Fiat 124 Spider

Manufactured for nearly 20 years shows why the Spider has been one of the most successful Italian sportscars ever produced.

Not only did it have good looks, it also possessed a belt-driven twin cam motor with coil-sprung rear suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. Its attractive body was its biggest appeal despite Americans hanging ugly federal safety bumpers across it in the mid 70's.

Initially an option, five gears became standard with automatic being introduced later on. Its motor grew over time to 1608cc in 1969, 1756cc in 1972 and 1592cc as well.

Two-liter motors became the norm in 1979 with injection being introduced in 1980. the state-of -the-art version would arguably be the supercharged VX that housed a 135 bhp engine.

It stopped being produced in 1985 and no Fiat-badged sportscars would be made for another 10 years.