AHC: United States Sports Cars

Delta Force

Banned
After World War II, the North American market was huge for European marques such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, and Porsche. It even got to the point that American distributors were playing a major role in determine what the European marques were going to develop and build. Why were sports cars seemingly the one manufactured good the United States was actually importing in the 1950s and 1960s? Why didn't the United States develop its own sports cars, and could it have not only produced more of them domestically, but have been successful in exporting them to Europe as well?

Note that I'm distinguishing between sports cars, which are designed with track use in mind, and the muscle cars that the United States did dominate in the 1950s and 1960s, which were designed to go as fast as possible in a straight line. That's not intended to disrespect the American cars, it's just that the type of racing popular in the United States made maneuverability less of a priority. Drag racing was actually a popular pastime for Americans in the 1950s and 1960s, they would take their car to the local strip.
 
I guess a cross between the more straight roads in America inhibiting a bias towards the muscle car, and the fact that in Europe, nobody wanted expensive cars, not for a long time after the war. Europe in the '50s and '60s wanted 2CVs and Beetles and Minis, not huge status symbols with exorbitant price tags. At least for the Mini, even world-famous celebrities owned these little cars.
 
SCCA TransAm racing was started in 1966, for Pony Cars, limited in engine size to 302 cubic inches, and a smaller 2L class for imports.

Camaros, Mustangs and even AMC Javelins were popular for racing, and handling was important

But SCCA soon went away from using Production cars that were modified, much like NASCAR did a few years later.

Ford and GM pulled sponsorships, and the class lost out to other racing, like NASCAR

Want to keep that class of racing popular?

keep the production car as base, rather than custom chassis, and add a class for up to 427 cubic inches.

Don't forget what Ford did at LeMans with the big V8s
 
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