Muscle Cars Featured
on Postage Stamps

For over 150 years, America’s postage stamps have celebrated history and nostalgia by portraying the objects, individuals, places and events that shaped it’s destiny.

Five Limited Edition Forever® stamps celebrate the high-performance automobiles that roared onto America’s roads in the 1960s. Celebrating an exciting era in American automotive history, the Muscle Cars stamps are the third issuance in the America on the Move series.  Three cars are from the ’60s and two are from the ’70s.  The stamps are available for sale nationwide at the Forever (46 cents) price for a First-Class postage stamp; they are available in panes of 20 stamps, blocks of 10 stamps, or strips of 5 stamps.

1970 Chevelle SS – With features like optional twin racing stripes, the 1970 Chevelle SS looked fierce. SS stood for Super Sport, a fitting designation for the car, which had serious power. The LS-6-propelled 1970 Chevelle SS was lightning quick. It finished in the 13-second range in quarter-mile tests.  In addition to its impressive road performance, the 1970 Chevelle SS was also known for its unique style.  Available as a coupe or a convertible, the 1970 Chevelle SS featured a black grille and SS emblems on both the grille and the rear bumper.

1969 Dodge Charger Daytona – The outrageously styled 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona was designed to dominate on the racetrack. The car, which underwent wind-tunnel testing before its release, took the checkered flag at its NASCAR debut in September 1969 at Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. Concealed headlights, fender-mounted scoops, a nearly two-foot tall, rear-mounted wing, and an 18-inch nose piece helped boost aerodynamics. Other signature touches were thick body stripes containing the word “DAYTONA.” The distinctive vehicles were not easy to come by. In order to qualify for NASCAR racing, at least 500 Daytonas had to be made available for purchase. Only 503 were produced.

1970 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda – The 1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda, a performance-oriented alter-ego of the standard 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, oozed power.  The 1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda was “our angriest, slipperiest-looking body shell wrapped around ol’ King Kong hisself,” one advertisement bellowed.  One of the 1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda’s more audacious features was a Shaker hood scoop, which vibrated as air flowed through to the engine’s two four-barrel carburetors. The car’s styling was an extension of its bold ethos. It was available in a variety of eye-popping color choices, such as Lemon Twist, Lime Light, and Vitamin C. Hockey-stick shaped stripes denoting engine size, a shifter handle shaped like a pistol grip, and bucket seats were also offered. The model is also a rare specimen: Fewer than 700 were produced.

1966 Pontiac GTO – The Pontiac GTO ushered in the American muscle-car era in the mid-1960s, just as the baby boomers began to come of age. The first GTO was born when engineers dropped a 389-cubic-inch V8 engine, which was built for a full-size sedan, into an intermediate-size Pontiac Tempest LeMans. Available as a hardtop, coupe, or convertible, the 1966 Pontiac GTO was equipped with a standard 335-horsepower V8 engine. The “Goat” could really move; in tests, it went from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 6.8 seconds. It also looked much different than its predecessors. Starting in 1966, the car featured curvy styling and a split grille. That model year, sales of the distinctive GTO peaked.

1967 Shelby GT-500 – Manufacturer and former racecar driver Carroll Shelby’s version of the Ford Mustang was powered by a 428-cubic-inch, 355-horsepower Police Interceptor engine. The car also featured a rear spoiler and dealer-installed LeMans stripes as an option. The Shelby GT-500 was both striking and rare; only 2,048 were built. A customized or original version of the 1967 Shelby GT-500 has appeared in contemporary movies and magazines, rekindling American pop culture’s fascination with the model.