the reality was muscle was never really a thing.
i mean go back and read/watch some old car reviews. most muscle cars were slow AF. 14-16 second quarter miles, etc etc. SAE gross power, simply made up power figures ... like lots of shens going on there. but the performance was never really there. no one could jump an apple with their front tires, no one couldnt touch the dash ... etc etc. none of this was real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrEL2OQkvOY
old muscle cars have been tainted by modern performance engineering, and rose tinted glasses. those cars can be plenty fast, with much more modern CNC heads/headers/carbs, modern tires, suspension, etc etc. but stock, these cars were never fast. all those stories are largely just ... not true. now, maybe you could do some of the stories, but back then ... nope. not even close.
for context, a gr86 does 0-60 in 6.5, and the quarter in 14.0 at 101. so like if you can touch the dashboard in that car (and you can), you could touch the dashboard in these old cars. no one was jumping the front tires etc.