While he was making the first round artwork for this year’s Muscle Car Match-Ups, Mike, one of OnAllCylinders top graphic designers, joked that he should just create the C-Series championship winner banner too. He was convinced that the bracket-style tournament was merely a formality before declaring the trusty Chevy truck this year’s champion.
Turns out, he was right. The Squarebody was unstoppable.
As we pivoted this year to feature only trucks and SUVs in our annual Muscle Car Match-Ups, we pulled 16 of our favorite haulers, off-roaders, and street machines into a bracket style Truck Tournament. You can see each Truck Tournament update here.
And round after round, we saw our favorites fall. The Toyota Land Cruiser? Gone after the first round. Jeep CJ? A second round departure. Even the universally-beloved Ford Bronco couldn’t get into the finals. In fact, the final round matchup was essentially a Chevy C-/K-Series truck versus a C-/K-Series SUV (Blazer).
But the Squarebody owned the tournament from the onset, absolutely crushing the vote totals in every pairing.
What’s a Squarebody?
Not that we should be surprised at the outcome though—the popularity of Chevy’s 1973-87 Chevy C-/K-Series truck has soared over the past decade. Dubbed simply “Squarebody” by the Bowtie faithful, these trucks represent a perfect automotive fusion: the classic lines of a vintage truck coupled with the modern drivability of things like dual circuit brakes and solid state ignitions. Add excellent aftermarket parts support and dead-nuts simple repairs, and you’ve got all the fixins’ for a future classic.
They’re versatile too. These trucks can be converted into hardcore off-roaders just as easily as pavement-scraping cruisers, so we love that the Squarebody inspires a broad spectrum of next-generation gearheads.
Finding the Next Muscle Car Match-Ups Theme
It’s settled. The Chevy Squarebody is the winner for 2021. Now, we set our sights on next year’s Muscle Car Match-Ups.
What should the theme be? We’ve done old vs. new, limited editions, engines, 1968-specifc, and now trucks/SUVs.
So tell us what you think in the comments below, and we’ll unveil the next tournament sometime around February 2022!
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