Great Cars: Sports Cars

If you ever want to start an argument among car lovers, ask a group to define a sports car. Like beauty, it’s in the eye—or mind—of the beholder.

While they may not agree on what constitutes a ""true"" sports car, they’ll all concede that, in a little over one hundred years, these fabulous machines have evolved from crude to sublime. Whatever they are, they’re a breed apart.

This fast-paced, tire-squealing, high-octane program races to uncover the essence of the sports car as we explore the origins of the world’s most beguiling examples. We’ll journey back to the beginnings of the automotive adventure and see the cars that royalty raced. We’ll meet princes, kings, dukes, and wealthy commoners whose tastes helped define the first sports cars—and learn how national differences gave rise to some of the world’s most exciting automobiles. Then we’ll take some of these remarkable machines out for a drive as we try to capture what truly makes a car a sports car.