The cars came from Germany and Japan decades ago, their makers confident that some design and engineering bravado could conquer the States.

The Audi TT, now 20 years old and an enduring, not-so-obscure object of desire, and the Datsun 240Z, unveiled 50 years ago with a hatchback body that looked fast even if it wasn’t, were not particularly powerful by today’s standards. You could shoehorn two tiny adults in the back seat of a TT coupe; the Z had no back seat. Radios? Low fidelity. Navigation? Please. Turbochargers? They were standard on the Audi, and arrived eventually in the Z. Manual transmissions? Absolutely.

The Z came to America after a gestation period in Japan in the ’60s. The TT blossomed in 1998 at the Paris auto show after making the rounds as a raved-about concept study. In late maturity now, both cars have, essentially, bottomed out.

Most dealers may carry one trim level of the TT or the Z (its Nissan-branded offspring); many dealers won’t stock the cars at all.