[JoeC]

The term "Supercar" was being used in the mid 60's. I do not know when the magazine "SPEED AND SUPERCAR" formerly SPEED and CUSTOM published its first issue but I have one from Dec. 1966. It has an editorial by Dean Parker called "the Supercar Scene." I think "Supercar" was derived from the TV show Superman. Many of the 1961 to 1964 factory Hot Rods like the 409, 426 Wedge and Hemi, 421 Pontiac, and 427 Fords were bought as plain looking low cost bodies with the biggest available engine. They looked like Clark Kent but when you stuck your foot in them Superman came out of the phone booth. They were hard core Supercars that were made stripped for racing. 1964 was a turning point between the Supercar and the Muscle car. The 64 GTO and the musclecars that followed were a different concept. It was still a supercar but it was also designed to be a cool drivers car for the youth market not just for the racer. Then around 1968 the factories discovered that winning races was selling cars so the hard-core Supercar was back in the form of wild cars like 427 COPOs, L88s, Hemi Darts @ Cudas, ZL-1 Camaros, Cross Ram JL8 Z/28s, 428CJ, Boss 302 @ 429s, Hurst 442 Olds, GNX, Superbirds, AMX, etc.. Everyone has their own opinion but to me a Supercar is a stripped down high horsepower car built to race by a factory or a dealer even if it lost its Clark Kent disguise with stripes and scoops it still had to have the heart of Superman. Faster then a speeding bullet, able to leap........