Hear the roar
There can be few finer classic car combinations than wind-in-the-hair thrills, while listening to a superb V8 soundtrack.
Classic V8 roadsters come in all shapes, sizes and ages, but they all offer a special blend of easy and instant power, noise and open-to-the-elements enjoyment.
Here are 30 V8 roadsters, in chronological order, from the savage to the sybaritic – and everything in between.
1. 1946 Allard J1
Sydney Allard was quick to spot the potential of blending US V8 muscle with a lightweight, sports-car chassis and body.
His first models were quick out of the blocks after the end of the Second World War and the J1 used a 3.6-litre Ford flathead V8.
Built with competition in mind, the mix of power and agility helped Allard’s cars succeed in rallies, hillclimbs and on track.
Later models also used V8 engines from Cadillac, Chrysler and Oldsmobile.
2. 1956 BMW 507
BMW attempted to steal some of the Mercedes-Benz 300SL’s thunder with its new 507 using the same 148bhp 3.2-litre V8 as the 503 coupé.
Using a shortened 503 chassis, the 507 was styled by Albrecht von Goertz and had the looks to take on Mercedes’ 300SL Roadster that arrived a year after the BMW, but not the pace.
The BMW could still manage 137mph, but the marque struggled to find buyers and only 252 507s were ever made.
To further add insult to this BMW’s slow sales, the company lost a substantial sum on every 507 made, not helped by its expensive-to-make alloy body.
Little competition pedigree also held it back in the eyes of many potential buyers.
3. 1956 Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet was already three years into life with the Corvette when it upped its sports car’s game considerably with the addition of a V8 engine.
At a stroke, the Corvette was turned from attractive but slightly underpowered into one of the most desirable roadsters you could buy.
The 4.3-litre V8 that kicked things off offered a modest 194bhp to start with, but that soon started to grow with larger capacities and the option of fuel injection, with power swelling to around 360bhp.
Unsurprisingly, performance was just as brawny and the Corvette could reach up to 138mph.
As well as the V8 engine, its affordable price and great looks helped Chevrolet shift 64,375 of this first generation of V8 Corvette, which set the template for all subsequent models.
4. 1959 Daimler SP250
With an eye on the lucrative US market, Daimler reckoned a low-slung, two-seat roadster would help make its mark: the result was the SP250 Dart, though the ‘Dart’ name was dropped when Chrysler objected.
That didn’t affect the SP250’s mechanical specification that included an all-alloy, 2548cc, V8 engine designed by Edward Turner.
It was a gem of a unit that was superbly flexible and could whisk the Daimler to 120mph.
A glassfibre body kept the SP250’s weight down, but the looks failed to win over many buyers and this intriguing roadster went out of production in 1964, after 2648 examples had been produced.
However, its V8 engine enjoyed a longer life, because it was also used in the V8 250 saloon version of the Jaguar Mk2.
5. 1962 AC Cobra
For many, the AC Cobra is the definitive V8 roadster, because it took the delicate looks of the Ace and coupled them to the prodigious power of a Ford V8.
Carroll Shelby brokered this marriage and oversaw the initial run of 4.2-litre V8s, before the engine size was increased to 4.7 litres for this first run of Cobras.
In 1965, the AC moved to a whole new performance level when it gained a 7-litre V8 with as much as c480bhp straining the rear tyres.
In this most potent form, the Cobra was capable of 180mph, if you were prepared to suffer the wind blast.
The Cobra’s impact and influence were massive, even if only around 998 of these early Cobras were made.
6. 1964 Excalibur SS
Brooks Stevens came up with the idea of a neo-classic car long before anyone else and the Excalibur SS was the result.
With looks tenuously based on those of a Mercedes-Benz SSK, the SS was more about the style than worrying about the substance.
Even so, it used a V8 from a Studebaker, later adopting Chevrolet engines.
The Excalibur was a V8 roadster that divided opinion when new, but there was no doubting the quality of its construction.
It also found a healthy 1848 willing buyers by the time the S3 version went off sale in 1979.
7. 1964 Sunbeam Tiger
Lightning might not strike twice, but Carroll Shelby made sure he did when he used the same recipe as the AC Cobra to shoehorn a Ford V8 into the unsuspecting engine bay of a Sunbeam Alpine to create the Tiger.
The Tiger was a quick and capable car, helped by rack-and-pinion steering and a limited-slip differential as standard to make the most of the V8 motor’s performance.
Sadly, the Sunbeam Tiger’s time was cut short when Chrysler took a controlling stake in the Rootes Group.
Not keen on using an engine from rival Ford in one of its cars and unable to fit a V8 of its own into the Sunbeam, the Tiger was dropped after a little more than 7000 cars had been produced.
8. 1965 Trident Clipper
The Trident could have, would have and should have been a TVR, but this Ford V8-powered muscle car in a well-cut suit slipped through the net during a change of ownership for the British firm.
Instead, TVR dealer Bill Last picked up the reins and produced 160 or so Clippers, initially with an Austin-Healey 3000 chassis and then with the Triumph TR6 as a base.
Some Tridents were also made with Chrysler’s 5.6-litre V8, while just four were built by TVR and only one of those was a convertible.
With styling by Trevor Frost (also known as Trevor Fiore), it was a near hit for TVR and Trident.
9. 1966 AC 428
With the Cobra established as the wildest roadster money could buy, AC introduced the 428 Convertible as a more refined express open-top.
The 428 used the same chassis as the Cobra, but stretched by 6in (c15cm) to give more cabin and luggage space.
Styling was by Frua to add some Italian elegance, while the 7-litre V8 engine was toned down a little – but still offered 345bhp, meaning it could nudge 145mph flat out.
The Convertible proved more appealing to buyers, with 51 sold compared to just 29 coupé versions.
10. 1968 Morgan Plus 8
Only a year after Rover had introduced its all-alloy, 3.5-litre V8 in the stately P5B saloon, Morgan started a trend that would last decades with its Plus 8.
That trend was to use the lightweight V8 engine to give a roadster serious grunt, but without the weight penalty of most V8 swaps.
In the Plus 8, the traditionally styled Morgan was suddenly capable of 0-60mph in 6.7 secs and 125mph.
The Rover V8 was finally dropped from the Plus 8 in 2004 when supply of the engine dried up, but Morgan revived the Plus 8 name in 2012 with a BMW-powered model.
11. 1969 Maserati Ghibli Spyder
Maserati introduced its Ghibli in late 1966, but it took until 1969 for the delectable Spyder to arrive. It shared the coupé’s quad-cam 4.7-litre V8 motor with 306bhp.
Shortly after the Spyder was launched, Maserati added the SS option across the Ghibli range.
This offered buyers a 4.9-litre version of the engine with 330bhp, giving the Spyder a claimed top speed of 168mph, though this was 6mph shy of the official top speed of the coupé.
In all, Maserati built 125 Ghibli Spyders, with 45 made to SS specification.
12. 1971 Mercedes-Benz R107 SL
Where the W113 generation of Mercedes’ SL roadster had stuck with straight-six engines, the new R107 for the 1970s wholeheartedly moved to V8s.
Buyers had a choice of 3.5- and 4.5-litre V8s, giving this new SL a strong turn of speed and impressive refinement.
A more frugal, straight-six 280SL arrived in 1974 to add variety, but the V8 motors made up the bulk of the R107 range that went on to see a sales total of 237,287 for these Mercedes roadsters, across all its engine capacities.
The peak of R107 V8 production arrived in the mid-’80s with the 560SL for the North American, Australian and Japanese markets that used a 5547cc V8, but with a modest 228bhp.
13. 1977 Ferrari 308GTS
Not a roadster in the traditional sense, but this was as close as Ferrari buyers were going to get in the late 1970s with the launch of the 308GTS.
The targa-roofed GTS was introduced at the same time that the GTB coupé switched from glassfibre to steel bodywork.
Both versions shared the 2.9-litre V8 engine with up to 252bhp, depending on market, mounted transversely in the middle of the chassis.
The 308GTSi gained fuel injection but lost c40bhp in maximum power, which was mostly restored when the four valve per cylinder quattrovalvole V8 was installed in 1982 with 237bhp.
Ferrari also made a 2-litre V8 version of this model, the 208GTS, from 1980, with a 153bhp engine to deal with strict Italian tax laws.
14. 1980 Triumph TR8
The Triumph TR7 had been designed with the Rover V8 engine in mind and the limited run of TR7 V8 coupés proved it was quick and capable.
Yet it took until 1980 for the TR8 roadster to finally join the Triumph ranks, and most of them were left-hand-drive cars bound for the US – only a handful of the 2715 production total were made with right-hand drive for the UK market.
The TR8 was the car Triumph had wanted to make when the TR7 was launched in 1975 but, sadly, it only lasted two years in production.
15. 1984 TVR 350i
Peter Wheeler had a clear vision for TVR when he took over the Blackpool-based, sports-car company – and it was largely based around the all-alloy, Rover V8 engine.
This plan started with the 350i, which shared its chassis and wedge-shaped body with the V6-powered 280i.
However, most customers made a beeline for the V8 model that delivered 0-60mph in 6.5 secs and topped out at 134mph.
From there, TVR never looked back and the 350i spawned ever-more powerful models using Rover V8 engines tuned to as much as c325bhp in the 4.4-litre, 167mph 450 SEAC.
16. 1985 Marcos Mantula Spyder
Marcos was among those low-volume car producers to embrace the Rover V8 and introduced the Mantula coupé in 1983.
Two years later, the new Spyder was added as the marque’s first proper convertible model with the same 3.5-litre V8.
A more powerful, Vitesse-spec 3.5-litre V8 replaced the earlier engine in 1987, which now meant the lightweight Mantula could do 0-60mph in 5.7 secs and on to a top speed of 155mph.
From 1989, Marcos again improved the model with a 3.9-litre version of the Rover V8.
In all, Marcos produced just 119 Mantula Spyders.
17. 1987 Aston Martin V8 Zagato Volante
Following the limited run of V8 Zagato coupés, Aston Martin produced 37 Volante two-seat roadsters, albeit with a different engine.
The convertible model came with a c315bhp iteration of Aston’s 5.4-litre V8, which was around 100bhp less than the coupé.
However, because the Volante did not have the large airbox of the coupé’s V8, it did without a power bulge on the bonnet.
Weighing 35kg (77lb) more than the fixed-roof model and with less power, the V8 Zagato Volante offered 0-60mph in 6 secs and a 160mph top speed.
However, some owners later had the factory upgrade their Volantes to full Vantage spec or increase the engine to 6.3 litres for greater power.
18. 1987 Cadillac Allanté
You could never accuse Cadillac of being half-hearted in its attempt to make the Allanté two-seat roadster as special as possible.
It was the first open-top, two-seat Cadillac since the 1930s and it was styled by Pininfarina, which also took care of initial manufacture before the bodies were shipped to the US in specially converted Boeing 747 jets for final assembly.
The Allanté was built on a unique platform with front-wheel drive, while the interior used every gadget available, including a digital dashboard.
However, performance from the 4.1-litre, and later 4.5-litre, V8 was modest next to a Mercedes-Benz SL’s.
Also, the cost of producing the Allanté counted against it in the face of slow sales, and the car was discontinued in 1993 after only 21,430 were made.
19. 1988 Westfield SEiGHT
Westfield bucked accepted wisdom for its featherweight roadster when it launched the V8-powered SEiGHT model.
The car started out with a 240bhp V8, but this was replaced by a John Eales-tuned motor that gave factory-built cars 270bhp that catapulted the Westfield from 0-60mph in 4 secs and on to 130mph – several home-built examples were created with even more powerful engines.
In the early 2000s, Westfield offered the SEiGHT in a modernised form with a BMW V8, but few were sold.
Around 500 SEiGHTs were built, either as factory-assembled cars or as kits.
20. 1989 Mercedes-Benz SL500
The R107 model of Mercedes-Benz SL had done sterling work since 1971, but an all-new generation of the German roadster was introduced for 1989: enter the R129.
The latest 500SL was a technical masterpiece that at launch had a 322bhp, 4973cc, silky smooth V8 that could whisk the SL from 0-62mph in 6.2 secs and on to an electronically limited 155mph.
Mercedes also offered a straight-six 300SL and later the mighty 600SL with a V12 engine.
All came with a removable hardtop and pop-up roll bar, and the 129-series range set the standard for luxury roadsters throughout the 1990s.
21. 1991 Ginetta G33
Similar in style to the four-cylinder G27 model from Ginetta, the G33 took performance to a different plane with V8 power.
The by now ubiquitous Rover V8 provided the muscle in 3.9-litre form, which was more than enough to propel the lightweight G33 from rest to 60mph in 5.3 secs and on to 137mph.
Sleekly styled, the G33 had the handling to make the most of its eight-cylinder performance and it was very well put together, even if the hood wasn’t the most watertight.
A global recession didn’t help the G33’s sales, which reached 100 cars, before it went out of production in 1992.
22. 1991 TVR Griffith
TVR had been knocking on the door of greatness for some time and then it smashed it down with the Griffith.
Using the same chassis and engine as the Tuscan racing car, the Griffith was a more civilised, roadgoing model, but still offered raw driving thrills.
Much of that was down to the TVR-tuned Rover V8 engines available in 240bhp 4-litre form or a 4.3 with 280bhp.
TVR then turned up the wick again in 1993 with the 341bhp 5-litre model, which delivered supercar pace of 0-60mph in 4.1 secs and 167mph in a well-appointed roadster.
The Griffith is widely regarded as the definitive Wheeler-era TVR and a total of 2582 were made.
23. 1992 MG RV8
The RV8 was a happy mix of MGB bodyshells being built by British Motor Heritage and the MG brand’s desire to make something to rival the Mazda MX-5.
With a gently restyled exterior that hinted at the MGF yet to come, with fatter wheelarches than an MGB needed to accommodate the wider front and rear track, and broader wheels.
The RV8 used a 190bhp 3.9-litre Rover V8 engine. Where the MGB had only ever used the V8 in the GT, this new roadster answered the prayers of many MG enthusiasts for an open-top V8.
The RV8 managed 0-60mph in 6.9 secs and 136mph, making it brisk rather than fast like a TVR.
That didn’t stop Japanese buyers keenly taking the bulk of the RV8’s overall production of 1983 cars.
24. 1993 AC Brooklands Ace
The AC Ace could have been a viable alternative to the raft of roadsters emerging in the mid-1990s, but circumstances conspired against this Ford-V8-powered machine.
It started with a modest 225bhp V8 as the Brooklands Ace between 1993 and 1996.
The model was relaunched as the AC Ace in 1997, now with a range of V8s: a 321bhp 4.6, a 251bhp 3.5, and two 5-litre options with 240bhp, or 321bhp with a supercharger.
Even so, performance was a little underwhelming by the time the AC went on sale in 1998.
Price was another concern for the AC Ace, which started at just shy of £80,000 when the likes of the BMW Z3 and Mercedes-Benz SLK cost around a third of that.
It’s thought only 12 Aces were completed by the time the plug was pulled on the project in 2000.
25. 1993 TVR Chimaera
In the world of TVR, the Chimaera was much more of a touring car than the Griffith, even if the two shared the same chassis and engines.
Those engines ranged from the entry-point 4-litre V8 with 240bhp, through the 280bhp 4.3, on to a 4.5 with 286bhp.
TVR also offered the 5-litre V8 with 341bhp and a 275bhp 4.0 High Compression model. All offered 0-60mph in 5 secs or less.
The only real concession to comfort for the Chimaera was its softer suspension than the Griffith.
It made the Chimaera the sweet spot of the range and it went on to sell around 6000 cars by the time production ceased in 2003.
26. 1994 Ferrari F355 Spider
Ferrari introduced two open versions of its sensational F355 in 1995. The GTS came with a targa roof panel in the same style as its predecessors, but the Spider was a fully open roadster.
Like every F355, the core of the Spider was its five-valves-per-cylinder, 3.5-litre V8 engine that dished out 374bhp for a 173mph top speed.
The cylinder heads helped the V8 rev to a dizzy 8250rpm redline and it sounded exactly as a Ferrari should.
The F355 was the first Ferrari, and the first production road car, to be offered with a Formula One-style automated manual gearbox with paddle shifters.
It wasn’t the smoothest transmission, but it pointed the way to the future of gearboxes in supercars.
27. 1996 Jaguar XK8
When Jaguar finally replaced the XJS, it did so with the graceful XK that arrived in coupé and convertible forms – and while the closed car made some pretence of offering rear seats, the drop-top’s were token efforts at best.
No matter, the XK8 was sleekly attractive and it was the first Jaguar to receive the all-new, 4-litre V8 with 290bhp.
Performance was superb, helped by the XK8 being some 225kg (c496lb) lighter than the previous XJ-S.
A 4.2-litre V8 with 300bhp arrived in 2002, but the pick of the bunch was the supercharged XKR that started with 370bhp in 4-litre form.
When it switched to the 4.2-litre capacity, it generated 400bhp for 0-60mph in 5.4 secs and a 160mph top speed.
28. 1998 Jensen S-V8
Unveiled at the 1998 British Motor Show, this new Jensen made a splash and generated 60 advance orders, rising to more than 300 before a completed car had even turned a wheel.
Originally intended to use a General Motors V6 motor, customer feedback soon demanded a V8 and the Ford Mustang 4.6-litre unit was chosen.
It was specified as a 325bhp motor to give the Jensen a 160mph top speed and 0-60mph in less than 5 secs.
Initial road tests were very positive about the new Jensen S-V8, but production and funding problems saw the project come to an end in 2002.
29. 1999 BMW Z8
The BMW Z8 was never intended as a serious rival to the Mercedes-Benz SL and instead it was a glorious one-off made as an expression of what the marque was capable of.
Its retro looks harked back to the 507, while an aluminium spaceframe made this roadster light and rigid.
Best of all, power came from the 394bhp 5-litre V8 used in the M5, plus it had a slick, six-speed manual gearbox.
This showed the Z8 was more than just a cruiser and BMW’s ultimate roadster was able to do 0-60mph in 4.7 secs on its way to a 155mph top speed.
The Z8 made an appearance in the James Bond film The World is Not Enough, which contributed to a sales tally of 5703.
30. 2000 Morgan Aero 8
Morgan might have retained much of its traditional styling in the new Aero 8 when it arrived in 2000, but here was a thoroughly modern V8 roadster.
Under the skin, the Aero 8 had a bonded-aluminium chassis and double-wishbone suspension all-round.
This was needed to deal with the prodigious 282bhp provided by the BMW-sourced, 4.4-litre V8 engine.
For those who found the Plus 8 not fast enough, the Aero now came with 0-60mph in 4.8 secs and a 160mph top speed.
More power arrived with the 333bhp Series 2 version, while the Series 4 used a 4.8-litre V8 from BMW with 362bhp.
There was a gap between this model ending production in 2010 and a Series 5 Aero 8 arriving in 2016 but with the same V8 motor under the bonnet.
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