Cars that were revolutionary

Very interesting responses from all. If I may, however, I'd like to single these gentlemen out for a moment:

DTMracer said:
It'll be nice when we can FINALLY get rid of our big dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and I'm confident that a switch to electric or Hydrogen cars will not ruin the future of sports cars. Exciting times ahead, that's for sure.
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ruuman said:
I'm also going to add any of the current gen hybrids, but there revolutionary in a negative way, they have introduced so much pretend eco "sense" that I will forever hate everything they represent.
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I find these polarized opinions interesting and I'm curious as to why each feels the way they do.

oh, and while alot of these were great and spot on, I have to say:
Spectre said:
jaguar-1963-e-type-roadster.jpg
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stunning.
 
Not a worldwide revolution, but it saved BMW

Neue klasse 1500

bmw1500kl.jpg
 
The BMW M5, Introduced the concept of a super sedan that could corner

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/1988BMWe28M5SedanFront1.jpg


Audi RS4: Beat BMW to the super wagon.
edit: It's been brought to my attention that google images has failed me and I should learn to check my sources, this is an RS2.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/00Small.jpg


The '64 Pontiac GTO: The beginning of the Muscle Car era.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/drv.jpg
 
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One I missed...
lotus-elan-1962-3.jpg


Big Performance and great handling from a tiny car. Still performs great today, and had many offspring, most famously the MX-5 Miata
 
thedguy said:
T
Audi RS4: Beat BMW to the super wagon.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/00Small.jpg
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Not to nit-pick but that's the RS2, not the RS4. I completely agree with it's inclusion though.

Here's another couple, one of which beat the Golf to inventing the hot hatch.

Vauxhall Chevette HS/HSR. Lauched in 1976 the HS produced 138bhp from a 2.3 and the HSR produced up to 240 but was very rare and came later. This was RWD so was a proper little pocket rocket.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/chevettehsr.jpg

Lotus Sunbeam. The first of the ?ber hot hatches in my opinion. Released in 1979 the little Lotus produced 155bhp in road going trim from it's 2.2l driving the rear wheels. It could hit 60mph in 6.6 seconds stock which was faster than the Ferrari 308, Porsche 944, Lamborghini Urraco and, I might die for saying this, The Corvette C3 L82.

talbot_lotus.jpg
 
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800px-Ford_Focus.jpg


Mk1 Focus - Forced every manufacture to make small hatches better!
 
DTMracer said:
It'll be nice when we can FINALLY get rid of our big dependence on Middle Eastern oil, and I'm confident that a switch to electric or Hydrogen cars will not ruin the future of sports cars. Exciting times ahead, that's for sure.
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are you demented? Foreign oil rocks! its just the taxes and recent price hikes that make it suck, and don't think for a second that Hydrogen won't have a whored out high price tag if it ever becomes as common as petroleum

Personally, i'd much rather have a hydrogen 4 stroke engine, I'm just if a electric engines could ever be as cool as something thats powered by explosions.
 
thedguy said:
Audi RS4: Beat BMW to the super wagon.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/00Small.jpg
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With Porsche's help that is... The RS 2 was made just like the Mercedes E500; Porsche got the bare shell from Audi, and then built the whole car at their Zuffenhausen plant. There are some interesting visual pieces that show this, firstly it has the rims, brakes (with red callipers badged "Porsche") and mirrors from a 964 Turbo. Allthough most of the changes which really transfomes this Audi 80 into something special doesn't meet the eye...

This, together with the Merc E500, the Harley Davidson V-Rod's engine and the TAG Turbo F1 engine is a part of the Porsche Engineering Services who, for a considerable amount of money engineers stuff for others.
 
289 Shelby/AC Cobra:
Set the standard for how Americans will modify cars for the next 50 years and probably 50 more.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/1969ACCobra289MkIIIf3q.jpg


Shelby Dodge Omni GLH(-s):
Showed America that small motors can be fast as well as fuel efficient. The GLHS was compared to a Shelby GT-350 when it came out and in every way but looks, the little grocery getter could beat the secretaries car.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/dodgeomni.jpg



Peter3hg said:
Not to nit-pick but that's the RS2, not the RS4. I completely agree with it's inclusion though.
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I blame google images, I searched specifically for the RS4, though IIRC the RS2 was out first but I only thought it was a 2 door hatch thing. We never got them in the US so I have an excuse :p
 
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Peter3hg said:
Here's another couple, one of which beat the Golf to inventing the hot hatch.

Vauxhall Chevette HS/HSR. Lauched in 1976 [....]
Lotus Sunbeam. [....] Released in 1979
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The Golf GTI was released in 1976, so please explain how these predate the GTI?

The cars that CAN claim to have done that are the NSU (Prinz) 1200 TTS, Simca 1000 Rallye and perhaps the Fiat 500 Abarth.

And no matter how great a car i think the RS2 is, i don't really consider it revolutionary. It was the first high performance stationwagon, yes. But how great a feat is that? To me the only difference between modern sedans and stationwagons is their roofline, so a high performance stationcar to me is nothing more than a high performance sedan with a longer roofline. And high performance sedans were already done by Mercedes-Benz in the 1960s. It's just that in the late 1980s and early 1990s there was the advent of the so-called lifestyle stationwagons (which i do consider a revolution, mostly thanks to the C3 Audi 100 Avant and the E30 BMW 3-series Touring) that created a market for cars like the RS2. Had it came 10 years earlier, it would've became a giant flop noone would've remembered.
 
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Adunaphel said:
The Golf GTI was released in 1976, so please explain how these predate the GTI?

The cars that CAN claim to have done that are the NSU (Prinz) 1200 TTS, Simca 1000 Rallye and perhaps the Fiat 500 Abarth.
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Agreed, i think the key for a car being revolutionary is that in some way it changed the industry. Thats where the GTI makes sense.
 
Adunaphel said:
The Golf GTI was released in 1976, so please explain how these predate the GTI?
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I only said one did but I got it wrong anyway, the Golf beat the Chevette by 5 months.

Another one to add to your list of ones that did is the Renault 5 Alpine.
 
thedguy you forgot to mention about the Dauphine that it was...slow. 32 seconds to get to 62mph if I remember correctly.
I actually got a ride in one of those a few years ago. It wasn't that bad...

I can't believe nobody mentioned it yet:
The first...the best supercar ever.
1986_Koenig_CountachTurbo1.jpg

This one is actually twin-turboed 700bhp in 1986!
If it wasn't for the Countach, nowadays supercars wouldn't look like they do.
 
Oh and another thing after reading this thread through. I find it appalling that this car has gotten nothing more than a sideways remark when discussing it's successor:
http://img137.imageshack.**/img137/9828/tractionavantwc4.jpg
The 1934 Citroen Traction Avant. The first mass-produced front wheel driven car. And it introduced the steel monocoque or unibody constrction to the car industry. Furthermore it had front independent suspension using torsion bars and wishbones and rear semi-independent panhard suspension with torsion bars, where most of it's contemporaries used 2 live axles. It was exceptionally fast for a saloon car of that era, managing 100 kph, and pretty economical because of the lightness of the unibody construction, together with a pretty aerodynamic design for that era, managing 10l/100km.
 
thedguy said:
Shelby Dodge Omni GLH(-s):
Showed America that small motors can be fast as well as fuel efficient. The GLHS was compared to a Shelby GT-350 when it came out and in every way but looks, the little grocery getter could beat the secretaries car.

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/03/dodgeomni.jpg
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Did people actually buy enough of those to justify its "revolutionary" status? I've never come across one in my life; hell, I haven't even had the pleasure of witnessing a standard Dodge Omni since I was at least 6.

_HighVoltage_ said:
I can't believe nobody mentioned it yet:
The first...the best supercar ever.
1986_Koenig_CountachTurbo1.jpg

This one is actually twin-turboed 700bhp in 1986!
If it wasn't for the Countach, nowadays supercars wouldn't look like they do.
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Try its father instead.
Miura.jpg


And lastly: how many of these supposedly "revolutionary" cars are of our generation? The Ford Focus is probably the only one on this list that's made a significant impact, but can't be remotely compared to, say, witnessing a Miura when all you've got to contend with are grey Wolseleys or the technological marvel of the D?esse full of wondrous stuff we all take for granted today. We've evolved the car to such dizzying heights in performance, safety, emissions, etc. that new "revolutionary" improvements are difficult to come by, so what are the chances of another BMC Mini that will entirely define a generation? And will we even notice?
 
BlaRo said:
Did people actually buy enough of those to justify its "revolutionary" status? I've never come across one in my life; hell, I haven't even had the pleasure of witnessing a standard Dodge Omni since I was at least 6.
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Ok thats 2 things it didn't do better than the mustang :lol:


Looks, and longevity/build quality. In all seriousness only 1500 GLH-S were made.
 
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