What follows is a short compilation from that era, it is by no means complete, there's hundreds! Click or tap the titles to hear the song.
Ronnie and The Daytonas: Little G.T.O.
In 1963, Pontiac's chief engineer, John DeLorean led a team of stylists and engineers that took the big Pontiac's 389 cubic inch V-8 and jammed it into the wimpy mid-sized Pontiac Tempest and transformed it into the GTO. Sound familiar?
According to wikipedia, "The name, which was DeLorean's idea, was inspired by the Ferrari 250 GTO, the successful race car. It is an Italian abbreviation for Gran Turismo Omologato, which means officially certified for racing in the Grand Tourer class. The name drew protests from enthusiasts, who considered it close to sacrilege.
Jan and Dean: Dead Man's Curve
Since the song, Little G.T.O. mentions Sting Rays and XKE's this had to be the next song. Yes it's a little sappy, but the message that comes through strongly is street-racing kills. Too bad there's so many that haven't learned that deadly lesson.
When Texan Carroll Shelby arranged for the classically styled little British car, the AC Ace, to have its wheezy straight six replaced by a high performance Ford 289, another legend was born. In subsequent years the Cobra's engine grew to include a ground-pounding 427 cubic inch monster V-8! But the song was about the first Cobra, the one with the little 289 under the hood. Still the my favourite.
When my buddy Jack and I attended the Monterey Historic Auto Races at Laguna Seca a few years ago, the Cobra was the featured marque. We had a nice chat with a fellow who bought one of those first 289 Cobras, brand new. It was his daily driver for many decades and now is still his pride and joy.
This song has always been one of my favourites. I've always liked R&B and Motown music, mainly because they often include some nice baritone sax. Mustang Sally has a bari lead-in at the start of each phrase (listen for the two low notes that sound to me like "barrap"). And you wonder why I've stayed playing "bari" all these years – super cool!
The song's inspiration came from singer Della Reece's desire to buy a Mustang. The song was going to be "Mustang Mama" but Aretha Franklin suggested "Mustang Sally" had a better ring to it and songwriter Mack Rice agreed.
In 2015, we'll be celebrating fifty years of Mustang! Back in the early sixties Lee Iacocca, then Vice President of Ford, lead the development of the Mustang, which was based on the dowdy compact Ford Falcon. Lee and his team transformed it into a sporty car that appealed to the masses. It its first year of production, sales were 417,000 units. In fact, on the first day it was available, dealers took 22,000 Mustang orders. Within two years, sales had catapulted to one million – that's a lot of "Pony" cars!
I was very fortunate to be a teenager when most of these songs about little cars with big engines first became popular. But it was The Beach Boys car songs that really hit home with me. In my time, the car culture came from California. So when a band that also came from California sang about cars, it was a double whammy.
The Beach Boys: 409
So we've had all these songs about little cars with big engines. What does a car company do if they want to soup up a big car? Well if you're Chevy and you want to make the Impala really get up and go, you put a big truck motor in it. Starting in 1961, you could order your Chevy Impala SS with a high-performance 409 cubic inch "big block" V-8. Yahoooooooo!
Warning: the video that I've linked to was thought to be a "bit racy" back in the fifties, if you don't want to see a young lady in her skivvies you might want to pass this one by. This song is often called the first Rock 'n Roll song. And it's about the Oldsmobile Rocket 88, which just happens to be the first mid-size car in which a Detroit automaker put the biggest engine they could fit. Could this be the first muscle-car?
Enough of songs about big engined cars! There's more to life than cubic inches. Back in 1953, General Motors enlisted Dinah Shore to sing the praises of the new Chevy. In this 12 minute long youtube video, Dinah takes us behind the scenes to see how a film commercial is made. Listen how that wonderful two-speed PowerGlide transmission, delivers all of the car's 115 horses for effortless passing! Stick it through to the end and Dinah sings "See The USA In Your Chevrolet" a theme that Chevy used at least until the end of the fifties.
That's just a tiny snippet of the many car songs out there, if you want more, here ya go! Top 100 Car Songs
Wow, that's a great list! What a cool bit of history about the car in each song. You are very knowledgeable!
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