1 Chrysler Viper GTS

While GM offered the standard Corvette to British punters (despite the brilliance of the breathed-on-by-lotus ZR-1, which never reached these shores), Chrysler was set to steal a march in the UK with its fire-breathing 8-litre Viper. Often maligned for having a truck-derived engine, the truth was somewhat different: Lamborghini, then a sister company, refined the V10 unit including swapping its iron block for one cast from aluminium. Yet Autocar’s Steve Cropley was critical: ‘The car was cumbersome, with really heavy controls. The look of the thing made it extraordinary, but it clearly needed development.’

In 1995 it got just that. With power raised to 450bhp and 90% of the components either changed or upgraded, the GTS finally became the car that the 1989 concept should have grown into. Its brakes were still wooden by European standards, and its steering too slow and uninspiring to cut it against anything wearing a Prancing Horse, but with 0-60mph in just 4 secs and a 177mph top speed – as well as a soundtrack to die for – the Viper truly was an all-american hero. Anorak fact The Viper’s engine was, in fact, Chrysler’s humble LA360 V8 with two extra cylinders grafted on