Nobody built sports cars like British manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s. There was something very special indeed about the combination of low-slung open two-seater bodywork with a spartan interior, a slick sporting gearchange and a rorty exhaust note. This was wind-in-the-hair motoring, and it was affordable by the average young man British sports cars were hugely popular overseas, as well, and especially in the USA. And tellingly, when Japanese manufacturer Mazda wanted to make a sports car in 1989, it sought inspiration from these very classics of the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the Mazda MX-5 is the world's best-selling sports car.
