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Sports Cars From the Past

© Kathy Ratay

From the beginning of the automobile, manufacturers were building cars for sport. One of the earliest sports car was the 1904 Packard Gray Wolf. It was a special order vehicle priced at $10,000. The Gray Wolf set the U.S. speed record at 77.6 mph. Only one was built.

Mercer manufactured one of the next great sports cars, the Type 35 Raceabout. Built from 1911-1915, it sported brass, steel, wood and leather. The unique thing about the car was the ability to drive it from the street directly into races. It's 300 4-cylinder engine had 58 hp and was clocked at top speeds of 80 mph. Distinctly, the Raceabout was designed with two bucket seats. The driver had to sit with his right leg outside the car, foot braced on a stirrup to operate the external accelerator. About 500 of the Raceabouts were manufactured. The cost? $2,150.

The 1920s brought a flood (for the era) in manufacturing sports cars. Porsche designed its first sports car in 1921 for an Austrian Count. It was a small two-seater with a 1.0-liter ohc four cylinder engine and was able to get to speeds of 90 mph.

Alfa Romeo began producing sports cars in the late 1920s. In 1929 the manufacturer unveiled the 6C1750. Designed by Alfa's racing engineer, Vittorio Jana, the 6C1750 came equipped with a 1752cc, inline-six, with dual overhead cams. It was able to reach speeds of 70 mph in third gear and up to 95 mph in fourth.

Sports cars continued to be manufactured at a high rate during the 1930s with companies such as Jaguar and MG hitting the market. Jaguar's SS100 introduced in 1936 brought a new definition to the sports car with its style, performance and value. The SS100 weighed 2575 pounds and was equipped with a 104-hp, 1.7-liter, six-cylinder engine. It ran 0-60 mph in 12.8 seconds and could reach speeds up to 95 mph. The SS100 cost less than its rivals, but only 308 were produced from 1936 to 1940 when production ended.

In the 1920s and '30s, most sports cars were owned only by the rich. Most of today's sports cars, many of which are inspired by early models, are owned and enjoyed by the average consumer. Sports cars have been extremely popular in the past and should remain a popular vehicle choice for consumers.

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