8. AC Cobra (1961)
In 1961, a wealthy Texan racing driver, Carroll Shelby, took a British-built AC Ace chassis and shoehorned in 4.7 litres of Ford V8 muscle. The result became one of the most enduring sports cars ever built - the AC Cobra. Ballistically fast in a straight line and wonderful to look at, the Cobra was notorious for tricky handling when on he limit. But recent models such as the CRS Superblower display better road manners.

7. Ferrari 288 GTO (1984)
Effectively a forerunner to the F40, the 288 GTO was built primarily for Group B racing and only 269 were made, guaranteeing it immediate classic status. Although similar to the 308 in terms of exterior design, the 288 was a model in its own right and used a 400bhp turbocharged VS. Rarer and some say even better to drive than the F40 it went on to inspire.

6. Lamborghini Miura (1966)
Widely reckoned to be the best-looking supercar of them all, the Miura took arch-rival Ferrari by complete surprise when it blasted on to the scene in 1966. Powered by a transversely mounted 4.9-litre V12, it hit 170mph and handled like a dream. However, it was the stunning body - styled by Marcello Gandini of Bertone - that won most buyers over. Immortalised on film in the 1969 classic 'The Italian Job'.

5. Ferrari F50 (1995)
Although intended as a replacement for the F40, it never quite managed to capture the spirit of its predecessor. Powered by a Formula One-spec V12, detuned to give 520bhp, it featured a race-style suspension set-up and a host of other goodies. Essentially a hi-tech rocket for the rich, its 1 million Mark price tag did little to put buyers off and the 349 production run was snapped up within hours of the car going on sale.

4. Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing (1954)
Arguably the first supercar of the modem era, the 300SE's credentials sound underwhelming by today's standards, even though it had a 146mph top speed. Based on a steel spaceframe chassis and powered by a fuel-injected straight-six engine, the road-going SL evolved from the racing car that won at Le Mans in 1952. Fantastically engineered and solidly built, it marked a turning point in sports car design.

3. Ferrari F40 (1987)
Some say the F40 is the best road car Ferrari has built. They may be right. It arrived in the middle of the supercar silly season of the Eighties, powered by a twin-turbo V8 delivering 478bhp to the rear wheels, and was briefly the fastest production car in the world. Although no oil painting, it had a brutal built-to-do-a-job feel - emphasised by the racing car bucket seats and Perspex side windows. Not even the F50, which arrived eight years later, managed to better it as a supercar legend.