Globe Drive

One sort of vehicle or another typifies every era.

The minivan of the 1980s, for instance, morphed into the SUV of the mid-1990s - their deadly practicality sucking the joy out of driving over two decades of doing the right thing for the family.

Now comes a tide of hybrid and electric vehicles doing the right thing by combatting carbon dioxide and global warming (hold the applause until more is known about the environmental impact of lithium-ion batteries).

A half-century ago, though, fun aced practicality.

Two of the most talked-about new models in 1959 were tail-finned sports cars - the Sunbeam Alpine and Daimler SP250. And it was a bit of an off year for two-seaters at that.

If you adjust your rear-view mirrors just so, looking back at 1955 through 1964, you'll see sports cars, more than 50 of them, as manufacturers competed for attention with new models. Most are considered classics today.

In the relatively brief period between Elvis Presley and the Beatles, two-seaters were the vehicles everybody wanted.

Intended for escape and designed for fun, their merit was measured in visual impact and driving enjoyment. Practicality mattered not a whit.

Condemn the 1950s as a time of stultifying conformity if you wish, but escape was readily at hand for anyone who lived to drive or dance.

In 1955, Chuck Berry's Maybelline slapped life into infant rock and roll, Elvis Presley's first Sun Records recordings were stirring the audience that would scream through his 1956 breakthrough on television - and no fewer than seven sports cars burst onto the scene.

The Ford Thunderbird was the most sensational of the 1955 newcomers. But the second-generation Chevrolet Corvette of the same year was more significant, for its new V-8 began the 'vette's evolution as a true sports car as opposed to the styling exercise it was in 1953.

Also in 1955, the MGA arrived from England as modern sculpture, the Triumph TR-3 was forever dramatic with its cutaway doors. From Germany came the Porsche Speedster and BMW's 507, introduced at the Frankfurt auto show. From Italy, the Giuletta Spider was Alfa Romeo's latest beauty.

The greatest single year for new models? For devotees of the three-pointed star, it could only be 1954, recognizing that no car can be more iconic than the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL with its gull-wing doors.

For Anglophiles, 1961 might matter most with the stunning Jaguar E-type and Aston Martin Zagato. The Ferrari GTO surely caused spontaneous combustion wherever it was seen in 1962, the same year the MGB, Lotus Elan and Triumph Spitfire made sparks of their own.

But never was the bounty unmatched as in 1963. The first Corvette coupe polarized 'vette fans, as well as its rear vision with its split rear window, but quickly was recognized as a classic. The AC Cobra Mk II, destined to become Corvette's on-track rival, went into production.

The Porsche 901 was a sensation at the Frankfurt auto show in September, 1963, and every 911 since can be recognized as a descendent. England's grand touring Aston-Martin DB5 was the first James Bond car. Has any other car suited any other Bond so well?

The Alpine A110 appeared as a French counterpart to the 911, a handsome coupe with its engine mounted behind the rear wheels.

Joining the Porsche 901 as a prototype at Frankfurt was the NSU Wankel Spider that many at the time thought represented the future with its rotary engine. In 1963, infinite varieties of sports cars were imaginable.

And then, overnight, fashion changed. The 19641/2vFord Mustang created a new category altogether: the pony car, really the first plus-sized sports car - with increasingly plus-sized V-8 engines. Muscle cars, notably the Pontiac GTO, simultaneously began their rise.

American-proportioned men could climb into these cars without the contortions demanded by most sports cars. Rear seats made room for friends and double dating. And these larger cars better suited the interstate highways that were replacing two-lane routes across the United States.

Sports cars, overnight, became something of an enthusiast's choice, existing as a marketplace niche rather than as mainstream jewels.

A final glance into the rear-view mirror affords perspective on the golden era's blossoming and waning. In the passenger-side mirror - objects may be closer than they appear - you see the Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta, Jaguar XK 120 and Porsche 356, three 1948 debutants that arguably began the modern sports car movement and have a presence to this day.

With their enveloping bodies and cascading lines, they inspired the styling of subsequent classics such as the Austin-Healey 100 and, indeed, almost all sports cars to follow.

Whereas the driver-side mirror reveals three cars that effectively superannuated the traditional sports car. The Porsche 904 of 1964, Ferrari's Dino 246 of 1965 and the 1966 Lotus Europa were three mid-engined cars that established the architecture of today's most desirable exotics.

The downside? Their progeny turned out to be increasingly complicated and endlessly more expensive, so that today's sports cars (with a few exceptions such as Mazda's MX-5) have evolved into grandpa's playthings more often than not.

The hybrid ovoid typifies the present era. The plug-in electric is around the corner. As intriguing as these vehicles may be technically, they're not many drivers' idea of fun.

What they'll prove to be, perhaps, is fodder for another sports car renaissance.

If the next proliferation of two-seaters rely on the silent motivation of electricity rather than running on leaded premium, building on the achievement of the current Tesla Roadster - the pioneering sports car based on a Lotus Elise envisaged by a California company that has attracted investment by Mercedes-Benz - all the better.

Sunbeam once was a brand name of electrical appliances. An electric Alpine, 60 years after the polluting-but-pleasurable original, surely ought to be attainable.

globedrive@globeandmail.com