Top Gear’s Top 9: cars that think they’re planes edition

We miss Saab. We miss its oddball aerodynamic cars with their Night Panel buttons that dimmed everything inside except the speedo, for easier after-dark concentration. And why did these features end up on some humble executive cars? Because Saab’s parent company was an aerospace and defence outfit that built actual jet fighters. Now that’s pedigree. Why doesn’t Lockheed-Martin have a 5 Series rival?

Another brand with its roots in the craft of aircraft manufacture is Spyker. Not that there are many clues to be found in cars like the C8, apart from the glassy canopy, the turbine-like intakes, the multiple cockpit dials, the propeller-esque wheels… and the badge. Nothing this side of Pagani is as wantonly ornate. Pity they’ve gone eerily quiet of late…

And it’s not just the RAF paint job either. Big engine up front, cockpit exposed to the elements, and even the tri-wheel set-up… this thing’s basically a Sopwith Camel with numberplates.

And at the other end of the speed/price/style/taste/every other scale you can name besides ‘lunacy’, we find the Reventon. Only twenty were made, using Murcielago mechanicals underneath an angular body inspired by the US Air Force F-22 Raptor. Even the instruments inside went military-grade. No weapons on the options list, however – a real oversight given the near-$1.6m price tag. You’d at least expect some missiles.

The latest Ford Mustang has a digital instrument display with many clever and pretty screen modes to show off. Is it better than the pre-facelift version? No, it is not.

Why? Because the original version of the current Mustang has ‘Ground Speed’ written in the speedo, as if you were at the controls of a low-flying, slightly wayward stuntplane. It’ll even leave its own smoke trails if you’re a bit familiar with the loud pedal. Just don't try that outside Cars'n'Coffee. Ever. 

Built in Germany by a transport museum, this four-wheeled madman is a fusion of a 1908 American-LaFrance racing car and a 1925-vintage BMW V12 aircraft engine.

Displacing the small matter of, erm, 47 litres, it develops around 500bhp. A modern engine only needs about 4.0 litres to do that. So, progress. How did those 1920s planes ever drag themselves into the air?

Yep, Lambo is back, this time with a one-off concept that isn’t so much a jet fighter for the road as the single most aggressive posing pouch created by mankind. The Egoista – the name means ‘selfish’ in Italian – is a one-seat anglefest based on a Gallardo, packing a 592bhp V10. Only one was built as a 50th birthday present by Lamborghini for itself back in 2013.

It’s like a fighter jet in every way, except instead of stealth tech, this is supposed to be literally the most conspicuous way of travelling anywhere ever devised. 

Mission accomplished.

If you want to lose an afternoon down an internet wormhole (and honestly, why else are you reading TopGear.com) then pop ‘Chrysler turbine car’ into your chosen search engine and marvel at the results. The Chrysler ‘Typhoon’, as the concept was known, was far from the only gas turbine car (Rover tried it in the UK, and Abarth built one for racing) but the Chrysler is the coolest because the whole car was themed around the idea of the jet age, from the turbine-look headlight surrounds and ‘transmission tunnel’ to the outrageous exhausts.

Only 55 were built for a (surprisingly successful) test programme, and nine survive today. It would run on petrol, tequila or even perfume, apparently. The engine idled at 22,000rpm, but barely made any noise when cruising. We’d josh about it ‘never taking off’, but we’re above that.

The Mercedes CLR, on the other hand, as Mark Webber and Peter Dumbreck will testify, did just fine at taking off. In fact, it was too good at it, and the 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours bore witness to one of the most infamously spectacular motor racing crashes ever caught on film as a result. Thankfully, both drivers walked away just fine. Mercedes hasn't been back to the world's most illustrious endurance race since.