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Best of Grand Tour Nation: Dream Vintage Car Edition

Recently we asked all of you on Facebook to tell us about your favorite vintage cars. We had such an overwhelming response that we had to put together a list of our favorites!

1966 Shelby Cobra

Of course, we have to start with the big guns. Carol Shelby, an american racing driver, turned to AC to create the car of his dreams. He took the AC Cobra, reimagined it with a much more powerful Ford V8 and created one of, if not the, most sought after cars in the world, with the very first selling for £10,332,020 in the UK. It created a dynasty of light but powerful automobiles giving it a definite right to have pride of place at the top of this list.

Thank you to Ryan Dunbar!

1971 De Tomaso Pantera

In a world giving way to the emergence of the supercar as we know it, automakers were struggling to come up with the perfect way to do it. Lamborghini had the Miura with a V12 mounted longitudinally and Ferrari had their engines mounted in the front. In 1971 the Pantera was launched. It was as close to perfect as a supercar could get at the time, and because of that, stayed in production for 20 years with its 5.8 litre engine places behind the driver.

Just over 7000 cars were produced in those 20 years, and since then, De Tomaso basically ended. The Pantera is extremely rare, fetching a price of upwards of $100,000.

Thank you to William Trout!

1966 Toyota 2000GT

Being possibly the most collectible Toyota of all time, the 2000GT is highly desired in the classics market. It was even driven by James Bond in the film ‘You Only Live Twice’ where Toyota made two convertible models, specifically for the film. With a 2.0 litre inline 6 in the front and rear-wheel drive, its performance matched it beautiful body shape with 150hp and 130lb ft. Don’t be fooled by those numbers – this was 1966 remember! These Japanese sports cars have recently shot up in value, reaching over $1,000,000 is auctions around the world.

I’m not surprised. I mean, look at it!

Thank you to Joel Mashack!

1984 Ferrari 288 GTO

Now worth more than the F40, the 288 GTO is an extremely special car. 400hp and 365ft lb of torque from its twin turbocharged V8 doesn’t sound like a lot by today’s standards, but when you compare it to its dry weight of just 1160kg, it’s comparable only to… Maybe a LaFerrari of today?

The 288 was initially built for group B rally before the shocking death of Henri Toivonen and his co-driver Sergio Crest. This left the sport hung out to dry meaning the 288 was never raced. With only 273 units built, this Ferrari racecar could fetch nearly £2,000,000 these days.

Thank you to Miguel A. Ramos!

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing

For the last classic on our list, we venture deep into Europe. This is possibly the most incredible Mercedes ever made, with some even calling it the first supercar ever built ahead of the Lamborghini Miura. It was indeed the fastest car of its day with a 3 litre straight 6 up front producing 222hp and 202lb ft of torque.

The idea originally came from a Grand Prix racecar. Max Hoffman asked Mercedes-Benz to build a civilian version and it immediately became successful and possibly the most iconic classic on this list with its gullwing doors and long bonnet. With only 1858 units ever built, the highest specification variant which included an aluminium alloy body reached an all time high of $4.62 million.

Thank you to Aaron Coolidge!

Honourable Mentions

1995 Ford GT90 Concept

Thank you to John Amelio II!

1969 Camaro SS

Thank you to Richard Nemeth!

1962 Peel P50

Thank you to Jaci Jirik!

Thank you to everyone who responded, it was a pleasure looking through all of your ideas!

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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