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While one side of the world is concerned with going fast in a straight line, the other side makes their cars handle on a twisty road.

Almost all automakers have tried making sports cars – some with varying success – and many of them have become extremely popular. Two of the countries which have made some terrific sports cars include the USA and Japan.

While sports cars in the USA mostly involve stuffing a big engine in the front and calling it a day – like with the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger – the cars are still really quite brilliant. Japan, on the other hand, has almost the opposite approach. Where American sports cars usually have great V8s – and V10s in some cases – the Japanese cars have smaller 4- and 6- cylinder engines – as in the case with the Honda Civic Type R and Toyota Supra. These vehicles are focused on lightness and power-to-weight ratios, rather than just increasing displacement and forced induction. While these are two extremely different methods of making sports cars, some are surprisingly easily matched when comparing track times.

So, while one side of the world is concerned with going fast in a straight line, the other side makes their cars handle on a twisty road. Regardless of whether the sports car is from the USA or Japan, it is still a lot of fun to drive. With that, here are ten of the best retro sports cars from the USA and Japan.

The Dodge Viper was a true American sports car in the traditional sense of the word. It was a brilliant front-engine, rear-drive car with a manual transmission. The party piece? A great big stonking 8.0-liter V10.

The second generation brought along many improvements, including a more ergonomically laid-out interior, and more comfortable seats. What Dodge left out, however, was traction control – an option they left out entirely with each generation of the car.

Related: This Is Why The Original Dodge Viper Was So Dangerous

The Nissan 300ZX was a great Japanese sports car fitted with a 3.0-liter V6, either naturally aspirated or twin-turbocharged. The 300ZX was a 2-door coupe and was available with either a manual or an automatic transmission. The vehicle was offered as either a hardtop two-seater or a Targa-top 2+2.

In 1990, Motorsports International and HKS teamed up to create the Nissan 300ZX SR-71, a limited production version with upgraded parts and bigger turbos, resulting in the 300ZX being the third-fastest production car in the world – just behind the Ferrari F40 and Lamborghini Diablo.

The third generation Mustang was a bit better than its predecessor in the sense that it had a V8 engine as an option from the start. The Fox-Body Mustang shared its platform with around 15 other models, including the Ford Grenada, Mercury Cougar, and Lincoln Continental Mark VII.

The Fox-Body wasn’t the most liked of Mustangs but has since become quite the collectible, especially the V8 and the rare SVO. While the third-gen Mustang may not be the best, it is a cool car that will continue to be a popular retro car to own.

Related: 10 Reasons Why You Should Buy A Fox Body Ford Mustang Right Now

The Toyota Supra became a legendary Japanese sports car and is finally back to what it should have been all along – a manual straight-six. The Mk4 Supra is by far the most popular model and thanks to the incredible engine which is the 2JZ-GTE, the Supra is capable of absolutely insane power figures.

The base Mk4 Supra isn’t the most exciting of vehicles, producing 325 hp from its 3.0-liter twin-turbo, but with some subtle and cheap mods, it can easily produce more than 500 hp – all without replacing anything on the engine. The Supra Mk4 is a fantastic car.

The Chevrolet Camaro was a model designed with the sole purpose of taking some sales away from Ford and their Mustang. Introduced three years after the Mustang, it accomplished exactly that. Fast-forward three generations to the F-Body version and this changed a bit.

The Camaro was no longer a full muscle car but had rather started evolving into a sports car with its more aerodynamic shape, sharp nose, and better manual transmissions. It could still do a proper burnout when asked, but it had a sportier feel and look to it.

The Honda S2000 was a fantastic sports car from the Japanese automaker and was noted for its exceptional specific power output of 124 hp/l, or about 2 hp per cubic inch, making it the highest of any naturally aspirated engine at the time.

The S2000 was available as a roadster only, however, some aftermarket tuners offered a detachable hardtop for the car. Honda updated the model, and the engine was enlarged to a 2.2-liter but maintained the same 240 hp and 8,200 rpm redline. The engine did get a slight torque increase due to the longer travel of the pistons, but the changes were mostly done for emissions reasons.

Related: Here's What Made The Honda S2000 So Awesome

The Pontiac Firebird was a fantastic piece of Americana which is mostly known for its Trans Am variants of the 1970s. The third generation Firebird was a bit of a departure from the previous generation; however, it was still an awesome car – one which eventually became the car used for the Knight Industries Three Thousand, also known as KITT – the car featured in Knight Rider.

This Firebird Turbo Trans Am GTA was, by technicality, the fastest production car sold in the US in 1989, since the C4 Corvette ZR1 was a 1990 model. The TTA was fitted with a modified version of the Buick GNX’s 3.8-liter turbo V6 and when fitted with an automatic, it could do 162 mph, while the manual achieved 181 mph. The third-generation Firebird may not be everyone’s favorite, but it is a cool car.

The Nissan Skyline GT-R has been a fan favorite since the R32 generation was introduced in 1989. Here was a fast, quick, and good-looking Japanese 2-door sports car that had the tuning potential to become an absolute monster around a track, or in a straight line.

The R34 was the last of the previous generation and was essentially a better version of the two generations which came before it. It was fitted with the same RB26DETT as before – officially making the same 276 hp – however, everyone knew it had much more. The R34 is now an extremely collectible vehicle, which easily sells for more than $130,000.

Related: 8 Reasons Why Gearheads Adore The Nissan Skyline GT-R R34

The Chevrolet Corvette C4 is one of the coolest of the Corvette generations as it was almost never produced. GM wasn’t sure if anyone would buy it but buy it, they did. It was also the first time the entire car was completely new from the ground up.

The C4 was fitted with a series of 5.7-liter V8s, ranging from older technology to brand new LS-based V8s. The most interesting was the LT5, which was co-developed and engineered by Lotus. It was also the only time the LT5 was ever used in a car as it had become too expensive, making it quite a collectible.

The Honda NSX – called the Acura NSX in the US – was a sports car developed with input from the legendary Ayrton Senna. The interior was designed to mimic the cockpit of an F16 fighter jet and had advanced aerodynamics. Even though the NSX only had a 3.0-liter V6 – later upgraded to a 3.2 – it could keep up with a Ferrari around a circuit, thanks to the handling and light weight.

The 3.0-liter version produced around 270 hp, while the 3.2-liter was fitted with V-TEC and upped the power to 290 hp. The power went to the rear wheels only via either a 5- or 6-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic. The NSX was a revolution and was regularly mistaken for a Ferrari all while costing much less. It is one of the coolest retro sports cars ever made.

Michael De Kock is passionate about cars and everything from avocados to particle accelerators. He has studied psychology and knows a little bit about fixing cars (old Land Rovers mostly). He also blogs and has a book, 125 Creative Writing Prompts for Petrolheads, available on Amazon. His philosophy in life: Stop the hate - Adopt a V8.