1. Porsche 911

Was there ever any doubt? The 911 has for a long time been the ultimate driver’s car (sorry BMW). It’s the perfect balance of power, handling and enthrallingly raw, stripped-back race car aesthetics. From the naturally aspirated, rear-mounted boxer engine to the iconic Fuchsfelge wheels, everywhere you look in the 911 there are features that have defined and inspired the modern sports car era.

That elegant, tear-drop shape is governed by the unusual engine location and weight distribution, giving it a look that remains instantly identifiable, from 1964 to the present day. Designed by Butzi Porsche, the grandson of Porsche founder Ferdinand, the original product code for the car was 901 until Peugeot, who had a patent on cars with three-digit names and a “0” in the middle (eg. 205 GTI, 306), got wind of it. Thus the 911 was born.

The 911 in rest mode

One of the Neunelfer’s greatest assets is its lack of flashiness. It is not a brash car. It’s a car that clearly comes from the land of Braun and Bauhaus. While the Diablos and Testarossas of this world attempted to scream their dominance and virility from the rooftops of their glass-fronted penthouses, the little 911 quietly went about its business of decimating them on every frontier. And decimate it did. The car’s list of wins is extraordinary. From Le Mans to Daytona and everywhere in between, the 911 beat concept cars, prototypes, supercharged straight-line monsters — anything you could throw at it.

The only difficulty in selecting the wonderful 911 as the winner of our list is how to choose which exact model to crown as king of kings. This is bound to inspire many a controversial remark below the line as there have been so many wonderful variations of the car over the years (the 993 deserves a special hat-tip.) But for us the winner has to be the original 1964–1969 2.0 litre car. It’s the blueprint that all subsequent 911s were based on, and it still looks absolutely wonderful in 2019. True automotive art.

One final word on the 911: Singer. The Californian company takes old 911s and “reimagines” them — their words for subtly complementing the styling with reworked arches, uprated components and interiors that wouldn’t look out of place in a coffee-table magazine. This all adds up to an immensely high-performance, stunningly beautiful car that is, in the words of Top Gear / The Grand Tour’s James May:

“A love letter to the 911”