Postal Service Revs Up Another Automotive Stamp Issue Though the leaky, sputtering Postal Service may seem as broken down as Detroit's Big Three during the financial crisis, our post office's love affair with classic American automobiles keeps roaring along with a healthy enthusiasm. A snazzy new set of first-class postage stamps goes on sale Friday, just ahead of this weekend's Daytona 500 race. Each of the five new designs, based on paintings commissioned by the Postal Service from Tom Fritz, a California car artist, will feature a different muscle car of the 1960s and "70s. The stamps join previous sets in the service's "America on the Move" theme: "50s Sporty Cars, issued in 2005, and "50s Fins and Chrome from 2008. The new stamps" artwork conveys the energy and excitement of the muscle cars, in spite of their tiny format: In Mr. Fritz's depiction, the 1966 Pontiac GTO appears to come roaring out of a great fireball, like some automotive Prometheus: This car is usually considered the beast that began the muscle car craze. With a sedan's 389-cubic inch, 335-horsepower V-8 engine dropped into the midsize body of a Tempest LeMans, the "Goat" had power: It could go from 0-60 m.p.h. in 6.8 seconds. It also had the curvy styling to catch the attention of boomers just old enough to start buying cars. The icy blues of the second stamp underscore the timeless cool of the carmaker and former racecar driver Carroll Shelby's 1967 reimagining of the Ford Mustang. The Shelby GT500 included a 428-cubic inch, 355-horsepower police-car engine and racy features like a rear spoiler, scooped fiberglass hood and grille-mounted headlights. The car has been a staple of pop culture, appearing in movies and magazines for decades despite that just over 2,000 were built. The first thing one notices on the inch-high image of the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona is its two-foot tall, rear-mounted wing. Excess seemed to be the norm with this car, which took the checkered flag in its Nascar debut at Talladega the year it was released. The production 440-cubic inch, 375-horsepower Magnum engine was so strong the car had to undergo wind-tunnel testing before it could be sold. Concealed headlights and an 18-inch nose piece also aided the aerodynamics and probably helped Buddy Baker become the first Nascar driver to break the 200-m.p.h. barrier. Only 503 Daytonas were made, barely qualifying the car for Nascar racing. The 1970 Chevelle SS, or Super Sport, came with a couple of different engine configurations. The 454-cubic inch, 450-horsepower LS-6 version was legendary for its power and allowed the car to run a quarter-mile test in about 13 seconds. On the new stamp, the lipstick-red convertible with slick black racing stripes is the only car whose driver we can see - a woman with flowing hair as cool as the air flowing into the engine cowls. Finishing out the set is the 1970 Plymouth Hemi "Cuda, designed to project power not only through its monstrous 426-cubic inch, 425-horsepower Hemi engine and amped-up noise - the Shaker head scoop vibrated as air flowed through - but in the aggressive colors offered. The stamp depicts a vivid hue that's probably the one they called Lime Light. One promo declared the car "the angriest, slipperiest-looking body shell wrapped around ol" King Kong hisself." It's a lonesome breed: fewer than 700 were made. The Nascar champion Richard Petty and his son Kyle, a muscle-car enthusiast, will play host to the first-day-of-issue ceremony on Friday. The stamps, which sell for the first-class rate of 46 cents, are marked "Forever" to indicate they'll be valid to mail a first-class letter at any time in the future, regardless of rate increases. They're printed in sheets of 20 - four of each design - and will be at post offices nationwide for a limited time. Collectors interested in obtaining souvenir items, like framed artwork or envelopes bearing a special first-day-of-issue postmark, can order online at store.usps.com.