The cars of 1965, and the one that invented a category

The Impala remained the American sedan, a role it held with the comfortable authority of something that has been correct for so long it has forgotten it could be wrong. The 1965 cars were bigger and heavier than their predecessors, which the market wanted. The Caprice trim level arrived in 1965 as an even more luxurious option, which the higher end of the market also wanted. Over one million Chevrolet full-sizers left the showrooms.

The Mustang's second year of production was its best. The 1965 model added a fastback body style to the hardtop and convertible, introduced the GT package with its fog lamps and rocker-panel stripes, and was available with the 271-horsepower High Performance 289 V8 for buyers who wanted the car to go as fast as it looked. The K-code Hi-Po 289 cars are the ones to find. The base six-cylinder cars are the ones that made the sales numbers.

The GTO was officially a package on the Tempest in 1965 — a separate GTO model would arrive for 1966 — and it was a package that defined what a muscle car was supposed to be. A 389 cubic-inch V8, dual exhausts, bucket seats, floor shift: everything you needed to go very fast for the cost of a mid-range family car. The Tri-Power 389 with three two-barrel carburettors produced 360 horsepower. The dealers could not keep them on the lots.

The Galaxie was Ford's full-sizer, and in 1965 it received a new roofline that acknowledged the aerodynamic lessons of NASCAR racing. The 427 cubic-inch engine was available for the first time in a production Galaxie, making the XL version a legitimate performance car underneath its conservative exterior.

The Chevelle had launched in 1964 as a mid-size alternative to the Impala, and by 1965 the SS option with the 396 cubic-inch engine had positioned it as the Impala's more exciting younger sibling. The 375-horsepower L78 version was not comfortable and not quiet and not easy to live with in traffic, which was entirely beside the point.

The Barracuda launched two weeks before the Mustang and is therefore technically the first pony car, a fact that Plymouth dealers have been mentioning without notable success since 1964. Based on the Valiant platform with a large fastback greenhouse, the 1965 Barracuda was a decent car that had the misfortune of being overshadowed by its more famous contemporary.

The Riviera was Buick's personal luxury car, a category it had helped define in 1963, and by 1965 it was established as the benchmark for American grand touring. The 425 Wildcat V8 was smooth and powerful without being aggressive, which is correct for a Buick. The 1965 styling revision was subtle and correct.

The Coronet was Dodge's mid-size entry, and in 1965 it received the 426 street Hemi as an option — the most powerful production engine in the American market at that moment. A Hemi Coronet was a Q-ship, a car that looked like what a sensible person would buy and performed like what they wouldn't dare.

The Falcon was in its final years as a distinctive model — it would be folded into the Fairlane line by 1970 — and in 1965 it remained a solid, unpretentious compact that handled the transition from commuter car to secondary family car without complaint.

The 442 option package on the Cutlass — four-barrel carburettor, four-speed manual, dual exhausts — created a muscle car that rode on Oldsmobile's reputation for restraint and delivered the opposite. The 1965 442 with the W-30 cold-air induction package is one of the great underrated muscle cars.