10 Awesome Supercars You Might Not Know About

Hailed as Britain's first supercar because of its 170 mph top speed, the V8 Vantage that debuted in 1977 was just a badass car. It was just as much a muscle car as a supercar with its mean looks and rumbling V8. 534 were built from 1977 to 1989, and an appearance as James Bond's ride in The Living Daylights made it a true icon. Its 5.3 liter V8 helped tug the big beast to 60 in 5.3 seconds, the best of its day and 1 tenth quicker than a Ferrari Daytona.

The M600 is the latest supercar from the British geniuses at Noble. The M600 features a supercharged V8 which is capable of up to 650 hp when "Race" setting is selected in the interior. The Noble is made for the driving purist, it features a now old-school-in-supercars six-speed stick and only slightly assisted brakes. It's hard to fathom traveling at the M600's top speed of 225 mph without a computer to save your ass.

Mosler is a small, American supercar company that builds the MT900. The MT900 was designed by the man behind the C5 Corvette. The MT900 has gone through a few iterations, the latest featuring a LS7 V8 with 530 hp. 14 street cars have been produced thus far.

The Caparo T1 is not only modeled after an F1 car, it truly looks like one too. Though, one that is only slightly massaged for road use by some of the guys behind the development of the McLaren F1. The British-built T1 uses a 3.5 liter V8 that produces 575 hp with a screaming, 10,500 rpm redline. With a dry weight of 1,000 pounds and with so much power on tap, the Caparo can reach 60 in sub-2.5 second times and reach a top end of 205 mph. The car is known for slightly scary handling, but what else can you expect from an F1 car with blinkers? Only 25 are built each year, costing 235,000 British pounds. Yeah, convert it, it's still a lot.

The Dauer 962 Le Mans was a re-skinned Porsche 962 racecar for the road. The Dauer used unique carbon fiber and kevlar body panels and was fitted with a leather interior. The Dauer was able to produce 730 hp from its flat-six motor and rocket to 60 in a scant 2.6 seconds. It was produced from 1993-1997 and only 12 were made.

In 1986, the Porsche 959 was the fastest car in the world and one of the first supercars to use an all-wheel drive system. The Porsche used a unique 2.85 liter, twin-turbo flat six cylinder engine thproduced 445 hp derived from that of the 911 and wore a special aluminum and Kevlar shell. With its aerodynamic body, the 959 resembled a 911 on steroids. The 959 was not originally made street legal in the US because of Porsche's refusal to give 4 up for crash testing (it was eventually made street legal in 1990, after the Show and Display Law passed). Only 337 examples of the $225,000 959 were built.

The CLK GTR was produced from 1998-1999, though only 20 coupes and 6 roadsters were built. The production road car differed little from the racing car on which it was based. Interestingly, the car's V12 was actually increased in size as compared to the racing car. The 6.0 liter V12 was enlarged to 6.9 liters, providing 604 hp and 575 lb-ft of power. Those lucky son-of-a-guns who bought a CLK GTR had to shell out $1,547,620.

When the Ferrari Enzo appeared on the scene, it caused as much of a stir as you'd expect from a new flagship Ferrari succeeding the great F40 and F50 models. In 2004, Maserati launched the MC12, essentially an Enzo twin. The MC12 was originally created to compete in the FIA GT championship, but the Maser did spawn 50 production variants for sale to customers. This production number pales in comparison to the Enzo's 400 car production run. The Maserati shares the same 620 hp V12 as the Enzo, as well as the Enzo's transmission and chassis. The Maserati did receive unique bodywork that would make it longer, wider, and taller than the Enzo.

We have all heard of Ferrari. However, not all models have reached household name status. This edition of the 575 Maranello had slightly more power than the "standard" 575 at 532 hp. It's parting piece, however, was its nifty flip-over roof. In a scant 7 seconds, the glass roof folds back onto the deck lid. When up, the glass top can electrically turn blue, blocking out 99.5 percent of the sun's heat and a good amount of light as well. The car cost $290,000 when new in 2005. Only 559 were built.

This supercar is the first of it kind from Poland. The Venocara packs some brutish force courtesy of a Corvette ZR1-sourced V8, developing 650 hp. This ride also has heat-seeking cameras to provide thermal imaging to its driver and passenger. The yet-to-be-officially-named supercar will be on sale later this year for around $160k.