- Acura
- Alfa Romeo
- Aston Martin
- Audi
- Bentley
- BMW
- Buick
- Cadillac
- Chevrolet
- Chrysler
- Dodge
- Ferrari
- Fiat
- Ford
- Genesis
- GMC
- Honda
- Hyundai
- Infiniti
- Jaguar
- Jeep
- Kia
- Lamborghini
- Land Rover
- Lexus
- Lincoln
- Lotus
- Lucid
- Maserati
- Maybach
- Mazda
- McLaren
- Mercedes-Benz
- MINI
- Mitsubishi
- Nissan
- Pagani
- Porsche
- Ram
- Rivian
- Rolls-Royce
- SMART
- Subaru
- Tesla
- Toyota
- Volkswagen
- Volvo
Top 11 American Supercars of All Time
Supercar is a term that’s reserved for the absolute best performance cars. Historically, it’s been used to describe the likes of the Lamborghini Countach, Ferrari F40, Bugatti Veyron, and Acura NSX.
But supercars don’t only exist overseas. There have been plenty of high performing road weapons built in the good old United State as well. These are cars that weren’t only designed to dominate the streets of North America, but also to take on the best the world has to offer.
In alphabetical order, here are the 11 best American-made supercars of all time.
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1
ZR1 has been the labelled applied to the highest performing Corvettes over the decades. Starting in 1970, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 had all the go-fast bits available at the time and lacked any weight-adding features like air conditioning or a radio. Next came the C4 Corvette ZR1 of the ‘90s that utilized a Lotus-designed aluminum twin-cam V8. The ZR1 would skip the C5 Corvette but reappear on the C6 model with a 638 hp supercharged V8 and downforce generating aerodynamics. The C7 Corvette would build on this philosophy and churn out 755 hp along with a racecar-like aero package. Photo Source: Chevrolet USA
Dodge Viper ACR
Many would argue that every Dodge Viper is a supercar and that’s a valid point. But the Viper ACR was the epitome of the Viper brand, focused purely on setting the quickest lap times. First introduced in 1999, the ACR was more powerful and had a better handling suspension set-up. The next ACR wouldn’t be seen until 2008 but took things to the next level. With street legal racing tires, a massive rear wing, and all the other go-fast goodies Dodge had in the brand’s arsenal, this Viper was a force to be reckoned with on a racetrack. The last ACR was introduced for the 2016 model year and once again was basically a racecar in disguise. Photo Source: Dodge USA
Ford GT
The Ford GT40 of the 1960s is arguably America’s first supercar. The mid-engine, high-performance coupe could keep up with anything made at that time. Oh, and the racecar it was based won Le Mans a few times as well. In 2005 Ford relaunched a tribute to the GT40 called the Ford GT. It was once again a mid-engine coupe, this time with a supercharged V8 stuffed behind the driver. In 2016 another Ford GT arrived and was quite a bit different. Although it had some GT40 styling elements, this car really focused on aerodynamics and featured a turbocharged V6 that could make upwards of 700 hp. Photo Source: Ford USA
Hennessey Venom F5
In 2011, car-tuner Hennessey introduced the brand’s own supercar called the Venom GT. It was based on the Lotus Exige platform and was evident in the vehicle’s styling. Fast forward nearly ten years and an all-new Hennessey supercar hit the market, the Venom F5. This car is built on its own chassis and features a mid-mounted 6.6-liter supercharged V8 engine that makes over 1,800 horsepower. No, that is not a typo. Hennessey claims the car can go over 300 mph. Photo Source: Hennessey USA
Mosler Consulier GTP
Mosler easily wins the unofficial contest of creating the ugliest American supercar, called the Consulier. Sourced from several Chrysler components, the vehicle looked like a mis-match of different designs. But as awkward as it looks, it performed exceptionally well for the time. Although the turbocharged four-cylinder only made between 175-190 hp depending on the year, in SCCA racing, the car proved to be unbeatable, thanks to its light curb weight. In 1993 the car got a serious increase in power thanks to a 443 hp 6.3-liter V8. It also changed its name to Raptor, though the car was still as weird looking as ever. Once again, it performed admirably for its time. Photo Source: Shutterstock / betto rodrigues
Mosler MT900
The Consulier was replaced by a new car called the MT900 in the early 2000s. In stark contrast to the previous car, the new Mosler MT900 was a great looking car. It could be had with a small-block Chevrolet V8 in either 5.7-liter or 7.0-liter form. Although it wasn’t by any means the fastest car on the market at the time, the mid-engine, carbon fibre cope could hold its own with plenty of European supercars. Photo Source: Shutterstock / Oskar SCHULER
Panoz Esperante GTR-1
This car maybe needs an asterisk. Only one Panoz Esperante GTR-1 was ever made, to satisfy the homologation rules for the FIA GT1 class of racing. Literally a racecar for the streets, the road going Esperante did have a full interior. Under the hood there was one change between the racecar and the road car. The racer came with a 6.0-liter V8 while the road car used a more street friendly 5.3-liter V8. Photo Source: Shutterstock / woodsnorthphoto
Saleen S7
Like Hennessey, Saleen got its start modifying other manufacturer’s vehicles. That all changed in 2000 with the introduction of the mid-engine S7 supercar. Initially using a 550 hp Ford-derived V8, the car was a formidable performer, with racecar versions achieving lots of success around the world. Later, the S7 Twin Turbo came out which featured a twin-turbocharged V8 making an impressive 750 hp. Photo Source: Saleen
SCG 004
Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, or SCG for short, is a more recent start-up company that produces all sorts of performance cars. These include ones for racing, off-road specialists, and of course supercars. The SGC 004 is the latter and features the usual supercar proportions and looks. Stuffed in the middle of the car is a choice of three GM-sourced V8 engines. Perhaps the most notable feature of this car is the fact the driver sits central in a three-wide format much like the fabled McLaren F1. Photo Source: SCG
SSC Ultimate Aero
Shelby SuperCars (SSC), not to be confused with the other Shelby that stuffed big V8s into small British roadsters, was founded in the late 1990s. The company’s first supercar arrived five years later as the Ultimate Aero. As the name suggests, this car was designed to accelerate quickly and achieve ridiculously high top speeds. Throughout its history, the Ultimate Aero used 6.3-liter V8s that were initially supercharged, then turbocharged towards the end of the car’s run. Photo Source: SSC
SSC Tuatara
The successor to the Ultimate Aero is the Tuatara. Featuring even crazier bodywork, the car utilizes a twin-turbo 5.9-liter flat-plane crank V8 that makes 1,350 hp on pump gas, or well over 2,000 hp on methanal. Top speed on this monster is well in excess of 300 miles per hour which is crazy to think about. SSC is chasing the production-car speed record with the Tuatara. Photo Source: SSC
(Dis)honorable Mention - Vector W8
A manufacturer synonymous with American supercars is Vector. Maker of the W8 and W12, both Vectors certainly looked the part of a supercar. On paper, they appeared to have the performance to back-up these looks. The issue was, neither car ever properly worked. Abysmal build quality and unfinished engineering plagued the few examples that were built, which quickly gained notoriety amongst the automotive media. Photo Source: TTAC