During the 1980s, a new breed of sports cars emerged. Models such as the iconic Porsche 959 and Ferrari F40 revolutionized the scene, and throughout the 1990s, manufacturers continued producing some of the most astonishing sports cars ever.
Who can forget ‘90s legends such as the Lamborghini Diablo, McLaren F1, Bugatti EB110, or the Jaguar XJ220?
However, plenty of sports cars from that era are now mostly forgotten, even some that were surprisingly good.
1999 Shelby Series 1
In the 1990s, Carroll Shelby wanted to reignite the Cobra legend, so he started a new project — the Shelby Series 1. His company, Shelby American, used a recipe similar to that used to build the Cobra of the ‘60s. This was going to be an all-American supercar.
The new, open-top sports car was powered by a front-mounted GM L47 Aurora 4.0-liter V8 engine pumping out 350 thoroughbred stallions. It scrambled to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds and reached a top speed of 170 mph. According to Hot Rod, Shelby originally intended to make 500 units, but production ended at 294.
1990 Jaguar XJR-15
Most gearheads remember the Jaguar XJ220, but that wasn’t the only 1990s supercar wearing a Jaguar badge. It’s a tired, old cliché, but the Jaguar XJR-15 was a race car for the road. Quite literally, as it was a road-going version of the XJR-9 prototype race car.
The XJR-9 was the world’s first road-going car featuring a chassis and bodywork made entirely of carbon fiber and Kevlar composites. Behind the driver, it had a mid 6.0-liter V12 producing 450 hp — enough to send it to 60 mph in just over three seconds. Only 53 XJR-9s are known to have been built.
1991 Tatra MTX V8
You may not have heard of Tatra before, and that’s understandable. It’s a Czech company, and its website claims it’s one of the oldest car manufacturers still in business today. Tatra was known for using the latest technology and building ground-breaking cars, but that all came to a grinding halt when the Communist Party took over after WWII.
However, in the early 1990s, Tatra dipped its toes in the performance car pool, and the result was surprisingly impressive. The Tatra MTX V8 had a 3.9-liter V8 with 302 hp, launching it to 60 mph in just 5.5 seconds. It even had scissor doors and pop-up headlights. Around 200 orders were placed, but only four cars are known to have been built.
1992 Venturi 400 GT
Ask someone to name a French supercar manufacturer, and they’ll most likely answer Bugatti. And that’s fair enough, as Venturi is technically based in the tiny state of Monaco, but the company’s founders are French, so we’d say that’s close enough.
In 1992, Venturi built the 400 Trophy race car, which was powered by a V6 biturbo engine pumping out 408 horses. They then used that car as the base for the road-going Venturi 400 GT. The road car even had the same engine as the racer. In fact, only some minor differences and a more comfortable interior separated it from its track-only sibling.
1991 Cizeta-Moroder V16T
At first glance, it’s easy to confuse the Cizeta-Moroder V16T for a Lamborghini Diablo, and there’s a very good reason for that. The Cizeta-Moroder V16T is based on Gandini’s original Diablo design, and he wasn’t particularly happy when Chrysler, who owned Lamborghini at the time, softened his work.
Unfortunately, the Cizeta-Moroder V16T never managed to outshine the Lambo, and today most car enthusiasts have completely forgotten about it. Its engine was created by combining two V8s, resulting in a very complex unit with 64 valves and 8 camshafts, but it still couldn’t outrun the V12-powered Diablo. Cizeta Automobile claims the company intended to build one car per week, but as a recession kicked in, production came to a halt.
1991 Subaru SVX
Long before the WRX was a thing, Subaru attempted to break into the performance car market with the odd-looking SVX coupe. Weird looks aside, the SVX was actually a surprisingly decent grand tourer.
Under the hood, it had a 3.3-liter boxer engine, producing a very respectable 231 hp, along with a nice, burbling soundtrack. During its production run, Subaru managed to sell just over 24,000 SVXs worldwide, with around 14,000 of those going to the American market.
1992 Spectre R42
Most people have never even heard of the Spectre R42, let alone seen one. That’s not really all that surprising, considering that only 23 were built. Classic & Sports Car reports that it was intended to be a modern interpretation of the legendary Ford GT40, and its designer, Ray Christopher, had previously been involved with a company that built very accurate GT40 replicas.
As we already know, the Spectre R42 didn’t make its way into the big leagues, but it still has a couple of claims to fame. It appeared in a movie called RPM, starring David Arquette, and featured in the Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit video game.
1996 Kia Elan
In 1989, Lotus relaunched its Elan nameplate, but the new FWD model never lived up to the expectations set by its predecessors. In 1995, Lotus called it quits and moved on, while the production rights for the Elan were sold to Korean carmaker Kia.
Kia made a handful of changes to the Elan, but the finished product still looked almost identical to the Lotus version. Nobody wanted a Kia sports car in the 1990s, and when production ended in 1999, they’d only sold 1,056 Elans, making it rarer than the Lotus version.
1990 Vector W8
The Vector W8 is one mean-looking machine, and it’s a shame it didn’t make it. Vector first introduced the W8 to the public in 1976, but it wasn’t until 1989 that the American supercar entered production. Vector kept hyping it up, but it ultimately failed to live up to the promises.
When Tennis star André Agassi got his Vector W8, it caught fire, and he demanded a refund. Below the Radar says Car & Driver tried to test the twin-turbocharged V8 monster, but all the W8 test vehicles broke down. In the end, only 19 people bought one, and the Vector W8 has been relegated to the automotive history books.
1994 Lister Storm
Those who’ve played the older Gran Turismo or Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit video games probably recognize the Lister Storm. The Lister website mentions that only four road-going Storms were built, each costing £220,000, and only three are still around.
Lister fitted the Storm with a bored and stroked Jaguar V12 engine. Its 7.0-liter displacement made it the biggest V12 mill ever used in a production road car since World War II. Producing 546 hp, the Lister Storm could scrambled to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds, and it was claimed that it was the fastest four-seat grand tourer available in the 1990s and early 2000s.
1997 Nissan R390
Nissan only built one R390 road car in 1997, because that’s all that was needed for GT1 racing homologation. The car was powered by the same engine as the GT1 race car that tested its mettle against Porsches and McLarens at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Nissan offered to build additional R390 road cars for anyone who was willing to part with $1 million, but seemingly no one took them up on that offer. Although, it’s been said that a couple of race cars have been converted for road use. The R390’s top speed was claimed to be over 220 mph, but Nissan struggled to find a test driver who was brave enough to find out for sure.
1992 Yamaha OX99-11
It’s almost unbelievable that Yamaha built three OX99-11 prototypes in 1992, with the intention of offering them to customers. These cars were packed with actual Formula One technology.
The OX99-11 had a futuristic design reminiscent of endurance prototype race cars and a slightly detuned F1 3.5-liter V12 engine that revved to 10,000 rpm. This could’ve been one of the all-time automotive greats, but with Japan stuck in a financial crisis, coupled with internal disagreements and worries about the budget, Yamaha shut down the project.
1992 Panoz Roadster
Panoz is an American sports car company, and in 1992, it launched the aluminum-bodied Roadster sports car. It’s based on an Irish sports car known as the TMC Costin, after Danny Panoz bought the rights to the frame design from Frank Costin.
The Panoz Roadster was powered by a 4.9-liter Ford V8 engine, which was mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. The car wasn’t available with a roof or tonneau cover, radio, aircon, or any other creature comforts. It only had a small heater core to defrost the windshield, but that was purely to satisfy a US DOT requirement. Only 44 of these lightweight sports cars were sold to the public.
