9 Lesser-Known British Sports Car Gems That Deserve a Second Look

The United Kingdom has a long history of building some of the world's most accessible sports cars, having jumpstarted the American obsession with "little British cars" after service members returned home from their overseas posts following the Second World War. The resulting influx of roadsters and coupes helped push Detroit to build models like the Chevrolet Corvette and the Ford Thunderbird, but it also laid the groundwork for success for brands like Jaguar, MG, and Aston Martin.

Of course, not every English model got the same level of attention from the general public. Here are nine secret British sports car gems that deserve a second look.

AC Ace

Hailing from the very beginning of the British sports car invasion of America, the AC Ace rarely gets to play the lead role in the telling of its own story. That's because the Ace's lightweight platform and roadster body shell were appropriated by one Carroll Shelby to use as the delivery device for the high-hp V-8 engines in what became known as the AC Cobra.

Built between 1953 and 1963, the AC Ace sported a straight-six engine that was good for up to 170 hp in later models. This was more than enough to accelerate the sub-ton mass of the Ace to frightening speeds for an open-top car, making it one of the true 100-mph options of its era.

Noble M400

Noble has a relatively recent, but still resplendent, history of building over-the-top, low-volume sports cars that can compete on the track with much more vaunted badges. Only a pair of Noble models was ever sold in America, and of these, the M400 made a serious impression.

The M400 was built around a 425-hp, 3.0-liter Ford V-6 engine, supercharged and stuffed just behind the driver to optimize handling. With a top speed of nearly 190 mph, the Noble M400 was in the same conversation as models like the Porsche 911 and the Ferrari F430 when it was first introduced in 2006, but with a mere 75 models produced—and only a handful of those making it to the United States—this motorsports monster has kept an extremely low profile.

Peerless GT

How is it possible to win at Le Mans and yet still be obscured by the mists of history? Peerless, a car company founded in 1957, set out in the purest of British shed-car tradition to combine the best of what was available at the time—a chassis and drivetrain borrowed from Triumph, which provided 100 hp from a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine—with a homespun fiberglass body.

Stretched out to provide a longer and wider footprint than the TR3 whose bones it rested on, the Peerless GT was a formidable handler. Entering the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, the company drummed up business by taking the top spot in its class, a stunning achievement considering the more established sports car competition of the era. Just 325 GTs were sold during its less than four years on the market.

TVR Grantura

TVR was a much bigger name in Europe than in the United States, but one of its first few models did make waves on this side of the Atlantic starting in the late 1950s. The TVR Grantura was a bit cobbled together (marrying MG, Volkswagen, Ford, and Austin-Healey components), but that was hard to see underneath its gorgeous fiberglass body.

A tube-steel chassis helped improve the Grantura's handling versus some of its open-top competition, and later versions of the car ran through a series of four-cylinder engine designs on their way to passing the 100-mph mark at the top end. The Grantura was built until the end of the 1960s, and some of the American editions were imported separately and sold under the "Jomar" brand.

Ultima Evo

Ultima has been building hair-raising sports cars since the early 1980s, and while its primary focus has been outside of the American market, it managed to do an end-run around import regulations by selling vehicles like the Evo as a "kit" that could be assembled by owners once it arrived on their shores.

The Evo (also known as the Evolution) has a more direct tie to the United States in the form of its powertrain, which consists of three different versions of the GM LS V-8. In its most potent form, the mid-engine Evo can push out 1,020 hp from a supercharged, 6.8-liter unit. Despite its track-only looks, the Evolution is surprisingly street legal and has been on sale since 2015.

Never Sold Here: Lotus Europa S

You might not be familiar with Lotus' attempt to build a more comfortable sports car based on the popular Elise/Exige platform, because, strangely, it never made it stateside. The Lotus Europa S revived a long-dormant name for the brand and punched out the pint-sized proportions of its platform-mates to make it easier to get into and out of and more useful for hauling luggage on a weekend getaway. Designed to appeal to grand-touring customers, the 2006-2010 Europa S nevertheless maintained a Miata-like curb weight of just over 2,000 pounds, and it featured a turbocharged four-cylinder engine that produced 200 hp.

Strangely, the closest America ever got to the Europa S was the Dodge Circuit, a concept EV built on the same chassis that swapped in a lithium-ion belly pan and a single electric motor that seriously upped its straight-line speed compared to the gas-powered Lotus model.

Never Sold Here: Lotus Carlton

1990s performance-sedan fans were thrilled for the battle between the BMW E30 M3 and the Mercedes-Benz 190E Evo, but just as potent was a dowdy Vauxhall four-door that got the full Lotus tuning treatment. The Lotus Carlton (and its Opel-sourced Omega twin) provided a terrifying 377 hp from a punched-out, 3.6-liter straight-six engine, paired with a six-speed transmission that could trace its roots all the way to Detroit (where it was originally found in the C4 Corvette). Fewer than 1,000 examples were ever built.

Never Sold Here: Bristol Fighter

A half-American monster hailing from the British Isles, the Bristol Fighter went all-in on overkill with its Viper-sourced V-10 drivetrain. Stuffed into a spaceframe and wrapped in exotic materials like Kevlar and carbon fiber, the Fighter was available with either a 525-hp or a 628-hp tune for the big Dodge 10-cylinder.

Top speed for the model was said to be 210 mph, and after seven years on the market, Bristol halted production before it could begin churning out the 1,000-plus-hp Fighter T turbocharged edition of the car.

Never Sold Here: TVR Sagaris

The more modern the world became, the more resolutely TVR stuck to its roots. The stunningly aggressive TVR Sagaris coupe is a perfect example. Featuring a transparent spoiler (so as not to block the view via its rearview mirror) and lacking niceties such as antilock brakes, electronic stability and traction control, or airbags, the Sagaris is unforgiving for novice drivers unable to tame the 400 hp produced by its standard "Speed Six" inline six-cylinder engine. At the same time, the two-door TVR (built for the 2005 and 2006 model years) also modernized the brand's road feel, stability, and comfort to the point where it was more accessible outside of a track environment.

Secret British Sports Car Gems

• AC Ace
• Noble M400
• Peerless GT
• TVR Grantura
• Ultima Evo
• Never Sold Here: Lotus Europa S
• Never Sold Here: Lotus Carlton
• Never Sold Here: Bristol Fighter
• Never Sold Here: TVR Sagaris