liter V8 that burps and grunts and growls all the while making that traditional AMG cloud of your own tires. It’s a hairy chested, gasoline smelling, unapologetic man’s car. Even opening those gullwing doors is like a bodybuilder flaring out in his usual ‘look at me pose.’ And because of these doors, the hinges are armed with explosives in case you end up on the roof and can’t get out. It’s not just a car; it’s a Bomber!

1 - Aston Martin Vantage V600

In the 90s, Aston Martin built the most awesome stupid car ever! What started off as a soft grand tourer with 330hp, was soon turned into a 604hp monstrosity. That figure in the 90s was astronomical! To put it into perspective, that’s more than any muscle car, or any Ferrari, any Lamborghini. For God’s sake it’s even more than a quad-turbo Bugatti EB110! The only thing that had more power was the McLaren F1, that’s it!

The recipe for such lunacy, as always, lies under the hood where you’ll find a 5.3L V8 force-fed by not one but two superchargers, because… reasons. It wasn’t the fastest or the quickest of the line, but it had a nuke up front, smoldering tires in the back and seating for two in the middle … It is the best European muscle car, ever!

Agree with the picks? Let me know in the comments!

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