The first gasoline automobiles were sports cars. Toys for rich people. Utility and transportation were best provided by horse-drawn carriages that were more suited to negotiating the pothole strewn roads that covered most rural areas of America and Europe one hundred and twenty years ago. Wealthy families in cities could show off in colorful speedy machines that would zip past buggies, coaches and carts leaving behind clouds of dust. Fun on wheels -- until the tire would burst from a stone, hole or debris in the road.

Then Ford's Model T won the public over and as cars replaced horses, the rich began purchasing large enclosed automobiles. In America the sports car was almost forgotten. In Europe the sports car continued on, and then after World War II, sports car enthusiasm gained momentum. That momentum spread to America.

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AC - 1971-73	Alfa Romeo - 1956	Allard - 1952-54
Arnolt-Bristol - 1954-56	Aston Martin - 1972	Austin - 1951/52
Austin Healey - 1953	Austin Healey - 1965/66	Austin Healey - 1965
Chevrolet - 1954	Chevrolet - 1963	Cunningham - 1951
Datsun - 1969	Datsun - 1974	DeTomaso - 1972
Doretti - 1954	Ferrari - 1953	Ferrari - 1958
Ford - 1955	Jaguar - 1956/57	Jaguar - 1967
Jensen - 1950	Jensen-Healey - 1972	Kaiser - 1954
Lamborghini - 1971	Lotus - 1966	Lotus - 1973
Maserati - 1970	Maserati - 1975	Mercedes-Benz - 1965
MG - 1954	MG - 1957	MG - 1964
Morgan - 1953	Porsche - 1953	Porsche - 1965
Porsche - 1973	Sunbeam - 1960	Sunbeam - 1966
Triumph - 1954	Triumph - 1966/67	Triumph - 1975

The oil crisis beginning in 1973 put a damper on the enthusiasm for performance. Gasoline cost brought home the concern for good mileage and not horsepower. The sports car stumbled but did carry on, only to resurge when technology compensated for government mandated fuel regulations.

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Alfa Romeo - 1981	Aston Martin - 1999	Bitter - 1984
Boa - 1978	Bugatti - 1998	Caterham - 1998
Caterham - 1998	Chevrolet - 1979	Ferrari - 1990
Ferrari - 2003	Ferrari - 2004	Fiat - 1978
Jaguar - 1993	Lamborghini - 1992	Lamborghini - 1997
Lotus - 1983	Marcos - 1997	Maserati - 2002
Mazda - 1981	Mazda - 1996	MG - 1979
Mitsubishi - 1995	Nissan - 1990	Porsche - 1990
Porsche - 1994	Porsche - 2001	Vector - 1992

Interested in buying sports cars or collecting literature on them? Both are good investments, and both are disappearing into collectors' "portfolios". When they appear at auctions they are not cheap. When everyone is driving electric cars, these collectors will be showing their great classics at car shows, and the literature to friends in their homes.