The Best Cars Ever Made
The greatest cars of all time. We tell you their stories.
The World's Greatest Cars. In Detail
From Bugattis to Ferraris and Porsches to Dusenbergs, the team at Sports Car Digest have decided to create profiles of some of the best cars ever produced. We didn't rank the top 100 cars ever because we don't want hate mail but we dive into the details and history of these historic, rare and desirable machines. Some of these cars are historically significant, some are about pushing the automotive technology of their time, while others are just the pinnacle of the driving experience - engaging, fast and fun. On this page we take a look at some of the most memorable sports cars of all time, all of them iconic and recognizable to any car-obsessed fan reading this site. These are the cars that get our blood flowing here at Sports Car Digest, from vintage racers to classics to the latest supercar offerings, we realize that there are myriad discussions debates over which ones are the most memorable, the most celebrated and the most remarkable. Ignore the debates and refrain from picking an overall winner. Just sit back and celebrate.
Recent Iconic Car Profiles
We tell the stories and provide the ultimate guides to the most amazing cars ever made.
Ultimate Cars. Profiles
The greatest cars, the greatest brands, the best drivers.
Ferrari has always been a leader in high-performance engineering and design. Although many of their most innovative ideas were often...
The Triumph Motor Company made a name for itself after World War II by producing interesting sports cars that performed...
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Bugatti’s most iconic car, the Type 35, Club Bugatti France organized a tour from Molsheim – the hometown of the brand – to Lyon where the legendary race car made its debut at the 1924 Grand Prix de Lyon. To kick off the...
Ettore Bugatti was a man who did not fear setting himself a hard task. It was not just Bugatti’s exceptional...
Though not well-known in North America for performance cars, Renault has always been a leader in clever engineering, leveraging platforms...
In the 1930s, it was not unusual to bring an older late-model luxury car back to the dealer, manufacturer, or coachbuilder to have it rebodied with something newer and more fashionable. In this case, the opposite was done – the old body on this car was removed and fitted to...
Full disclosure: I am a serious fan of Alfa Romeo automobiles. I’ve owned Alfas built from 1961 to 2017. My...
Leslie R. Henry wrote an article in Automobile Quarterly (Volume VII # 3, Fall 1968) simply titled “The Lincoln.”His opening...
Very few machines are more engaging than an Italian automobile built during the post war era. Literally every Italian manufacturer from this booming period was raising the bar on exceptional design, engineering, and braving new marketing territory – unafraid to risk, leading with passion and vigor. And it wasn’t just...
It never gets old looking back on one of the most famous pioneering efforts in the evolution of the automobile,...
First, the name “Dino” Throughout Ferrari’s history, one name remains emotionally charged: Dino. The name’s origins hark back to early...
It was probably 50 or so years ago when I first saw a Marcos. It was a 1/43rd scale model, and I thought it was beautiful, so I bought it for my burgeoning model collection. I’ve seen a few Marcos 1800s in person, but I hadn’t gotten close to one...
The iconic Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa reigns as one of the most beautiful creations the industry has ever seen. The...
It is unlikely that most of us can picture a Simca that is not one of the econoboxes that the...
If you had to pick the most challenging era of sports cars development, it would have to be the late 1970s. Automobile manufacturing was struggling for new directions, fuel consumption and regulations robbed cars of horsepower, and build quality was among the worst seen worldwide. The level of malaise was...
Credit – BarnFinds.com I saw my first Bricklin in 1974. Lit up under the Southern California sun, a local specialty...
If you’ve never seen a Lancia Stratos in person, you owe it to yourself to seek one out. The Stratos...
There are three people who you acknowledge as important to the marque when you see a Rolls-Royce. There is Charles Stewart Rolls, Henry Royce, and Eleanor Thornton. Who is Eleanor Thornton, you ask? Well, she is the “Spirit of Ecstasy,” more about that her later, since her significant contribution to...
Since its launch in Japan in 1992, the WRX (World Rally Experimental) has taken the world by storm. The WRX...
The Barn Find of a Lifetime There is just something about a weathered, unrestored original car that is intriguing. When...
A young Art Center College of Design student, named Peter Elbert Brock, became the youngest designer ever hired by Bill Mitchell, the Vice President of Design at General Motors. He rewarded Mitchell in November 1957 by making a sketch of what Mitchell chose to be the basis for the next...
Every vintage race car has a story to tell…but this story has more chapters than most. Become a Member &...
Ken Miles drove this car. So did Phil Hill, Bruce McLaren, and Chris Amon. It began life as one of...
It’s tough being British. The lackluster cuisine and stoic monarchy don’t help. Though they did give us the Beatles, Fish and Chips, and the James Bond franchise. For the most part, it’s rare to get a British moment of passionate engagement, especially for the average person. But there is one...
An impressively curated collection of historic Porsche automobiles wasexhibited at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this August. There were historic...
If you had to pick a singular, quintessential Ferrari to represent the pinnacle of their ascendance to the best in...
In October of 1969, Datsun started production on the 240Z, a car that would change the face of sports cars forever. The 240Z was a response to Toyota’s 2000GT. A car that was proposed to Datsun by Yamaha but was passed on and ended up becoming a halo car for...
These days, German companies direct what’s happening at several classic British car manufacturers – Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mini. There was...
When you don’t want to get your 289 Cobra muddy, and your GT 350 just doesn’t have enough ground clearance,...
The Shelby Daytona Coupe is the best American car ever built. Maybe even the best in the world. I can say this with a fair measure of confidence as this is my 100th car design article for this publication! That’s just over eight years of articles evaluating the automotive design...
Best of the Best Cars
We couldn't help ourselves. We decided to rate and rank some of the best cars ever made. Check out our curated list of the greatest cars by category.
Ultimate Garage Profiles
Some people have all the luck. We take a look at some of the most amazing car collections from across the globe. Museums, private collections and exhibits that are the envy of the automotive world.
Cartainers, a pioneering force in state-of-the-art automotive display and storage solutions, is launching a limited production series of exclusive containers...
For some enthusiasts of Ferraris from the 80s and 90s, the 288 GTO, F40, and F50 models create what is...
It’s part Dr. Frankenstein, part Andy Granatelli. A place where old Fiat 500s are reborn, given new life, and prepped for new owners without the rust that many have worn for decades. Meet Fabio Spelta of Affari Sbullonati “The rust is my friend.” That’s the mantra of Fabio Spelta, one...
All photos by Matt Stone Most people might believe that Japan’s automotive history dates to sometime in the 1960s, because...
Car collector Corrado Lopresto has assembled the finest field of Italian automobiles in all of Italy (and possibly in the...
Porsche Aftermarket Tuning: The State of Play There are few tuning companies in the world who are universally entrusted with the enviable (and sometimes unenviable) task of making a Porsche car better than it was when it came from the factory. E-Motion Engineering LLC, a California-based Porsche Tuning Specialist, is...
If you follow professional sports car and endurance racing, you know the name Brumos, and its now iconic red, white,...
Bob Clarke is a committed car guy to say the least. And his tastes are wonderfully varied, from hot rods...
Everybody starts somewhere. For Maserati, that beginning was epicentered at Via Pepoli 1 in Bologna, Italy, in December of 1914. Via Pepoli is a cobblestoned street that winds its way through the oldest sections of Bologna. The buildings are a typical mix of storefronts, apartments, commercial and industrial uses, with...
Bruce Meyers passed away last week at the age of 94. He lived a fulfilling life most of us can...
Around 60 years ago, Fritz Schlumpf purchased a collection of thirty Bugatti models after tough negotiations. He simply adored Bugatti:...
The Ferrari Museum in Maranello opened its new exhibition — “Ferrari at 24 Heures du Mans” — to celebrate seventy years of Ferrari victories in the world’s most famous endurance race. Visitors can look back over the 36 wins recorded on the French track, with the help of some of...
The Petersen Automotive Museum opened its newest exhibit on Saturday, February 23, 2019 that features ten race cars from the...
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles opened its newest exhibit on Saturday, February 23, 2019 featuring ten race cars...
In 2012, Sports Car Digest and Senior Photographer Dennis Gray profiled famed car collector, Jon Shirley. Ever gracious with his time, our extensive interview with Shirley touched on a variety of automotive topics, such as buying his first collector car, personally restoring his Ferrari NART Spider, his favorite cars to...
The debut Grand Basel was staged 6-9 September 2018 in Basel, Switzerland. Celebrating ‘Excellence in Motion’, the inaugural Basel edition...
The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany opened the “70 Years of the Porsche Sports Car” exhibition on Friday, June 8th,...
Since it opened on June 1, 2017, the Newport Car Museum has attracted more than 14,000 visitors and become a hit with car clubs and tour groups exploring the Northeast and especially the vacation destination of Newport, Rhode Island. The museum’s location in nearby Portsmouth, in a 114,000-square-foot building once...
The 2017 RM Sotheby’s New York City auction and exhibition was staged November 30 – December 6 at Sotheby’s York...
The Design Museum in London opened Ferrari: Under the Skin, an exhibition exploring the history and design of Ferrari. The...
Buyer Guides
Everything you need to know before buying specific iconic cars.
