And so we arrive at a notable benchmark on this journey: the Ferrari F40 was the first production car to exceed the magic ‘double-ton’. You could argue that the F40 owes its existence to healthy opportunism rather than a well-planned marketing strategy. Ferrari’s sales had faltered in the early 1980s, with fears that its products were turning ‘soft’ under Fiat’s corporate blanket.
The 2200 Spider represented the ambitions of Abarth and patron Fiat to strike at the higher order of Italian motoring, but it was destined to remain a rarity.
Fiat’s rev-happy Strada Abarth 130TC may not be the most exalted hot hatch, but it has character to spare. We try a rare survivor and come away smitten.
It was a car that was literally and figuratively created by accident. Guyson International MD, Jim Thompson, was a keen hillclimb racer. However, for all his apparent skill behind the wheel, even he couldn’t stop his V12 Jaguar E-type from connecting with something immovable one dark and stormy night in 1973.
The Toyota Sports 800 is as small in size as it is big in stature, but its significance is only appreciated in its homeland. Could it have succeeded outside Japan had its makers been braver? We encounter two-cylinders of pure fury and try to keep a straight face.
Reeves Callaway is inextricably linked with the Chevrolet Corvette, the sometime single-seater driver turned tuner having made ‘America’s Only Sports Car’ go faster than ever seemed feasible. When you produce a hotted-up Corvette with, say, the name ‘Sledgehammer,’ you know it isn’t going to be shy or retiring. The C12, however, had a title that was positively tame by comparison, but then it was so much more than a reworked Corvette. It was a road car with racing car credentials, and one that was part-German.
Giovanni Michelotti shaped a bewildering array of cars, from oneoff coachbuilt exotica to best-selling mainstream future classics. We recall the Turinese styling great.
Ford’s quest for Total Performance resulted in some very tasty automotive morsels being served up. None more so than the Mach 2, which looked like it could have been another star in Ford’s concept car constellation – had it ever seen production…
Lancia and rallying were once synonymous, the Delta Integrale being among the greatest homologation specials ever to scorch a special stage. It hasn’t lost the power to thrill, either, as we discover after braving one with more than 300bhp.
Scroll back to 1978 and Pininfarina caused a furore with its Jaguar XJ Spider. No gush was too purple as the world’s motoring media begged British Leyland to adopt it as a production model. It didn’t, of course, but this one-off roadster remains a classic of its kind
