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Autocar Archive: Fastest cars of the 60s
21 September 2007
The 1960s saw the supercar evolve into something both more manageable on the road, more accessible to the masses and much, much faster.
The title of fastest top speed in this era goes to the legendary Jaguar E-Type coupé. But all was not what it seemed with our road test car, which had been given non-standard Perspex windows and aluminium bonnet in order to push it over the 150mph mark.
More legends were in the making from British sports car makers. The Lotus Super Seven was a novel car when tested in 1961, but when it posted a quarter mile time comparable to the E-Type its significance fast became apparent.
Meanwhile, America was taking a less subtle approach to the British sport car by fitting a 300bhp V8 to the AC Ace. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but when the AC Cobra that resulted hit 100mph in 14 seconds it became the fastest 0-100mph car of the decade.
Finally, the Porsche 911S was significant not for outright speed, though a 0-60mph time of 8.0 seconds is hardly tardy. It was significant because it was a car that "one never likes to leave parked when one could be driving it." That's good enough reason for us.
Click on the above 'gallery' to read more about the fastest Autocar road tests of the 1960s.
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