"472CID" (472CID)
02/10/2016 at 12:30 • Filed to: USELESSLISTS
8
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"472CID" (472CID)
02/10/2016 at 12:30 • Filed to: USELESSLISTS | 8
| 36 |
In the 1950s the concept of a small light sporty car was pretty foreign to American car buyers. Despite this, US car makers have put out a diverse collection of 2 seaters over the last six decades. Take a trip through time and check out all the dual passenger automobiles from the US of A.
Note: Many of these cars aren’t performance cars, but they are all two seaters. This list starts after 1945, too many pre-war two seaters. This list was many intended to be for street legal production cars, but I’ve made a handful of exceptions for coolness sake. I’m sure I’ve missed some, chime in with what you’ve got.
Kurtis Kraft - In the late 1940s Frank Kurtis was building race cars some of which were semi-streetable.
1949-52 Crosley Hotshot - America’s first sports car, and it certainly nails the whole “lightweight” concept. They only made 26.5hp, but then they only weighed as much as a can of beans.
1951-54 Nash-Healey - The Nash-Healey arrived to the three years before the Corvette. It was an early example of a global car, with an American engine, British chassis, and Italian body.
1953-55 Cunningham C3,4,5,6 - Briggs Cunningham was a race car driver who built is own sports car with big American engines. He was like Carol Shelby, 10 years before Carol Shelby. Not only that but he made his own car bodies, and was quite successful in the 24 hrs of Le Mans.
1953-62 Chevrolet Corvette 1st gen - The Corvette is easily America’s most prolific sports car. It almost didn’t survive beyond the first few years.
1954 Kaiser Darrin 435 made 90hp - The Darrin was a wild car from frumpy old Kaiser, it was also one of the last cars from Kaiser.
1955-57 Ford Thunderbird - The Thunderbird came around to steal the Corvette’s thunder, and it was good at it. It was so good that Ford cashed in on it’s success and transformed the car into a giant luxury barge, leaving the first 3 model years as the only 2 seat years.
1957-61 Bocar - The Bocar was a handbuilt sports car from Colorado that used Chevy engines.
1962-67 Shelby Cobra - The infamous Cobra was arguably the fastest scariest car of it’s day. In 1965 Shelby created the Cobra coupe to take on the Ferrari GTO.
1963-67 Chevrolet Corvette - Chevy followed up the first gen Corvette with the timeless Stingray body style.
1963-66 Cheetah about 20 made - GM’s unofficial answer to the Cobra was the ultra low and ultra light Cheetah.
1963-70 Chaparral 2 - GM’s unofficial answer to the Ford GT40 was Chaparral’s sports cars, known for wild wings and downforce inducing fans.
1964-69 Ford GT40 - Ford build one of the most famous and successful sports car racers of all time with the GT40. A handful of road cars were built, it could be argued that they are more British than American.
1965-86 Excalibur - Excalibur started building kit cars of Mercedes SSKs in the 1960s.
1968-70 AMC AMX - The AMX was the only regular production muscle car to shed it’s back seats, which effectively made it a bit of a sports car.
1968-82 Corvette 3rd gen - The C3 Corvette debuted a long low curvy look that would set the tone for future Corvettes.
1978-88 Zimmer - Much like Excaliber, Zimmer made old-timey replicar, their best known cars might be those based on Fieros like this Quicksilver.
1982-88 Ford EXP/Mercury LN7 - In the 1980s Ford experimented with a niche for small sporty economy cars with two seats.
1984-95 Chevrolet Corvette 4th gen - The C4 Corvette skipped the 1983 model year but otherwise kept the flame of American sports car alive.
1984-88 Pontiac Fiero - Like Ford, GM experimented with a 2 seater economy car, unlike Ford they put the engine behind the driver. Unfortunately like many GM cars it got axed just as they were figuring out how to make it not suck.
1987-93 Cadillac Allante - The Allante, Reatta, and (4 seater) Chrysler TC were an odd niche of American luxury soft-core sports cars. Perhaps if they were rwd they may have found more success.
1988-91 Buick Reatta
1990-92 Vector W8 - Vectors were pretty much vaporware, but damned if they weren’t cool vaporware.
Early 90s Geo Metro Convertible - I couldn’t be bothered to find a pic.
1992-10, 12- Dodge Viper - The Viper has muscled it’s way into our hearts to become America’s other sports car.
1992-99 Panoz Roadster - I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one of these in the wild.
1997-02 Plymouth Prowler - A concept car brought to life by concept-car-crazy 90s Chrysler. Oddly around the same time as the also open wheeled Panoz.
1997-99 GM EV1 - The EV1 was pretty far from being a sports car, but it was indeed a 2 seater.
1997-05 Chevrolet Corvette 5th gen - The C5 celebrated 50 years of Corvette, and by extension 50 years of American sports cars.
1999-05 Shelby Series 1 - Shelby’s attempt to introduce a new Oldsmobile sports car. Unfortunately it was plagued by several issues and never really took off.
2000-14 Panoz Esperante - This has been Panoz’s made model. I’m not totally sure it’s successor. the Abruzzi. really exists so it’s not on the list.
2000-06 Saleen S7 - With the S7 Saleen made the jump from tuner car company, to car maker. Unfortunately the company has fallen on hard times recently.
2001-11 Mosler MT900 - Moslers made supercars with Corvette engines in Florida.
2001-05 Ford Thunderbird - The 2000s gave us a number of stylized American 2 seaters. Ford’s entry was the retro styled Thunderbird.
2004-09 Cadillac XLR - After 50 years the Corvette finally got a platform mate with the Cadillac XLR.
2004-08 Chrysler Crossfire - Chrysler tried bringing another popular concept car to the streets with the Mercedes SLK-based Crossfire.
2005-06 Ford GT - Ford did a awfully good job transferring the GT40's styling into a modern car.
2005-13 Chevrolet Corvette C6
2006-10 Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky - GM took a crack at building a better Miata, unfortunately the both Saturn and Pontiac died shortly after their introduction.
2006-13 SSC Ultimate Aero - SSC is known for making a car that could beat the Bugatti Veyron’s top speed, and not much else.
2008-12 Tesla Roadster - Today the Model S is synonyms with Tesla, it’s their roadster however who started everything.
2011 Hennessey Venom GT - In a number of metrics it’s the fastest car in the world, and the latest American 2 seater. (well if you don’t count the fact that it registers as a Lotus).
2014- Chevrolet Corvette
There’s dozens of great concept cars that could have been the next great American sports car. Here’s a few that readily come to mind.
GM; Oldsmobile F88, Corvair Monza SS/GT, Aerovettes, Pontiac Banshees
Ford: Mustang II, GN34, GT90, Cobra, GR1
Chrysler: Dodge Copperhead, Razor, Demon, Plymoth Spyder, Chrysler ME12, Firepower
AMC: AMXIII
Party-vi
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:39 |
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bruh
EL_ULY
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:40 |
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did the 1991 Mercury Capri have a back seat?
Jdrentarol
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:40 |
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Umm..... Shelby Daytona Coupe?
JeepJeremy
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:41 |
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Holy crap that picture of that Vector!!!!!!!
scoob
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:47 |
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Um... you forgot this:
DoYouEvenShift
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:48 |
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Whoah! I cant tell where the Foxbody ends and where the Cavalier begins!
Neat though
BigBlock440
> scoob
02/10/2016 at 12:49 |
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As useless as they are, Mustangs still have a back seat.
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472CID
> EL_ULY
02/10/2016 at 12:51 |
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I DID! I didn’t think they had them either, they must only fit prenatal babies.
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472CID
> scoob
02/10/2016 at 12:52 |
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Jobjoris
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:52 |
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Early 90s Geo Metro Convertible - I couldn’t be bothered to find a pic.
Wouldn’t fit anyway: No sportscar and very Japanese.
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472CID
> Jdrentarol
02/10/2016 at 12:53 |
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I didn’t want to make a separate entry, so I compromised by finding a cool pic.
AfromanGTO
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:54 |
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What about the El Camino, Ranchero, and GMC Caballero? There are 2 seaters.
Scott
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:55 |
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Impressive list, I am surprised that I was familiar with almost every car on the list. A larger number of them I was unaware that they were American, like the Cunningham, and the Vector. I’ve seen pictures of the Cunningham, and familiar with the name, but I may have to study up on it, it sounds like a car I might enjoy.
JR1
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 12:55 |
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You are missing the C6/C7 Corvette. Great list though
Nibby
> BigBlock440
02/10/2016 at 12:56 |
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They’re perfectly useful for disembodied body parts.
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472CID
> Party-vi
02/10/2016 at 13:00 |
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I was thinking of that as more of a British car, but after looking into it, it should be on here.
MrPseudonym
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 13:06 |
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“There’s dozens of great concept cars...”
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
“Dodge Copperhead...”
No.
NinetyQ
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 13:08 |
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As much as I love seeing Avantis, they weren’t 2-seaters. Also, they ran from ‘63-’64 (model years).
Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
> EL_ULY
02/10/2016 at 13:09 |
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Australian-built Ford based on a Mazda 323. So I don’t know how American that two-seater is...
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Party-vi
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 13:09 |
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huzzah!
TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW!
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 13:11 |
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Buick regatta?
Parcel shelf, no back seats.
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EL_ULY
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 13:13 |
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lol!
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EL_ULY
> Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
02/10/2016 at 13:16 |
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Very much so even if it’s based on a Mazda. Just like how BMW makes SUV’s here and VW in Mexico, they are still German :]
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472CID
> TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW!
02/10/2016 at 13:21 |
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yeah it’s up there...
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472CID
> NinetyQ
02/10/2016 at 13:23 |
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You’re right, I had my suspicions but never looked into it.
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472CID
> AfromanGTO
02/10/2016 at 13:24 |
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I’m going with: those are trucks not car. Plus I did that list
http://oppositelock.kinja.com/list-of-car-ba…
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Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
> EL_ULY
02/10/2016 at 13:28 |
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By that logic, then the XR4Ti is American, even though it’s a Belgian-built version of a British-German designed European Ford. Makes sense.
Future next gen S2000 owner
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 13:32 |
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Your definition of “sports car” seem pretty loose but meh. Are you not including cars that had the backs seats removed from the factory? I’m thinking of Shelby’s in particular.
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EL_ULY
> Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
02/10/2016 at 13:42 |
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Euro branch of an American Tree.... so yup!
first gen Volvo S40 was also a Mitsubishi something and a Proton whatever. One is Swedish, one is Japanese, and on is wherever Proton is from :]
speaking of..... all over the world , but still Swede
Thomas Donohue
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 14:32 |
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Made in America. Unlike the Shelby.
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TheNeonDriver - Now with More BMW!
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 15:55 |
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Didn’t see the convertible, I totally blanked on their existence.
My apologies. For such an oddball car, it also looks somewhat generic...
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> 472CID
02/10/2016 at 22:46 |
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Callaway C12- A heavily reworked C5 Corvette with a massaged engine and updated suspension
Peptide
> 472CID
02/18/2016 at 16:11 |
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I know I’m a little late to the party, but I didn’t see this post when it was new...
I think you forgot the Falcon F7:
Autojunkie
> 472CID
02/19/2016 at 09:29 |
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“1987-93 Cadillac Allante - The Allante, Reatta, and (4 seater) Chrysler TC”
The TC was not a four-seater. The Porsche 911 is more four-seater than a TC ever was. The TC, like it or not, needs to be included in this list.
agerix
> AfromanGTO
11/02/2016 at 22:26 |
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those are utes not trucks. a ute is basically the front of a muscle on the rear of a small pick up truck
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AfromanGTO
> agerix
11/03/2016 at 11:07 |
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Technically they are utes, but here they call them trucks. Calling them a Ute makes sense.