Defining race cars in motoring history?
Ducati Minor
Henry Ford owed a lot to his rise thanks to an endurance run. From the 1890s to the 1990s, car companies have used marketing through track as the gimmick, even if not one of the buyers ever chooses to take that car to the track. But what car, street or track, made a defining mark in motoring? Why?
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Anonymous
I don't know enough about pre-war cars to comment on that era. For boomers like me, the cars that had an impact were:
BMW 2002 -- small can be very good
Chaparral -- aero matters
Corvette Sting Ray and Ferrari 275 GTB/4 -- car as art and emotion
Dave B.
Chaparral 2 ushered in the modern era of aerodynamics.
Cooper-Climax ushered in the modern era of mid-engine race cars.
Reilly Brennan
I think you have to put the Jaguar C-type in there for its forward-thinking use of disc brakes. It ushered in the braking system for street cars and gave Jaguar a real story to tell.
I'd argue that the Porsche 911 is probably the most iconic street car as a result of its racing success. More than anything, Porsche has stayed in racing long enough for that story to play out for nearly every consumer to recognize.