As an auto enthusiast and journalist, I am often asked numerous times about my top picks for the best sports cars over the past century. Well to be fair, I have broken down my favourites to each decade as the development has progressed rapidly over the years.
My first pick is the Stutz Bearcat, an American sports car of the pre- and post-World War I era. It was the vehicle that made Americans envision a sports car for the street and that performance was not just limited to the racetrack. As for price, how about $100,000 today factoring in inflation.
Moving on into the Roaring Twenties, vehicles started to develop into technology that is still with us today. For me, there is only one car that stands out above all others, the Dusesenberg. These very ex- pensive mechanical wonders of their day, developed technology that is both green and perfor- mance oriented. Today’s price tag is over $200,000.
The Depression of the 1930s brought about the development of performance in a car that almost everyone could afford. The cars I am talking about are the Ford V8’s. These cars allowed people to go fast at no more than $35,000 in today’s dollars.
World War II brought a halt to performance car development, but right after the war, the British introduced us to the real two-seat sports car. The moderately priced MGT series of vehicles were about $30,000, if you could buy them new today. These cars were fun to drive down small, winding roads and city streets, something most North American cars couldn’t really offer.
The 1950s big powerful and luxurious sports and sporty cars like the Jaguar. It took the British to show us that besides sports cars, a sporty sedan could be just as much fun to drive. Besides the fun, the Jaguar also introduced us to leather seats and posh interiors, something many of us still crave for. Today, the price tag would be no more than what we pay for a $40,000 luxury car.
Ford Motor Company started something very special in the mid 1960s, the dawn of the inexpensive sports car. Yes, the Mustang was a car that had something for every car lover – that included sporty good looks, better than average handling and best of all, performance. We the public could get all this for not much more than $18,000 to $20,000 in today’s dollars, something that automakers say can’t really be done anymore.
It took the Japanese to give us great performance and handling in the 1970s with their new and innovative Datsun 240Z.I have to say these sports cars introduced the enthusiast to all kinds of exotic engineering at a little more than the $18,000 range today.
Germany seemed to lead the way in the 1980s with all kinds of new, innovative and go-fast engineering. Leading that charge was the Porsche 928 and 944 models. By today’s dollars, $50,000 to $100,000 bought you the ultimate in great handling and top-notch performance, much cheaper than today’s equivalent models.
By the 1990s, handling took over and the Audi Quattro was the one to beat. These all-wheel- drives were on everyone’s short list, but all this technology didn’t come cheap. These gems were expensive even in their day at about $60,000 in today’s dollars.
With 2013 just past, I would have to say that cars like the Mustang and Camaro offer the biggest bang for the buck. They are fast handle and ride well, whether V6 or V8, at much better prices than their European or Japanese counterparts.
