Wide-Open Muscle: The Rarest Muscle Car Convertibles

by Randy Leffingwell

Tom Loeser (Photographer)

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Book cover for Wide-Open Muscle

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Climb inside these stunning muscle car drop-tops, straight from the classic era of American high-performance cars!

Today's rarest, priciest, and most highly sought-after muscle cars are also the least practical. These are the striking convertibles of the 1960s and 1970s that were optioned out for drag racing. Wide-Open Muscle showcases these rare cars and proves that sometimes it pays to throw practicality out the window in order to make something purely cool and fun to drive.

At the peak of drag racing popularity, it was common knowledge that racers needed the lightest, most rigid-framed cars available. Convertibles represent the exact opposite of that description, so it's amazing that these drop tops ever emerged amid the circle of full-throttle dragsters. While typical convertible drivers cruised around listening to the latest Lovin' Spoonful release in the eight-track tape deck, these muscle-car convertibles were equipped for rock 'n' roll speed. These topless muscle cars are so rare because few people had the dedication (or money) to buy a vehicle this impractical. They're valuable because they represent the absolute extreme of the entire muscle-car genre.

All the cars in Wide-Open Muscle are shot in similar fashion, studio-style with a black background using a process known as light painting. It is the ultimate portrayal of the ultimate muscle cars.

  • ISBN13 9780760350010
  • Publish Date 30 June 2016
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 5 March 2021
  • Publish Country US
  • Publisher Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc
  • Imprint Motorbooks
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 224
  • Language English