The 13 best American cars of all time (list) | GRR

Chevrolet Corvette C5

Why no Corvettes until now? Because pretty as they were, they were never the best. The C5 changed everything, pulling a similar trick to the Mustang in the ‘60s. It was affordable, desirable and offered great near class-leading performance for the money. It was a sportscar that could take on and beat contemporary Europeans at a discount such that you could buy a daily alongside it with the savings. A 911 Carrera in 1997 cost $64,000 in America. By contrast, the C5 started at $38,000. The LS – an engine family now so popular it has an entire festival named after it – got its debut in the C5, outputting 345PS (253kW), making this 1,439kg (kerb) car potent. It had good weight distribution and a sturdy manual transmission in the Tremek T56 six-speed. It took just over five seconds to get to 62mph, on the way to a top speed of over 174mph. 

The platform too made for the basis of a Le Mans-winning racer and the start of a monster Corvette racing programme. The formula worked so well that the C6 and even the C7 are modernisations and updates of the principles the C5 championed, including using later iterations of that dependable alloy small-block. This car was probably the start of a wider performance car revolution for American manufacturers and consequently, the start of the second half of this list…