These muscle cars were so extreme most people don't know they existed, Detroit kept them secret

In the 1960s, Detroit companies like Dodge and Ford gave the world some incredible muscle cars.

Crucially, these companies also built muscle cars that we sometimes forget existed.

There are two in particular that people either forgot about, or if they remember, then they definitely miss them.

But there’s a reason why they were both one-off creations.

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New car models are like rivers.

You know where the river starts, but then it kind of forges its own path and may end in a lake, an ocean, or nowhere at all.

It’s the same with cars because when a new car debuts, sales can skyrocket or tank, or sometimes both.

When Ford unveiled the Mustang, the original 1964 1/2 model, the automaker was just trying to build the best possible muscle car.

The company had no idea it was going to become the fastest-selling car of all time, a record it still holds to this day, or that it would spawn an electric variant that is now outselling the original.

Around those same years, Ford also launched the Fairlane Thunderbolt, a car that faced a totally different fate.

Apart from the V8 under the hood – and the fact it was made in Detroit – this car couldn’t have been more different from the Mustang.

It was an experimental, drag racing version of the Fairlane, and only 100 units were ever built.

It had a 427-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) V8, and it was fast, maybe even too fast for the era, because it could complete a quarter-mile run in around 11 seconds.

Despite that, Ford never gave us a proper sequel to that auto.

Then, just a few years later, elsewhere in Detroit, Dodge began working on the Hemi Dart, a track-focused iteration of an otherwise pretty mild family car.

Like the Ford, the Hemi Dart was designed for drag racing, and only 80 units were built.

Dodge added a 426-cubic-inch Hemi V8 but removed a long list of components to save weight.

Radio, carpets, heater, and center console, even the armrests and wing mirrors – all gone.

It was so extreme that it came with a non-warranty disclaimer.

So both muscle cars were fast, both were powered by V8s, and both were built with drag races in mind.

And, ultimately, that’s the reason Dodge and Ford sort of made us forget about them. Almost as fast as this model built exclusively for women. And yes, it was pink.

Because they were one-off creations for a niche market designed by mainstream automakers, whose main priority is to shift as many cars as possible, not corner niche, if amazing, markets.