The Mazda RX 7 is one of motoring s boldest success stories as the men from Hiroshima put their faith in Felix Wankel s rotary engine when all others had cast it aside It was a high risk gamble on unproven technology that had killed off fellow early adopter NSU and nearly did for Citroen but it paid off spectacularly

The Baby Boom generation was coming of age more of them were attending college than ever before and they were looking for a car something affordable smaller and sporty Ford came up with the perfect answer unveiling the Mustang at the New York World s Fair on April 17 1964

It s March 1977 and Porsche has dropped a bombshell on fans of the rear engined air cooled 911 its eventual replacement would be the front engined water cooled 928 Gone was the flat six power unit replaced by a throbbing V8 and the new car was also significantly bulkier

The Mercedes Gullwing 300SL broke new ground for the men from Stuttgart bringing startling styling and racetrack performance to those with deep pockets But it was its little brother the 190SL similar styling reduced performance and cost that paved the way for the W113 Pagoda one of the most accomplished sports tourers ever made

In 1989 from a standing start Toyota took aim at the world s luxury carmakers and damn near scared the life out of them Creating an entirely new brand for the venture Toyota launched the Lexus LS 400 squarely at the likes of Mercedes Jaguar BMW and Audi and came within an ace of toppling the lot of them

Outrageous sensational dramatic exhilarating extraordinary Just a few of the adjectives committed to print when the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth burst onto the scene with an extravagant swagger in 1986 Billed as the most exciting Ford since the GT40 the whale tailed flyer didn t disappoint

The Toyota MR2 Japan s first mid engined production car caused a sensation when it arrived in the UK in 1985 Its race track handling smooth high revving engine and dramatic styling prompted an out pouring of love from the motoring press

It was meant to be the ultimate Cortina basher a family saloon to herald a bright new future for British Leyland into the 1970s But the Morris Marina never hit the heights its numerous flaws prompting regular maulings in the motoring press from the moment road testers got the keys to the first cars

It remains one of the most spectacular cars ever made an almost impossibly stylish supercar that also went like a bat out of hell The Gullwing doors of the Mercedes Benz 300SL imbued an added sense of the outrageous to a car born of impeccable racing pedigree

The greatest small sports saloon of its time the BMW 02 series set the Munich company on the road to the 3 series We look at its history