Our Cars: Ben’s 205 GTI

Ten years ago, CAR magazine turned 50. To celebrate, it assembled what its writers felt were the 50 most significant cars of the previous 50 years – significant to enthusiasts, anyway – and photographed them together in an aircraft hangar for a special gatefold cover.

Each car was a first or a benchmark or a turning point, but I was struck by the extraordinary difference in their values. There was a McLaren F1 and a Ferrari 250 GTO and an F40 and a Bugatti Veyron, as you’d expect. But also a Fiat Panda and a Series Land Rover and a Mazda MX-5 and Mk1 Ford Focus: cars as important in the history of motoring, but which you could still buy for buttons back then.